Just like any dynasty needs a couple of spare heirs, at the ready should something happen to the first-born, I have spare tomato seedlings.
I planted seeds of each variety into multiple plugs. The spares are going to move slowly out into the greenhouse – first into pots, let them grow some roots, then into the greenhouse.
Just to be sure, I’m going to start a few more seeds in plugs … these are the last spare heirs.
A few days ago I planted half of my tomato seedlings into 4” pots. Traditionally, I let them linger too long in their little starter plugs, so this year, I wanted to get ahead, and move them into the greenhouse so they can spread their roots. They had a first set of true leaves showing, and my greenhouse isn’t going to freeze, right. They’ll be fine…
Turns out, nope, they were not fine. I pulled three pots – those with the most-alive looking plants – back inside. But it was too late.
I had murdered them.
I really enjoy mâche. It’s tender and flavorful: nutty. I had never seen mâche in the stores here, but had loved it when I lived in Europe. It is called “Feldsalat” in German. Here is a link with more info on mâche.
I like mâche dressed with walnut oil, lemon juice, finely minced shallots, and toasted walnuts.
I moved these very young seedlings from the house into the greenhouse yesterday. It’s only 10 days after seeding. We’ll see how this goes.
Here we have a bunch of cabbage:
Cuore di Bue and Golden Acre, as well as a couple of Oregon Spring tomatoes.
I started conditioning another batch of straw bales on Sunday. Temperatures went below freezing the Monday and Tuesday night. Not much, about 30F.
I checked on them this morning around 9 AM. There was frost on the bales. But that did not discourage the community within from actively working on turning our bales into planters.
The photos show different bales, with a meat thermometer so we can see the temperature inside of the bales.
This experiment isn’t very controlled – the bales did get different amounts of fertilizer, and some received both blood meal and a commercial lawn fertilizer. Some bales are under a cover. They do get different sun exposure during the day.
But one thing is clear – more nitrogen = more activity! Even with less sun/heat!
My Gentian likes it in its new home. It’s a bit frisky, considering this is early February … “blooms April/May”.
Gentians have trumpet-shaped flowers of the most stunning blue. They are alpine flowers, and will form a dense and ever-growing mat. They dislike fertilizer, and enjoy full sun.
I had not actually seen a Gentian in a garden until 2 years ago, when I picked up a slightly scrawny plant at Swanson Nursery – for $11. I went back a few times before I decided to give it a try … I adore the color blue, and there are almost no real blue flowers. But $11 for a tiny pot of a struggling plant …?!
That first year, the scrawny plant had one flower that did not actually open fully. I had planted it into a large planter, along with some other things, notably an Allium.
Last Spring I moved the Allium and Gentian – both well intermingled and still scrawny – into a new bed in the front yard. Then, one day in Spring, I had a full-frontal Gentian flower experience that took me by surprise, and took my breath away! I then finally realized, what plant that was – Enzian!!! “Blau, blau, blau blüht der Enzian … “ – the German Volkslied stayed in my head longer than is advisable.
I started some tomatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, celery a few days ago under light for the straw bales inside of the greenhouse.
2020 will be my first attempt at straw bale gardening!
Check out Joel Karsten’s website for details on Straw Bale Gardening.
Playing with tags and settings. This will be a work in progress!
After a few wrong turns, the blog is set up, and I can post from my phone. Yay!!
It’s about time, because February is half done, seeds have been planted, straw bales have been conditioned and planted …