First day out in the garden and an update on seedlings!

                                                         BACKYARD NEWS                                                                        

Today was about 60F and sunny. I have been taking my onions and leeks to work with me so that I can adequately put them out for a few hours then take them back in side to prevent shock when they actually do get thrown into the garden. Each day I increase their time out by about 2 hours, so since Monday, they now experience 6 hours a day.

Additives sitting in their own designated bins

I purchased aged manure (0.5 - 0.0 - 0.0), mushroom compost (?), and another type of compost (I will fill it in when I retrieve my notes from work!). I used a flower pot to mix in equal parts of peat, garden dirt (I had a lot due to excavating my backyard for a patio last year), and manure/mushroom compost/compost into a wheelbarrow. I wish I knew a little more about this company and its nutrient content, but its already been mixed in.

Basically, last year, I foolishly dumped backyard dirt into a pot and expected everything to be ok. The results were compacted plants that were probably unhappy. The soil dried out quickly and also compacted as my backyard contains a lot of clay which is generally very fine.

Actual backyard dirt completely molded to last year's pot sitting on the newly made soil mix.

To break this up I and retain moisture I added the above ingredients (I don't agree with peat and I am looking for a better alternative but I got a HUGE bag at the end of the season last year for 4 dollars).  My total for 2 bags each of the manure/mushroom compost/compost and 1 giant bag of peat was roughly 21 dollars. 

Note nice fluffy soil complete with one of my planters I got garbage picking in a well off neighbor hood

I also turned a box that will house the leeks and planted lettuce, radishes, spinach, and Gailan this evening.

                                                                  SEEDLING UPDATE                                                                 
Out of the new batch of seedlings, the Melrose, Carnival, and Early Jalepano peppers have grown (waiting on the California New Wonder).  I was able to get another Goldenrod to sprout (total of 4 now as some of the first batch not under intense heat conditions have come up) as well as all the Butterfly Weed.  I got a few Black Eyed Susans and Lavender along with Sage and Rosemary. However, I just saw this evening that one Eggplant is starting to come up. I thought hot peppers were slow but they really take a long time.  I have given up on the Eggplant that were sitting on a heating mat but probably only have soil temperatures around 65F.  The one that is sprouting has had a meat thermometer in it which says 85F during the day when the light is on and about 70F at night when it gets turned off.

Batch of New Seedlings

Yesterday I started more seeds to try my hand at more wildflower seeds and to grow additional vegetables in case some do not grow due to the original layout.  This year was the first year I used plastic tray cells (9 cells per tray) and frankly, I hate them. The previous years I used yogurt containers since I would frequently by Activa by the case from Costco to feed my household.  These did deteriorate after two years so I thought I would try something new. These cells do not work well unless you are planting flats and flats of the same kind of plant or that have similar germination rates and conditions.

Plastic 9 Cell flats (planted March 4th 2011)

Basically, I found that individual cells offer the convenience of moving plants that have already germinated from under the plastic dome to prevent fungus which develops under hot humid conditions. It also would have been more acceptable to just grow one type of plant per flat. Either way, the newer batch of seeds were started in the cardboard seed pots (double layered). I purchased a new heat mat/dome (I really only wanted the mat but it appears its much cheaper to by a set). These were planted with no Neptune's Harvest added, however, I placed a incandescent plant bulb over the set up to raise the air temperature (roughly 85-90F). I don't know what the temperature the first batch was growing at but room air temperature is about 65-70F. The idea is that I am really going to try to hasten germination rates of difficult to grow plants.  The following were planted:

Japanese Eggplant (6)               California Wonder Peppers (6)           Early Jalapeno (5)
Sage (4) 1 year old seed           Butterfly Weed (6)                              Rudbeckia (6)
Lavender (Lady) (6)                  Golden Rod (2)                                 

I also moved the flats that contained Rosemary seeds and Melrose and Carnival peppers planted on March 4th 2011 (Some of the peppers have already sprouted).

I would like to use less energy hungry lights or heat sources, but for now, this is just to see if I can speed up germination or even get anything at all from some of these tough seeds. Grouping plant types with similar germination rates may be beneficial. For recording purposes the original batch of seeds had the following germination rates at roughly 65-75F:

Basil / Marigolds / Tomatoes = 2-3 days
                       Snapdragons  = 5-7 days
                             Bee Balm = 3-4 days

From what I have read about some of the wildflowers, cold stratification may help but I'll try this first.

Vegetable and Herb Seedlings Tray 2

On Friday I planted the first round vegetables and herbs which consisted of the following types and quantity:

Peppers                                     Tomatoes                         Eggplant
Carnival: 3                                   Amish: 3                           Japanese White Egg: 6
Melrose: 9                                   Thessaloniki: 3
                                                   Black Cherry: 3
                                                   Marglobe: 3

Chamomile                               Basil                                  Marigold
German: 3                                  Genovese: 18                      Random: 3

 Goldenrod                                Snapdragons                    Rosemary       

Solidago canadensis: 3                Tall Deluxe: 9                   Rosmarinus officinalis: 6

The entire tray was filled with Espoma potting mix and soaked with the recommended dilution of Neptune's Harvest fish emulsion. The one thing I noticed is that the small cells do not soak up water readily, however, I did not want to make wicks for all the cells. Therefore, I had to endure a rather fishy smelling water until it was absorbed in the potting mix. So far, after two days, the Marigold seedlings are the first to emerge.