Garden State

Right now the garden is mostly asleep. Garlic is really the only thing growing right now. Although we do have brussel sprouts that overwintered, and still have a few very sweet sprouts on them. 

 

Brussel Sprouts



Here ‘s what the garlic beds looked like just after planting in early November:

Here they are today:

They will be harvested approximately mid July, cured for two weeks, then off to market or set aside in a cool dark place for planting time in November.

Seedlings

Two weeks ago, we started all our vegetable seedlings indoors that can’t be direct seeded in late spring/early summer.

Right now we have five varieties of tomatoes, purple and green broccoli, rainbow cauliflower, red and green cabbage, leeks, two kinds of peppers, flat leaf parsley, cilantro, rosemary, lavender, butterfly bush and lobelia in flats. The majority of them have sprouted. Seeds must be first planted in a sterile starter mix to prevent disease.  We start ours on a seedling warmer pad. This Seedling Warmer from West Coast Seeds is awesome. They also have one that fits window sills. The warmth from this pad encourages quick germination for planted seeds. Plastic lids are put on seedling trays to keep the environment moist.  The soil must be kept constantly moist until seeds have germinated. Then you have to be very careful to keep them watered, but not too wet as something called damping off disease can occur. Damping off is a disease that attacks small seedlings which are too wet.  Your best bet is, as soon as all seeds have sprouted in a flat, remove the lid and put it in a bright place.

On April 1^st we’ll be starting basil indoors, and on June 1^st, brussel sprouts and more broccoli for fall and winter harvest.

For now, though, we just need to nurture these little guys along.  Soon it will be time to transfer each plant to its own small pot after the first set of true leaves appear (the first two leaves you see on a plant are not true leaves, but are called seed leaves or cotyledons.  After these appear, the first set of true leaves develops above these seed leaves) and before you know it we’ll be transplanting them to the great outdoors.



First Pepper Seed Leaves



First Broccoli Seed Leaves



First Tomato Seed Leaves

I will post more as we move along through each step of transplanting, hardening off and finally moving them out to the garden.

Next steps are a garden plan and tilling the soil. We're hoping that the last frost is very soon so we can finally plant our peas.  This morning, March 20^th, we woke up to quite a significant frost. Very unusual for this time of year, and I really hope it’s the last.