2016 Garden – April

The Month of April was a good one.

April 17, 2016:

Starters have way out grown their container. I am finally getting around to transferring them into a larger 72 cell tray. While doing this I realized I didn’t actually comprehend how much I planted. Everything grew pretty well except the red oak leaf lettuce didn’t sprout. Also because I waited to long, a lot of the plants are stringy. Yuk!

 

plants have out grown thier container

 

i still have a few more rows of tomatoes to transfer!

 

 

April 21, 2016:

Today I planted the second batch of seeds…

KALE: Red Winter (s2011), Dinasaur (s2010), Dwarft Blue Curled (s2011)

COLLARDS: Georgia (s2010)

BUSH BEANS: Dragon Tongue (s2013), Black Turtle (s2010), Blue Lake 274 (s2015)

CUCUMBERS: Countryfair (s2015), Straight 8 (s2013), Spacemaster 80 (s2013)

BROCCOLI: Raab Rapini (s2015)

OKRA: Clemson Spineless 8 (s2010)

ZUCCHINI: Dark Green (s2013), Golden (s2015), Black Beauty (s2013)

SWISS CHARD: Ruby Red (s2011), Flamingo (s2011), Fordhook Giant (s2011), Bright Lights (s2011), Bright Canary (s2015), Cardinal (s2015)

CELERY: Tall Utah (s2011)

MUSTARD GREENS: Red Giant (s2010)

LETTUCE: Gourmet Mix (s2012), Mild Mescluin Mix (s2011), Green Romain (s2015), Dark Lolla Rossa Red Leaf (s2015), Susan Green Oak (s2015)

PEAS: Sugar Daddy (s2010), Fordhook (s2013), Progress #9 (s2010)

  Finally my vision is complete. I have all my starters growing all on one shelving unit.

 

  

 

I can’t wait to watch these newbies sprout!

 

April 22, 2016:

Expanded my indoor growing today! I added a few more shelves on the 2 other windows that get good sunlight. I also constructed them with grow lights…

So excited to have fresh herbs right in my kitchen: thyme, cilantro, dill, basil, parsley & oregano.

I wraped each grow shelve with a tapestry to help keep the light from blinding us. Keeps a lot of the light in. Serves as a great night light. 😉 I just used yarn to tie the tapestry up on each side.

Can’t wait until the stores carry house plants. I vision an ivy plant on the top shelf.

Lettuce and microgreens

Wonderful lettuce from Woods Rose Market.

I planted some celery seeds, never have any luck with them actually growing. Was excited to see these at Town & Country! Might actually have some this summer.

Built these 2 shelves today too.

Rosemary from Woods Rose Market

Regular sage & pineapple sage. This stuff is awesome! Herbs actually has a pineapple scent to them…

 

April 24, 2016:

Sprouted: Dino Kale, Dwarf Blue Curled Kale, Georgia Collards, Dragon Tongue Bush Beans, Spring Rapini Broccoli Raab, Black Beauty Zucchini

My first batch of starters are growing great.

 

April 26, 2016:

I noticed that the popsicle sticks I use for identifying my starts are growing a white mold. I replaced all of them with plastic tags.

Sprouted: Country Fair/Straight 8 & Spacemaster 80 Cucumbers, Clemson Spineless Okra, Dark Green & Golden Zucchini,  Ruby Red/Flamingo/Bright Lights/Bright Canary & Cardinal Swiss Chard, Red Giant Mustard, Gourmet Mix/Mild Mescluin Mix/Dark Lolla Rossa/Susan Green Oak Lettuce, Sugar Daddy & Fordhook Pea, Black Turtle & Blue Lake 274 Bush Bean, Red Winter Kale, Thyme

Microgreens:

 

April 29, 2016:

I planted the Chocolate Mint & Orange Mint I bought from Woods Rose Market. Can’t wait to use in smoothies!

 

The microgreens are so green and beautiful right now.

2016 Garden – March

MARCH 12, 2016:

I’m so excited for this years garden!! I feel it’s going to be another good one!!

Today I planted organic starter plants. Used organic starter soil & my really small spaced planter container. Amended the soil with azomite. Sprayed with epson salt water (2 tbs/32 oz water.

PLANTED:
Tomatoes – Rutgers (s2011), Burpee’s Long Keepers (s2011), Yellow Pear (s2011), Delicious (s2011), Baxter’s Bush Cherry (s2011).
Peppers – Jalapeños Early (s2010), King of the North (s2013), Sweet Combo (s2014).
Lettuce – Red Oakleaf (s2010), Parris Island Romaine (s2010).
Red Express (s2010) & Cabbage Columbia Heirloom (s2014).
Eggplant Italian Long Purple (s2014).
Broccoli Sprouting Calabrese Heirloom (s2010)
Cauliflower Snowball Improved Heirloom (s2010).
Chinese Cabbage Baby Choi (s2010).
Zefa Fino Fennel (s2010).
Brussels Sprouts Long Island Improved (s2013).
Onions – Leeks Hannibal (s2010), Walla Walla Heirloom (s2011) & Evergreen Long White Bunching (s2010).

 

 

MARCH 15, 2016:

Sprouted: Baby Choi

 

 

MARCH 16, 2016:

Sprouted: Parris Island Romaine, Broccoli Sprouting Calabrese Heirloom, Cauliflower Snowball Improved Heirloom, Cabbage Columbia, Brussels Sprouts Long Island Improved.

Here you see the Baby Choi, Cauliflower, Cabbage, Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts.

 

I get the small little fly problem a lot, so I didn’t want them to infest my soil. I used kabob skewers, duck tape, yarn & winter window film to create a small greenhouse cover. It isn’t pretty but it works, bonus I didn’t need to spend any extra cash!

 

 

MARCH 18, 2016:

Sprouted: Delicious & Baxter Bush Cherry Tomatoes, Red Express Cabbage.

 

 

March 19, 2016:

Sprouted: Rutgers tomatoes.

 

 

March 20th, 2016:

Sprouted: Burpee Long Keeper tomatoes, Red Oakleaf lettuce, Walla Walla onions & Fennell.

 

 

March 21st, 2016:

Sprouted: Yellow Pear tomatoes, Eggplant, Evergreen onions & Leeks.

 

 

 

March 22nd, 2016:

Plants are growing well: