Well after a few busy weeks I had to take a week off for family birthday bonanza time. April is BUSY around here. Anyway, all I’ve been able to do is water and watch until the coming weekend. Just in case you’re interested in how things have been going to date, here’s my update!
Seedlings:
- tomatoes coming along well. Don’t know when to split them up a bit and put them in their own pots. Right now I’ve got a bunch started in 16 2 gallon pots (I had no more trays left) and some of them are very close together.
- peppers doing great they’re OK in their trays for a while yet I think.
- the light is REALLY helping. Kicking myself for not buying the 2 dollar receptacle on a cord that my husband made me put back at the AS-IS in Ikea. Argh! I could have another one up right now….
- Just started some broccoli, asparagus (I know, I know) and ….. I forget. It’s written down. Anyway, I remembered not to use the whole packet this time. I’m such a dork. Anyway, lesson learned!
- I found some more pots, and some good ideas (thanks Carole!) for making some for seedlings. I will update you after the weekend when I’ve started my next batch.
Transplants:
- BAD SCENE. I planted these on a lovely warm April day thinking the tides had turned. They have not. It has been COLD. And cloudy. And wet. The spaghetti squash are 95% decimated, and the other 5% are not far behind. The mesclun is at about 85%, but we’ll see if those last few will make it. I think I transplanted them too early in terms of weather, but also their development. I’m not sure how many trays I would need, let alone space to put them if I *didn’t* start transplanting soon though. I guess I’m confused.
- The rest of the seedlings I left to grow a bit, somewhat protected in an unfilled raised bed. They seem to be fine, but aren’t growing much. Too cold!
Direct Sows:
- Nothing is coming up yet. This weekend it will be two weeks. I’m worried it was too cold and that I’ve wasted a LOT of seeds. Nothing I can do but wait.
- Cats. Cats are destroying my beds. I really don’t want to have to fence everything in. Are cat footprints going to keep the seeds from sprouting? They haven’t been digging so far.
Hard graft:
- one bed still left to build (I’ve been procrastinating)
- that bed and an older one left to fill with soil
- 1.5 yards of soil left to wheelbarrow around the block to the front yard
- another pile of wood to get rid of (ADAM!)
- set up play area for the kids
On Saturday I’m going to the Environmental Youth Alliance’s Seed Exchange to see if I can get some seeds for the Strathcona Preschool edible landscape project I’m heading up. We’re putting in the garden on April 30th (with 80 Starbucks volunteers). I’m hoping to also replace my spaghetti squash HAHA!
Never count your plants before they’ve seeded. I mean been transplanted. I mean been harvested. I mean been cooked/canned/stored. I mean been eaten.
In other news, our beer is great these days! Ramping up on sanitisation helped. Using only recipes from Dan’s Homebrewing helped (no weird internet recipes!). We’ve also been doing 2 weeks in the secondary instead of one week, and I think that’s helped too. Made a great ESB. This week I’m hoping to make a grapefruit bitter. There’s no grapefruit in it, the hops (Centennial) just have that flavour . Yum!
I love this update. I’m in Abbotsford and have killed 2.5 of my 4 cabbage seedlings because I brought them out on one of those sunny days last week and they got a bit too much. Or they got cold. I don’t know. I have peas, spinach and kale seeds in my planters, covered with plastic and lettuce transplants, also covered with plastic. I got one of those nifty (expensive) soil thermometers yesterday and under the plastic, my soil is staying above 10 degrees, even at night. So I am hoping I didn’t plant to early. Most people at the garden stores are telling me don’t do anything till May long weekend around here, but I just. Cant. Wait.
Love reading your blog and knowing I am not the only one going through all this around here.
Funny about the advice to wait until May – I could understand for some transplants, but the direct sown seeds? Odd! I would love a soil thermometer – but after buying all that dirt I have to hold off on any more garden expenditures!
I’m going to take a look at your blog now!
as a general rule, you can move seedlings when the first true leaves appear (as opposed to the seed leaves). Tomatoes *like* being transplanted, so doing it more than once in a season is a good thing. bury them up to the first set of leaves. they will grow roots all along the buried stem & it will make them stronger. this is not so for all plants. loving the start of growing season!!
Thanks Christine!