Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Another beautiful weather day, maybe too beautiful. I'm not sure it this is good... for the last 3, maybe 5 years we have still had snow on the ground at Easter. But for the last few days i can have the windows open and incense floating in the breeze. No snow anywhere except the shady areas of the street edges.

I hope this does not cause problems for my wintersowing attempt, i'm afraid that the seeds will all sprout too quickly and get big, then it will turn cold.  I decided to stroll on over to the Gardenweb forums and check out the Wintersown forum, i asked about this but have not gotten a reply as of yet.

AS it is, i planted some more today:

Watermelon- Pony Yellow, 2010, Pinetree
Watermelon, Tom Watson, Heirloom, 2010, Pinetree
Summer Squash- Patty pan "Sunburst", 2002, Johnny's
Tomato-  Roma VFN, 2000,  Better Homes and Gardens
Pepper- Fooled You, no heat jalapeno, 2008, Pinetree
Pepper-New Ace, sweet pepper, 2008, Pinetree
Eggplant- Slim Jim, 2008, Pinetree
Pepper- Zsa Zsa, sweet pepper, 2010, Pinetree
Tomato- Black from Tula, heriloom, Totally Tomatoes

I know i have a lot of tomato plants, there are five in each batch that i am doing. But many of these seeds are 8 years old and if i don't get good germination out of them i will probably give them one last shot by mixing them together and direct sowing them someplace- or i will have to throw them  straight into the compost. If  i get good germination i will keep planting them until they are gone,  many of the seeds are heirloom types and i might have good luck saving seed from them, so its worth a shot even if i am overloaded in tomatoes.  If we can't eat them i can give them away, preserve them (dehydrate or can) or enrich the compost with the excess fruit. That will be a blessing any way you slice it.

I'm not certain of the wisdom of starting the melons this early because they do tend to rot away in cold soil, but it seems that the soil in my flats is anything but cold.  I may even end up having to move them in and out of shelter each day if they do sprout early...Eep!

I might plant some more today... most of the veggies, besides the ones i plan to direct sow (corn, green beans, shell beans, soybeans) or make seed tape with, are planted now (like parsnips and carrots for seed tape and direct "toss" sowing like radishes). There are a few Perennial veggies or other long season types that i have not decided if i should start in peat pellets, the recycled K-Cups or in larger pots like 2 liter soda bottles...  Salsify, Burdock and the Asparagus.  Also some of the things like Kohlrabi, Collards, Kale, Bok Choy, the ones that are one harvest from each seed items... the tiny, bunching types- onions, shallots etc...and some i have to decide if i am even going to do this year, edible Amaranths, Swiss Chard, and then there is the Shiso.  I haven't even gotten to the herbs, which need enough of a head start to be companion plants or beneficial attractants,  pest repellents or decoys.

Hmmm, looks like i'm not as close to done as i thought i was, lol.

2 comments:

Faith said...

I had a lot of trouble with my melons and squash last year. If they remain small for too long, they begin to set flowers at 4 inches in height and they just never recover. I decided to never start those too early again. If I had a warm greenhouse where they could be repotted as they grew it would be OK, but the the cool weather just stunted their growth.

~Faith

icebear said...

yeah, i have never had much luck with melons no matter what i did with them. i have tried direct sow, starting indoors, nursery-bought, so this will either work or it won't. lol every year i tell myself that i won't bother with them again... but i got a few Heriloom types this year and trying the WS method might make a difference, if i find that i started them too early this year, i do have enough seed to try them later on next spring.
I am also seriously considering the row sized hoop houses, so i can extend my seasons. if we hurry and get the garden ready it might give me an extra edge on the melons since i will be able to set them out earlier in the warmer and sheltered soil.