I would have given them names but there are far too many plants--and I already have enough trouble distinguishing between the different types of peppers that are in these trays. Soon, if I treat 'em right, I'll be collecting Jalapenos, Thai Hots, purple and red and orange Bells, and Anchos and putting them in my Asian dinner experiments at the end of the summer. This represents only a fraction of the behemoth project I have "officially" entitled Epic Garden 2012. It is one of many New Years Resolutions I had established in January, and so far this is the only one that has stood the test of time (test of time = 4 months).
I've never gardened before in my life until a month ago. Growing up I may have helped my mom weed the garden beds around my old house, but I didn't care for it one bit. I still don't. However, there is something about planting a seed and watching life emerge from the soil that kind of makes me feel giddy. And the anticipation of being able to harvest food from these little stemmy miracles gets me through the drudgery of weeding and tilling and weeding again.
Sorry about the dark photo--the fluorescent light bulbs make taking a decent picture of the whole plant set-up next to impossible
Inspired by some good friends of mine in Pittsburgh, I set up a four-shelf growing station of sorts in my basement to hang fluorescent lights and set seed trays to jump-start vegetables and get them ready to transplant in the middle of May (PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE). Instead of using seed cells or peat pots I decided to go to the soil block route, which (for me) entails mixing seed starting soil and water in a Rubbermaid container, pushing in a soil block maker (which makes 4 2"x2" soil blocks at one time), releasing the free-standing soil blocks onto a flat seed tray, and planting one seed per block. I will document the process photographically next time I do this. Anyhoo, I've have had surprisingly decent success so far--out of the 48ish peppers that I've planted, about 44 of them are growing very well. I can't wait to get them outdoors, but for now they won't be able to tolerate the chilly weather.
infant tomatoes!
Like I said... I have never done this before, so I had a ton of help in the form of books (thanks again for the B&N gift card, Mom and Dad!) and internet articles. But if you haven't gardened before and have really no idea where to start or who to trust, I hiiiiighly recommend The Garden Primer by Barbara Damrosch. It was through that book that I learned about the concept of soil block making too (though I don't yet have the courage to put together my own seed starting mix! Maybe next year...) and bought a soil block maker from Johnny's Selected Seeds (the link is to the block maker I bought for my garden, but there are different sizes available--with this one I can fit 24-28 soil blocks in one 18"x10" seed tray). I hope to start planting carrots really soon in some great wooden planters that some seminary friends gave us last summer... particularly these carrots (whaaaat!!).
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