More Seed Starting and Transplanting

Today dawned wet and grey. I was hoping for a few breaks in the day where I could do some of the outdoor gardening things on my list. But it wasn't to be. So instead I focused on what I could accomplish inside, where it was warm and dry.

I began the day by transplanting my 20 "Ukrainian Purple" tomato plants. In three weeks, my little plants have gone from tiny transplants with no true leaves - pictured above - to 4" plants with two sets of trues leaves- pictured below. They have now filled up their 2" cells and the tray is getting crowded.

So today I moved them all into 4" X 4" individual pots, hopefully their last home before they get transplanted into the ground. As per usual, this project took much longer than I thought  it would. But I did add 1 tsp. of the new organic tomato fertilizer that I bought yesterday, up at Garland's Nursery. Besides fertilizer, it is also suppose to contain mycorrhiza fungi. Hopefully it will help give my plants an extra boost as they grow in nursery pots underneath the lights.

After I finally finished up with the tomatoes, I turned my attention to the next round of seed starting. But before I could do that, I needed to add the second tier on my new grow light tower. That went fairly smoothly and soon I was ready to start seeding some 6-pack cells. I started with "Gift" zinnias, a pretty red annual I bought from Hudson Valley Seed. I am planning to grow this variety in the "kitchen garden overflow" area, along with the cantaloupe. It gets a ton of sun there and I am hoping they will attract hummingbird and butterflies. I seeded 24 cells and then placed them on the heat mat. Then I filled six 2" pots with potting soil and planted "Giant Primrose" sunflower seed from The Seed Savers Exchange. I am planning to plant these in our new rose flowerbed and maybe also put a few in the sunset flowerbed.

When I was finished, the sunflower pots joined the zinnia cells on the first tier of the tower. I am hoping between the heat from the grow mat and the heat radiating down from the grow lights, that both of these newly planted varieties will germinate by next weekend.

After I finished that project I got out the bags of lilies that we picked up at Garland's Nursery yesterday. Since we won't get these guys planted at least until next Saturday, I wanted to get them out of their bags and temporarily potted up in some half gallon pots. I was really happy to find that all of the lilies bulbs were in good shape. You can never fully tell by trying to look at them through the plastic bags. We ended up with 3 "Casa Blanca", a solid white oriental lily, 3 "Salmon Star", a white and orange oriental lily, and 2 "Lilac Cloud",  a fully double pink and white oriental lily. If they all perform well this first year, we should have one amazingly scented flowerbed sometime in July.

Ukrainian Purple Tomato Plant Update

Tomorrow will be three weeks since I planted my flat of "Ukrainian Purple" tomato seeds. I am pleased to report my little plants are doing great. After a scare last week with aphids, the seedlings have bounced back and have produced their first set of true leaves. They now look like tomatoes! I know they still have a long way to go, but I am actually starting to believe that I might actually raise these babies to adulthood and harvest some fruit this Summer.

Dahlia Starts Arrive and More Seed Starting

When I arrived home tonight, I was excited to discover that my dahlia cuttings that I had ordered from Corralitos Gardens had arrived. In most cases, I order dahlia tubers. That is what almost all of the commercial dahlia growers choose to sell and I am also very comfortable growing dahlias from tubers. But Corralitos Gardens only sells live dahlia cuttings. They also sell some unique and foreign dahlia originations that no one else carries. So if you want to grow a few of those, then dahlia cuttings is what you will receive. This year I ordered;

• "Blyton Softer Gleam" - Ball Light Blend Orange/Yellow, 2005 British Introduction, Great cut flower
• "Yesterday" - BB Informal Decorative Yellow, 2015 Introduction
• "Camano Sunshine" - B Informal Decorative Yellow, 2012 Introduction, Corralitos' most productive cut flower
• CLearview Louise" - B Semi-Cactus Light Blend Yellow/Pink, 2011 Introduction
• "Gilwood Terry G." - BB Cactus Yellow, 2003 British Introduction
• "Darksider" - B Cactus Dark Red. A 2015 origination and winner of the Lynn B Dudley award. And this was my free gift -  $18.00 price to order!

Once your order arrives, it is really important to open the box immediately and unpack the cuttings from their protective  plastic clamshells. Then I get them quickly planted in 1/2 gallon pots and water them in well. It is hard to believe at this point these small starts will grow to be full size dahlia plants. But I know from past experience, by Fall, I won't be able to tell any difference between these cuttings and my dahlias that were started from tubers.

After getting the dahlia cuttings potted up, I turned my attention to seed starting. I am about 10 days behind where I would like to be on this task, but better late than never! So tonight I seeded two trays, to join the flat that I already started last Sunday. I planted;

• Cosmos "Rubenza" - 24 cells
• Cosmos "Xanthos" - 24 cells
• Zinnia - " Country Fair Blend"  - 25 cells
• Melon - "Magnificenza" - 10 cells
• Cucumber - "Lemon" - 10 cells

More Seed Planting and Dahlia Potting

Today I worked some more on potting up my dahlia tubers. I managed to get another 41 planted so I now have a total of 195 in pots. I am getting some rewards for all of my hard work. As of tonight I now have 37 of those potted dahlias that have pushed through the soil and are off and growing.

A shoot of the Anemone form "Mexico" newly emerged.

I also worked on starting some more seeds today. I planted;

• 24 cells of "Cabaret" Double Cutting Zinnia from Renee's Garden
• 4 cells of "Gloriosa Polyheaded" Sunflower from Seeds of Change
• 4 cells of " Blacktail Mountain" Watermelon from Territorial Seed
• 12 cells of "Night & Day" Antirrhinum from Sarah Raven

The Sarah Raven packet was brought back by my Mom from England 2 years ago. I have never planted snapdragons before, so I only used 1/2 of the seed. I am hoping that I have some success as the picture on the packet looks quite striking and I don't want to squander her special seed.

The sun came out in the early afternoon and I decided that I needed to water the Kitchen Garden. When I lifted the remay off of the onion tunnel I realized the the onions were pushing against the top of the tunnel. It was time to remove the tunnel for the year.

The onions are really looking good. They have developed strong necks and are putting out thick, green growth. It should be another good onion year. Pictured above, four "Candy" onions. Below, some of the "Cortland" plants.

And More Seed Starting

Tonight after work, I continued on my seed starting blitz. I switched my focus from vegetables to flowers and planted the following:

• 24 cells with "Red Metamorph" Marigolds from Seeds of Change
• 24 cells with "Fancis' Choice" Marigolds from Seeds of Change
• 12 cells with "Raspberry Sorbet" Zinnia from Renee's Garden
• 24 cells with "Mixed Seashell" Cosmos from Renee's Garden

More Seed Starting

After the almost - except for one "Corazon de Chirique" Winter Squash - complete failure of my first seed starting venture, I geared up for round #2 today. Today I planted:

• 20 cells with "Ring of Fire" Sunflowers from Seed Savers Exchange
• 5 cells with "Early Moonbeam" Watermelon from Adaptive Seeds
• 5 cells with "Delicata" Winter Squash from Baker Creek Seeds
• 5 cells with "Waltham Butternut" Winter Squash from Seeds of Change
• 5 cells with "Queensland Blue" Winter Squash from Seeds of Change

Seed Starting

We had a nice Easter Sunday here today. The high hit 69 degrees and there wasn't much in the way of any wind, so it felt quite pleasant outside. After returning home from church I decided to start the first of my seeds. Each year I have grown one new variety of Winter Squash. This year I am trying  "Corazon de Chirique" from Baker Creek Seeds. This squash was found in Panama and needs a long growing season. Since I can't easily extend the end of my growing season I need to work on the front side. So, I am trying to get the seed started now and the plants into the ground by early May. This should get me 5+ months before the powdery mildew expoldes in October. I want to grow two plants so I started three peat pots, each plnated with a seed. I also planted 6 smaller peat pots with the sunflower "Gloriosa Polyheaded" from Seeds of Change. This seed is a few years old and Seeds of Change no longer offers this variety. My fingers are crossed that my plants germinate and mature so that I can save some seed this year. The weather forecast is calling for cooler temperatures and rain off on on this week. I have put the seed tray into the warm greenhouse and will keep a close watch on it.

Kitchen Garden Update

It is time for an update regarding the kitchen garden.

Underneath their protective blanket of remay, the radish are growing by leaps and bounds.

You can now clearly see the beginnings of the colored roots.

The garlic continues to thrive. I am just amazed by the size of the "Russian Red" plants. They are now as big as leaks.

Look at the size of those stalks. There should be some pretty impressive bulbs underneath!

The "Chesnook Red" garlic is also doing really well. It is the more "normal" size that I am used to observing with garlic plants.

Most of the "Red Bull" onions have settled in nicely. I am concerned that one of the five isn't going to make it. It isn't growing any new leaves. As you can see it is flopped over and looks nothing like the other four plants.

I am amazed at the growth of the shallot plants. They were so small and delicate when I planted them. In just a few weeks they have tripled in size and are sturdy, strong plants.

The other onions are also doing great. The "Frontier" storage onions, picture above, have doubled in size.

The stalks are about as thick as a pencil now. I think that I am going to keep the remay tunnel over them for at least a few more weeks.

The "Candy" onions also  look good. 

The first tray of seeds that I planted continue to sprout. I now have 9 young "Raspberry Sorbet " zinnias.

The marigolds are also coming up. Above, two little "Red Metamorph" and below a "Frances' Choice" seedling. So far about 1/3 of the marigolds have germinated.

We've hit 80!

As promised , we had our first 80 degree day of the year today. Unfortunately, a high layer of clouds rolled in, so much of the day was humid and a bit uncomfortable. My goal for today was to finally finish potting up all of my dahlias. When I completed the job I did some counting. I have 188 potted tubers in this group. I also have 11 dahlia cuttings growing in the greenhouse and 10 or more iffy tubers potted up there as well. I should have between 205-210 dahlias in the ground when all is said and done this year. As of right now, 45 of the dahlias have pushed up through the soil and started to grow.

Here is a healthy young plant of "Tahoma Alicia" Miniature Ball in Dark Pink.

My goal for tomorrow is to get most of my vegetable bed planted. As you can see, the small greenhouse is bursting with vegetable and flower starts. It has been a real life-saver having the greenhouse to use this Spring. It has not only given the plants a warm environment to grown in but has also kept them safe from the deer.

And we got to end this first day of Summer-like weather with a glorious sunset.

Starting some Zinnias from Seed

We finally had another lovely day today. I still don't think that we hit the magical 70 degree mark, but none the less it was very pleasant out. As soon as I got home from work, I got out one of the new seed starting kits that I purchased at Down to Earth. Each kit has 3 pieces; a unit with cells to plant the seed, a tray to set the cells on, and a plastic dome lid. I decided that it was time to get my Zinnia seeds started. The packets have listed 70-80 days to bloom, so with a 5-10 day germination time, that would make the first blooms open somewhere around August 10th. I started 3 varieties :

• "Bling Bling" - Renee's Seed - A cutting Zinnia that comes in bright yellow, orange & purple
• Blue Point Bouquet" - Renee's Seed - A cutting Zinnia that comes in scarlet, orange, yellow, white, rose pink, and magenta. It has won awards from Professional Cut Flower Growers.
• "Zahara Double Cherry" - Johnny's Select Seeds - a 2010 AAS Winner, deep magenta blooms on plants with a mounded, upright habit. Resistant to mildew and will tolerate humidity & drought.

I am excited now to watch my "mini-greenhouse" and see which variety will germinate first!

More Planting

Last Saturday, I started a few more plants from seed. Even though the weather forecast showed another week of rain & cool weather, I decided that June was ticking away. It was plant now, or it would soon be too late. I started by planting a new, to me, pole bean "Bingo" up in the vegetable bed. On the packet "Bingo" is described as " a classic Borlotto type pole bean. Big Creamy green pods streaked in bright pinkish red, grows 5 inches long".

The seeds were a pretty tan, streaked in burgundy. On my garden inspection this morning I discovered that the first two beans had started to germinate. Unfortunately, the birds discovered them before I did. Both were pulled out of the ground and had dried up. Grr! I replanted those two seeds and then created 2 bean "cones" out of clear plastic cups. I cut out the bottom and twisted the cups over the next 2 beans that I could see pushing up. This should give them the protection that they need to get big enough so that the birds will leave them alone. After I planted the beans, I got out a seed tray and started some of my favorite annuals. I planted Zinnia "Berry Basket" & "Hot Crayon Colors". I also started Cosmos "Kneehigh Sonata Mix".

One week later I have 12 of the Zinnias up and 4 of the Cosmos. Considering how cool and wet it has been, I am pretty happy with this early germination. With the sun coming back so stay today ( I hope !) the rest should be up in the next few days.

Winter Squash -A Start!

While today wasn't exactly sunny and hot, the rain did at least stay away for the most part. The ten day forecast still shows mostly cloudy and cool days ahead, so I decided that I had better start some of my heat-loving vegetables in pots. I fear that if I were to direct seed them right now, the seed would simply rot in the cold, damp soil. I chose three varieties of Winter Squash to grow this year. Two are returning favorites - "Delicata" & "Butternut". I wanted to try one new variety this year. Since I am short on garden space with at least partial sun, I had to retire "Buttercup" to give "Chirimen" a try. "Chirimen" is described in the Territorial Seed catalog as an open-pollinated winter squash that matures is 95-110 days. The squash has  a greenish-black shell that develops into a dull bronze-orange color. The 5-8 pound fruit have a moist, sweet flesh. Due to space constraints, I am going to have to grow these down in the big garden. We shall see how they do in half-day sun. Fingers crossed. I also found in my seed stash a never before opened package of  "Canoe Creek Colossal"  Melon, package dated 2008. I have no idea where I am going to plant them and if they will even set fruit here in the Northwest. But with that great name I have to give it a try!

The last few years I have had good success starting my squash in peat pots. When it comes time to transplant, I gently pull away what's left of the pot and plop the seedling right into the hill. They haven't missed a beat with that method. Pictured above, I have all the pots ready to plant.

The seeds are dropped in. It will be interesting to watch the germination rates. The melon , "Delicata" & "Butternut" seed is all 3 years old. For this reason, I planted 1 more of each variety then I will need. The squash did have a decent germination record last year, with seed two years of age. I only had to re-plant a few.

Topped off with  soil, watered and ready. Now is the hard part, waiting!

I have also been potting up more dahlia tubers this week, as the weather has allowed. Today I planted for over an hour. I now have 147 potted - but nothing up yet!