The majority of my seedlings (Kale, Onions, Hon Tsai Tai, Pack Choy, Chard, and Red Sails lettuce are out under the newly acquired hoops, boy have they made covering the bed easier! During the last 2 warm days I have left the row cover on for a bit of shading from the sun as they transition, and at night and during cool days (like today) some plastic is added for heat retention and protection from the elements.
Future Blackberry patch on left, then extended grape trellis; I hate having the garden
'half done' and a mess.
I took some soil temps yesterday evening, the raised beds were running about 60 degrees, the soil under the hoops was holding an extra 5 degrees of warmth, and the newly layered beds were reading eighty degrees. Not nearly warm enough, I am hoping to see them heat up more than that before planting time, not sure how long it takes for all of these compost layers to "get cooking". I also caved and ordered Leeks today, I have not managed to sow any of my seeds yet, and I am behind on my peppers as well which will take priority. Half of them were sown this weekend along with the tomatoes. The final tomato list is as follows, tough to narrow 40 varieties down to 20 or so plants......what is scary is that I only grew 2 of these varieties last year, I hope I am not in for a year of disappointments!
- Mortgage Lifter
- Moonglow
- Amazon Chocolate
- Green Zebra
- Cherokee Chocolate
- Black Krim
- Sungold
- New Yorker (DTM)
- Rutgers (DTM)
- Polbig (DTM)
- Sibirskiy Skorospelyi (DTM)
- Isis Candy
- Black Cherry
- Green Cherry
- Bupree's Big Boy Hybrid
- Pink Brandywine
- Costoluto Genevese
- Juliet
- Principe Borghese
- San Marzano
- Amish Paste
(The cherry varieties were sown in the milk jugs, and most have failed to sprout so far despite the warm temps this past week. I have either tomatoes or basil growing in one container, to soon tell which it is. I emptied out the other container into a seedling flat in attempt to thin the soil and hope the seeds would germinate, but then I forgot about and left it out uncovered in the cold rain last night. OOPS! Now I have surely done them in!)
Happy Gardening!
5 comments:
I'm right there with you! I only have 2 varieties from last year and the rest are new... hoping for a good year for us! No clue on where all my edamame is going to go this year since my son informed me that onions and garlic are an "enemy" of soybeans, and that is what is planted in my beds right now. (And where DOES he come up with this stuff?!! He's my little 7 year old nerdy bookworm, LOL) And I haven't forgotten about sending you some Edamame, you should be able to email me via the blog and I will get a few seeds in the mail. Hope you guys start drying out soon, raining here today as well, but it's warm and just light showers not a downpour.
It actually isn't so bad outside here either. The house is freezing, but I found it much warmer outside when I went to fetch my drowned seeds, much to my surprise!
Edamame, I had almost forgotten, I knew there was something I asked you for a sampling of....anything you would like in return?
I grew Green Zebra and Rutgers last year, they were both great. They produced very well, especially the Green Zebra because it's indeterminate.
If your mystery seedlings have long, strap-like seed leaves, they're tomatoes. Fat, round little seed leaves are basil.
I love the fencing around your beds, it's beautiful!
Thank-you Rebecca! We needed something to keep the dogs out (functional), as well as pleasing to the eye since the garden is in front of our house.
I wasn't able to see the leaves yet, just little stalks peeking out from the soil. I am hoping their tomatoes, but now I am tempted to run out and check, they may have sprung free today.....
I've strayed a bit from my sowing schedule as well. There's just not enough time in the day to get everything.
I also have a dozen raised beds and several yards of loam to order. The work continues!
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