Planted Carrots Today

For the first time ever, I'm trying carrots. Specifically, I'm trying stubby carrots ("Tonda Di Parigi", Baker #CR104). Everyone will laugh when they see them, because they'll be about 2" long if I'm lucky. They should taste good, and I don't have to gently sieve soil into a comfy carrot bed about 24" deep to get long, county-fair worthy, orange spears.

In other news, one of the 12 or so pepper plants I seeded about four weeks ago popped up three days back. The Endive (Baker EE104) sprouted after about a week or so.


- Bruce

The 2011 Seeds

Here's the seed order for 2011. I don't know how I'll plant all these,
but I have a vague concept of "fewer plants, more variety." My one
resolution for the new year is I'll take a machete to the tomatoes. They
took over everything last year and generated award-winning foliage. This
year, I'll cage them better and keep them pruned. Maybe I'll get more
tomatoes. It would be hard to get fewer on a tomato-per-square-foot
basis. The chickens will be disappointed - there won't be as many hiding
places, at least under tomato plants. I'll have to keep everything
fenced off, anyway, otherwise it becomes a giant chicken gnosh-pit.

The status of the seeds I planted over the past two weeks is:

Peppers: No action
Cauliflower: Sprouted today.
Lettuce (both types): Sprouted three days ago.

- Bruce

Purple Cauliflower Seeded

I seeded Purple Cauliflower (Baker Seed Co's "Purple of Sicily"). It's in paper cups on the window sill. Last year, I think I ended up with one head of cauliflower. The chicken's ate most of the plants (broccoli too), so I didn't get much to harvest. I've gotten a lot better at keeping the chickens out of the garden. Given that they spend about eight hours a day looking for ways in, it's a challenge.

Seeded two types of lettuce indoors

I seeded "Lolla Rossa" and "Mascara" lettuce (Baker seeds #LT127 and LT131 respectively). I seeded them in paper cups and put them on the windowsill where they'll get some sun (three cups each). I'm trying to reach a new level of gardening and remember what seeds are what, so I put paper clips on the three Lolla Rossa cups and a similar clip on the seed envelope. If this technology works, I may push it to the next level and use colored paper clips.

Last year I tried writing on the cups (useless) and also on a wooden stick (I don't remember how that worked, but wooden sticks aren't easy to come by unless I start eating a lot of popsicles). There's an entire school devoted to using Sharpie on plastic knives - that may work but the concept of sacrificing plastic dinner utensils to the garden leaves me cold (well, luke warm).

All of this seedling ID is a precursor to planting a lot of  tomato seeds of myriad varieties. Last year I had no idea what was what until the actual tomatoes ripened. Even so, I wasn't sure about a few plants. This year, I'm leaning towards knowing what I'm planting and, better yet, what I'm giving away.

- Bruce