Garden Log - March 22 and 25, 2008

A lot has been going on in here lately, including a lot of new seeds planted for transplant in late May. I thought it was about time to get some new photos up.

I decided the pea plants were growing too fast to stay downstairs on the grow shelves. I've replanted them into a couple good-sized pots. One will stay here in the kitchen and the second is going to Lindsay's house.




My tarragon seedlings also have a new home in the kitchen. Here's one of the three pots.


I harvested half of my garden cress growing in the bonsai container for a salad last week. In the empty half I planted White Hailstone Radishes and more cress. This shot was taken 3 days after planting. It occurs to me that this is my first intercropping. I'm going to look into the compatibility of these two crops, as I think they'd make an excellent planting project for children.


And here's a shot of my leading chile pepper, an "Ancho Grande", which I received as a free bonus packet from Baker Creek. Anchos are dried pablanos, so I assume this is a large variety of that kind of chile.


The okra is coming along somewhat slowly, but it is a very attractive seedling.




Finally, my yellow hog tomatoes are coming along quite well. The whole of the plants are rather furry, to go along with the promised fruits.

Garden Log - March 12, 2008

These pictures were all taken yesterday evening. The little seedlings are all coming along well. One of the Okras died, but the other is thriving. I'll probably split the tomatoes up into separate containers soon.








I really like these pea plants. They're growing so quickly, I might have to pot them up in some larger containers before it's time for them to go outside. They're supposed to be a bush variety, so hopefully this will work out.


The onion that sprouted in the kitchen has perked up quite a bit.


These rapini are in need of harvesting. I keep meaning to make myself a salad, but just haven't gotten to it.




This tray, which is actually the second one I planted in, is doing real well. The chard is looking great, but I'm not going to be able to grow it as big indoors as out. I recently read that chard roots go as deep as 6 feet, which obviously isn't going to happen in here. Radishes are coming along well through the middle of the container.




I've gotten a lot of Cherry Belle Radishes out of this container. The rapini hasn't quite developed yet, but I'll be eating a lot of it when it does.




I'll have some more in depth thoughts on everything up soon.

Hello to You & Garden Log - March 5, 2008

Gardening is pretty new to me. In fact, my first gardening experience was just this past spring and summer. Prior to that, I hadn't even had a houseplant. Since then, I've put many hours into learning about how to grow things, both through reading and first-hand experience. I've got some grand plans for this growing season.

Currently, besides for a jungle of houseplants, I'm growing edible plants in my basement under fluorescent lights. I've been keeping a log of what I do and how the plants are coming along on my computer, just for personal reference, and now I'm going to do so on this blog as well. Besides for pictures, I will do my best to share my impressions, thoughts, and knowledge, all as it comes to me.

Without further ado, here's my March 5 update. These pictures were all taken late last night. I will provide some information on these plants today, with perhaps some more in-depth examinations in future posts.

---

You can see some earlier pictures of this first plant in previous posts. I got the seeds some time ago in a lot on eBay. They were labeled "Sprouting Broccoli", but that is not what they are. My current guess is that they're Rapini, also known as Broccoli Raab/Rabe. I have a number of these plants growing, but so far just one has come to flower. As seen in the previous post, that flower-stalk was removed (and eaten, yum!) so as to promote side shoots. As you can see, there are now two healthy side shoots, and probably some other smaller ones as well.





I had two things sprout today: Russian Tarragon and Little Marvel Garden Peas, both from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. The peas are a dwarf bush type. I don't yet know how practical they will be as an indoor plant, or if I will end up transplanting them outdoors.





On my shelves, I have two Earthbox clones from the Gardening Supply Company. In the first I have some Rhubard Chard transplants (seeded in flats, then in home-made pop bottle containers, and now transplanted into their third container), as well as a couple of the Rapini(?)s.





In the second Earthbox clone I've got Cherry Belle Radishes growing intermixed with more of the Rapini(?). I've had one of the radishes and will probably harvest a number of them later today.





The following are Geranium seedlings. I have a Geranium that came from the Botanical Gardens, which I'm rather taken with, so I'm looking forward to these guys. Their discoloration around the edges of the leaves leads me to believe they're over-watered at this point. It's probably time for them to move out of the pop bottle into some starter pots.





And, finally, Lindsay's Daisy. She tells me these are her favorite flower. This one was left at my house after moving around from place to place and dealing with the winter air. I've been trying to get it to re-flower for her, and it looks like it soon will. What you see now in the pictures is very different from when I started taking care of it. It has a whole new set of leaves, with the old ones cut off, that actually look somewhat different from before. It's also sending up flower-stalks, and so I should be able to post some pictures of Lindsay's new daisies before too long.

---

So keep an eye on this page if it interests you, it should have a significant update at least once a week. You can watch my plants grow along with me.