We have our first bloom, a yellow Calendula. Just another example that we started our seeds too early, but I don’t mind. This helps calm me when I look out side and see so much snow. I saw four robins playing in the snow today. My mother always says that robins are the true sign that Spring is on its way. I think it’s pretty promising!!
Thank God January is over. I hate the bitter cold, middle of winter. Only one more month to go! Even though all life outside is frozen right now, you wouldn’t know it in our basement. We’ve got quite the growing station going now including onions, some varieties of flowers, leeks, broccoli, and garlic.
Onion Flat #2: One week old.
Onion Flat #1: 3 weeks old
Onions… we have so many onions growing. Half are a red onion variety, Brunswick, and the other half are a yellow variety, Stuttgarter. Both are supposedly good for storing. I hope so because if these do well there will be a lot of onions to harvest. I’ve read they need to be transplanted to larger/deeper pods when the 3rd leaf comes. Is this true? Right now Flat #1 has 2 leaves per plant.
Dahlias, 3 weeks old
I started just a few flowers because I knew nothing about starting flowers from seed. There is quite a bit of information about starting vegetables from seed online, but the same can not be said about starting flowers, so I started a few to see how fast they grew and the get an idea of when I would have to start them this spring. Now I know that Calendras and Dahlias grow quickly, and Petunias and Snapdragons grow very, very slowly.
*I’ve found that its a good generalization that teeny-tiny seeds germinate into teeny-tiny seedlings. Who would have guessed?!
Broccoli, one month old
Broccoli, I know, starting broccoli this early was completely foolish. Here they are with 3 or more true leaves, ready to be in rich, warming, early spring soil, and its February 3rd with 4 inches of snow on the ground. I just couldn’t contain myself. We’ll see how big they get. I may have to start over with them, but don’t they look good. I ate a few of the extra seedlings and they were extra sweet and tasty. Lesson learned: broccoli need 4-5 weeks and then they’re ready for transplanting.
Garlic!
We had a couple cloves of garlic that were sprouting and no good in the kitchen so we covered them up with soil and gave them a good water. A week later and this is what we’ve got. My plans are to put them in a pot and harvest in a month or two. No more buying garlic!!!
A Stab at Sustainability. 