Seed Organization Perfection

I recently celebrated a milestone birthday.  My adoring & amazing husband surprised me with a kid-free vacation to London during my spring break.  Obviously, the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew was definitely on the agenda...and more on that later.

However, what I want to talk about now was the Kew gift shop.

The English have certainly merged their practical nature with their love of gardening with this seed organizing box.  First of all, the slots for seeds are taller than they are wide because...HELLO...seed packets are taller than they are wide.  I dunno why the seed organizers I see 'round these parts are basically converted recipe boxes.  This is of course fine if you don't mind your seed packets being on their side, but that's a spilling hazard for me.  Second of all, the dividers in this box aren't "tomatoes," "peppers," etc. or even A, B, C, etc.  They are January, February, March, etc.  Brilliant!  It makes so much more sense to organize your seeds by when you sow them, doesn't it?  I've been having a gazillion zip-top bags trying to keep my seeds organized by planting time which is just ugly and wouldn't allow me to keep them in groupings of vegetable type unless I added even more baggies.  I already had to open 3 bags before getting to my desired seeds as it was!


Because I only really do like 3 groups of planting per year, I'm going to use each slot as a planting time and then use the dividers to separate vegetable families. The larger slot along the side will hold my planting plan, seed label sticks and markers.

I am more excited about this purchase than the tins of biscuits and tea I got at Fortnum & Mason.  This is saying a lot, y'all!

 

There was lots of other awesomeness from Burgon & Ball at the gift shop.  It made me wish I had brought a bigger suitcase (and that the exchange rate wasn't more favorable!).

2011 Seed Starting, Part Deux

After doing a braggy mcbragerton post about being on the ball & doing a spring garden this year, it's time to start those summer vegetables and herbs.  Already!  Spring is full of such insanity.  I mean, one day it's 40*F with snowdrops and the next it's 80*F with daffodils just like one moment you're dutifully sowing arugula and the next you're onto tomatoes.

Today I've got tomatoes, sweet peppers, hot peppers, eggplant, thai basil, purple basil, sweet basil, nasturtiums, marigolds, ground cherries and a few more swiss chard to get underway.  I'm hoping the sweet peppers do better than last year imparticular.

This means it's time to pull out the second grow light from the closet and to break out the seed starting mat.

Put to Bed

After 2 years of swearing that I would have a spring season to my garden, it looks like I'm finally making good. 

 
Yesterday I put the kale, onions and kohlrabi I started in early February. In addition, I stopped by the garden center and got a few scoops of onion sets (one red, one super sweet yellow) to augment my cipollini onion seedlings.  It was just $1.50/large scoop so I figured why not?  Especially since I hadn't started enough onions from seed to fill that portion of the garden.  Of course, 2 scoops was too much and onions are now overflowing into the flower beds, but whatever.  We eat an alarming amount of onions.

In addition, my arugula and mustard have sprouted in abundance and the lettuce is coming along too (I think I sowed some of that a bit too deep).  I've not had good luck with direct sowing thanks to digging critters, so I'm really excited that thus far this is working out!

Speaking of critters.....

As I was planting, I heard a rustling sound of a animal.  You should know I'm terrified of most small-medium garden animals (mice, moles, voles, rats, chipmunks, etc.).  I remained calm & quickly finished up only to spy the source of the sound...a very fat bunny.  I'm happy to report that either the bunny is too full feasting on my heurcheras, crocus and toad lily sprouts or is adequately deterred by my taller raised beds.  The kale and kohlrabi are nibble-free...for now at least!

Garden Update

The nice weather has certainly been a lovely change, hasn't it?  Between enjoying the great outdoors, homework and general life I haven't been able to sit inside & blog (in fact, this post has been sitting on my computer waiting for me to hit "Publish" for days), but the garden is getting busy. 

I sowed some lettuce, arugula & mustard seed last Sunday in the raised beds.  No sprouting yet (to be expected) but I do need to set up my watering game on the non-rainy days.  I've noticed some digging by squirrels in the planted area, so I'm thinking some row covers will be put on soon for protection.

Here are the latest photos of the onions, kohlrabi & Red Russian kale I planted indoors. The onions, for some reason, are having really spotty germination. In some cells, multiple seeds will germinate but in others none will.  I'm trying to carefully separate the seedlings that are in one cell and put one in another cell.  I've also started some Swiss Chard.

The Red Russian kale will definitely be ready to put out next weekend. Just in time to make room for the summer veggies that will be started shortly thereafter!

Snowdrops Have Arrived!

For some, the recent warm temperatures have been a signal of spring in the DC area. I have encountered one too many random warm snaps only to be followed by more winter while living here to use that as my litmus test.

Instead, I use snowdrops. This year they are a bit spindly. Not sure if it's due to a drier winter or the weather turning warm very fast. But they are here and spring should follow soon.

Purple Kohlrabi: First Out of the Gate

Or, erm, soil. However you want to say it, I've got spouting!  Hurray!

2011 Seed Starting...Already

I'm starting seeds several months early this year and, yet, I'm already late!  According to my favorite planting calendar, I'm a week or so late in starting my onion seeds. To be fair, I had every intention of starting them last week but USAir cancelled my flight home (oh the joys of being in the airport for 8 hours with an infant!) from Florida and I arrived home too late to start the process.


To revisit how to start your own seeds, here's a concise overview of  the process (more details & photos are in my previous post on the subject):

1. Sanitize pots/yogurt cups/whatever in a 9:1 water/bleach solution. This keeps any nastiness away from your impending babies.
2. Wet potting mix & put it in pot/yogurt cup/whatever. Don't use dirt from your yard.
3.  Plant seed at depth listed on the package.
4. (Optional) Sprinkle milled spaghnum moss over top. This, along with adequate air circulation, prevents damping off. I've also heard that cinnamon has some anti-fungal properties so you could try that.
5.  Keep the soil moist & wait.

I started onions, kale, two types of kohlrabi and some cilantro.  I'm probably early for everything except the onions, but my kale and kohlrabi grew so slowly under the grow lights last year that I decided to give them more of a head start. Overall, I filled an entire flat with just these 4 crops!  And, I plan to start another round of onions in a few weeks.  I've only got 2 grow lights so it will be interesting to see if I can make my ambitious plans happen.