Don't laugh at people when they get excited about their gardens. At least not until you poured your own self into it at least once and nurtured tiny little seedlings and watched as they've grown into full-sized plants which later bear fruit. (Gosh I can't even imagine how all-encompassing it must feel to raise a CHILD... I'm just talkin' about tomatoes here!)
~
Here's how I spent my Saturday morning (after I was unsuccessful at finding furniture at the antique stores.)
Now, I'll warn you now... this blog shall in NO way be an exclusive source for all gardening information and know-how. I will, however, share with you from my experience and help you avoid any pitfalls I can (in the event that you start your own little veggie patch someday!)
Thing #1 I know: The last frost date for our region of Arkansas is April 4th. That means I'd be jumping the gun if I tried to get my tomatoes or bell peppers or potatoes or carrots in the ground before that date. (I could attempt it if I were to buy some new-fangled contraption like "The Wall of Water" or some crop covers, but I'd just as soon try this the old fashioned way. Laura Ingalls Wilder style. Holla!)
Which leads me to Thing #2 I know: It's possible to get a little head start on the growing season by doing what I've showed you above: starting your seedlings off indoors. That way, when they've germinated and developed into semi-mature plants, you can transplant them outside and have tomatoes sooner! (Plus you can save bookoos of bucks buying seeds instead of starter plants.) The little containers you see in the picture are peat moss with netting. Nothing fancy! Here's a link to the product. They're pretty cool... they start off as pellets, then you add water to them and they expand into little planters :)
~
Three seeds per pot is all you need... just slightly cover them with the moss. And whichever one grows the best, I'll cut the others back and let it be the primary plant. Such care goes into this.
So I have started seedlings for the following plants:
-Gypsy hybrid peppers -This is a basic red, green, yellow pepper variety and they're supposed to grow really well. I bought the seeds from Burpee.
-At-Home Orange, Red, and Yellow peppers - These are an experiment. I saved the seeds from some bell peppers I had around the house. They were probably from Wal-Mart. I want to see if I can get them to grow.
-Black Truffle Hybrid Tomatoes - This is another seed variety from Burpee. The tomatoes they produce are supposed to be a rich, dark, reddish-purple. Sounds exotic huh?
-Rainbow Heirloom Tomatoes - These seeds are also from Burpee, but are not hybrid (meaning a man-made creation.) Heirloom seeds are seeds passed down from generations of tomatoes. Each fruit is like a jewel because it hasn't been genetically tampered-with and the flavors and colors are extremely unlike those you find at your regular grocery store. We'll see how these guys grow though, I hear they can be persnickety.
-At Home Cherry Tomatoes - Another experiment. These seeds came from cherry tomatoes I bought at Kroger. And I'm shocked to announce that these seeds have been the first to sprout little leaves! WOW! It's fun to watch things grow.
~
I'm not done planting indoors though. I can't get an early start on my potatoes and carrots (because its bad to transplant those, you could end up with crooked carrots!) But I can do some early indoor sowing with my herbs.
Here are two I plan to grow this year:
I LOVVVVVE sage!
You know that delicious flavor you find in Cornbread Dressing at Thanksgiving time? That's sage baby! It's so good. And I will be growing it this year.~
Now, back to the seedlings.
They don't need much watering... they just need to stay warm. And they need to sit in a bright spot, but not in direct sunlight. Oh, and the best thing about these Jiffy pellet pots is that they have their own little lid! (Everything I've read says its best to create a little greenhouse environment during the first few weeks of growth.)
Here's what they look like after a few days.
~
Exciting stuff, isn't it?
Just wait til I get everything outside in the actual ground. That's going to rock both of our worlds.
Til then,
Carissa
3 comments:
Hey Carissa, I was just catching up on my reader feed (not being online for a week left me with about 900 posts from various blogs I follow to catch up on!) and just now saw this. I'm interested in hearing how the tomato and bell pepper experiments turn out, because one thing I learned in my agriculture classes was (are you ready for this?) - they will often expose those sorts of items to low doses of radiation so they stay fresh longer. So if you see that anything they produce is looking really funny - that would be why.
Also, if you're looking for any other things to grow - yellow pear tomatoes are awesome, and they grow like crazy (we kept having volunteers popping up in our garden three years after we last planted them).
I might have to try some container gardening this year - at least so I can get some fresh herbs. I wouldn't mind starting a couple tomato plants though; in my opinion, few things taste better than a tomato you've just picked when it's still warm from the sun.
Kate, that is TOO funny. 900 posts is a LOT of catching up to do. (But if you're like me, you just can't skip one...)
Anyway, thankfully the cherry tomatoes I planted were organic so I expect they weren't radiated. The peppers from Wal-Mart, however, I'm sure they were nuked within and inch of their lives. I think I'll focus on the Burpee plants in the garden and try planting the experimental ones in containers, just to see what happens. And that way if they do something crazy, they won't affect my main garden.
Next year I hope to add strawberries, rhubard, and asparagus. YUM :)
You have the life I've always dreamed about! I'm so excited for you and your gardening adventures!
Post a Comment