FLOWERS?

Now, I will admit that by this point, this post is rather old, but one day about a month plus ago now, I went to move the ground cherries, tomatillos and eggplants into pots. As you can see the nicely planted seeds had become a mess of plants growing everywhere.  They had started to try and grow over the herbs I had placed in the missing cells spot to contain some water for them. 

Another small jungle

Imagine my surprise when I pulled out the one tomatillo that grew (one out of 6 cells had a plant). The tomatillo was flowering before it ever gets out of the seed starter... I think the grow light was worth it. The plants did seem rather happy under our new addition. We may have to set up a second one next year for a bit better coverage of the plants.

Flowers already?

I left the flowers on as I placed the tomatillo into its pot. The tomatillo and the ground cherries both I used our same method of planting as tomatoes where we buried part of the stem to help increase root production.

into the pot

That day, Pooka and I managed to get all the eggplants, ground cherries, and tomatillo into pots. The plants were all much bigger and sturdier than in previous years, so I do think the grow light has helped. Although it is always nice to be able to say "and at least now they are in dirt." Although, lets be honest, Pooka just loves being able to say "And now I am playing in the dirt."

More pots done

We also managed to get the valerian and the yarrow into pots as well. Due to pot space (and lack of pots) we did have to have them share a space, but it worked out great when we were transplanting later. These 2 ended up living on the front porch to harden off while the rest went out to live in the same jungle as the tomatoes. But at least they are done now. 

Yarrow and valerian

Starting another batch of herbs

Well, we are still running behind getting these posts done, but one thing we have done is start a few more seeds. I had these left over peat pots from a year ago. They take seed starter soil, but it was what I had and I was trying to not buy too much more. We pulled out the seed starter mix and got to work.

Well, we found pots

Once they were filled, we ended up putting chives (from the chive box), as well as dill, cilantro, and parsley in them.  This allowed us to finish off a few seed packets and again try to use what we have.

Seeds

I apparently forgot to take an after picture with all the popsicle sticks sticking out, but its the same as every other year. By the time we got these started, we had already started moving the tomatoes out of the seedling containers, so some of the cups got put in that tray to save space.  The rest got put in a  muffin tin at first. Once we finished potting up the tomatoes, the rest got moved into that container as well.

An almost done photo

Since I did this a while ago, I can say they all seemed to have sprouted quite nicely. They are still a bit small to go in the ground, but they are making up time quickly. The entire tray currently lives outside and is getting ready to harden off and be put into the front beds. Maybe I will remember first of the month pictures... Maybe.

Starting round 3

We got the last batch of our seeds started. I took 2 different trays since I didn't need 50 more plants. However, we did try a few new plants. Including the flowers that Pooka got for her birthday, Black and white minstrels. She was so excited to see how the flowers themselves come out.

New plants

 The other new thing we started was some pinkeye purple cowpeas. We all know Pooka loves having lots of color in her garden. This may not be something she can just eat straight off the plant, but we talked and if necssary we will look into saving them for our winters soups. As you can see below, they do look rather different from a standard green bean.

Green bean vs Cowpea

I forgot to get a picture of the finished trays (I think I was rushing a bit to get everything on the table for dinner). Pooka was very happy to start even more plants. The call of her garden is getting stronger since we have both started walking the garden daily. I know she can't wait till she can walk out there and just have a snack while playing with her friends.

Trying "The exotic"

I decided it was finally time to start the most daunting of Pooka's birthday presents, a banana tree. Well actually, if you read the box, its not a tree so much as it is an herb. Either way, it was time to get it started.

Opening it up

It came with the standard giant disk that will become dirt if you add enough water to it. Now, here is where we went our own way with the directions. It took SO LONG for the disk to turn into wet dirt, we poured the water on it and left it for 2 days before we got around to planting seeds.

And time to inflate

The banana seeds came in a very interesting little packet. I will say that Pooka enjoyed reading it and thinking of what she could grow. The fact this is not a "tree" but an herb is right front and center. I think this is to keep parents from freaking out over the "What did I get myself into"

Seed packet

Now, I will admit, I don't really remember seeing seeds in bananas, especially not ones that look like these. This entire project is a case of "I didn't know that."

Those are bigger than I expected

Once everything was ready, we placed the seeds in the house and put the lid on. The entire set up is in the front room now and is waiting. I did save enough seeds that we can try this again. The reviews online said sometimes they mold instead of grow, so I wanted to have a second shot if that happens. Now to see if we can get something to appear.

Now to wait

The Fuse is lit

Some days, I really wonder about us. I mean we have taken over a large chunk of the yard to allow someone her dream of a garden. We have gone to a more simple life, even if it means more work. Now, we grow things for other people and I wonder what part of my brain thought this would be a good idea.

Let me back up. After Christmas Daddy's coworker, Mr. S came into work and said to Daddy "So you are going to be fostering some plants for me." Daddy had the same reaction "What?" Turns out Mr. S's daughter gave him what is called a Man Crate. I admit, I had to look it up, but inside his crate (which is the one I think I linked to) came with 2 little cans. The cans apparently hold the seeds and growing medium for a Ghost pepper and a Moruga scorpian pepper plants. Now, if you are unfamiliar with these peppers, they are HOT. Like melt your fillings, the death peppers are NOTHING hot. I admit I had to look them up.

Oh dear... 

 Well, Mr. S has a very black thumb, but he wanted to see what they were like. He asked the office's guy with a daughter with a very green thumb if she would "foster" them for him. Daddy agreed and came home and told us. Well, this is what he brough home. 2 things that look very much like soda cans. I will admit, I am a tad nervous of what we are now growing, but we will see. I wrote on the cans in sharpie to keep track of which one is which. My only response was that Mr. S had to take like 90+% of any fruit they produce. Pooka heard how hot they were and has already refused to even harvest the things. Daddy said we may want gloves. What did we do now?

Not a soda I want to drink

Over the weekend, we decided we should probably get these things started. First you pop the soda tab at the bottom. This is the drainage hole and the little while "Cover" allows it to store some water and act as a catcher.

It is open

On the other side is a pull tab much like you would find on a canned good. That one you just pull completely off. Once you remove the lid, you find this very sandy growing medium. The seeds are already planted inside, you just fill it with water until it drains out the bottom and then set aside in a very warm place. It said it could take up to a month or more to sprout, and it needs to be over 80 degrees.

tick, tick,  tick, tick

We followed the directions and then I placed them in a glad ware container (To better contain the drainage). We placed them under our new grow lights and as close to a heat mat as possible. I need to make sure I save the directions, but this will be an interesting experiment. However, Daddy said it best, "These are just a very small bomb with a very long fuse" since I think it said it can take up to 8 months for harvest. Now to hope that it goes well enough that Mr. S gets what he wants and we don't all die in the process.

Let there be light...

After just 3 days, I checked the tomato tray to find this. Plants abounding and they were already getting rather spindly while they reached towards the light. That first row you can see is the Pooka tomatoes which were apparently VERY viable. Seeing how quickly they had started reaching made me worry that they were not getting enough light. Especially with how cold and dim it had been recently. I mentioned this to Daddy, which got him thinking.

After only 3 days we have tomatoes.. lots of tomatoes

The more I talked to him. The more we both started wondering about a grow light. I told him my research (which was always in the "someday" category), said that all we needed was a florescent light kit and a chain. I was really on the fence about it, but and we decided to do it. Now, this light will spend 8 months of the year helping light our dim basement, but during seed starting, it would be removed and brought upstairs.

I had a rough idea of what I wanted, but really, I told Daddy "it just needs to do this" and he ran with it. A quick run to the local home improvement store, and $38 and about an hour and a half later. We had light. Daddy set it up for me with the seed starting table and put the light on a timer.

The finished product (Please pardon the mess, We are honest here)

Daddy took some scrap lumber in garage and built a free standing stand since we did buy the 4 ft light. We decided since this was proof of concept, if it indeed works, next year we can knock together a better table then the old blue card table we have been using. The light itself is hung from a chain which will allow us to move it up and down as needed. And when we are done, everything can be torn down and stored until next year. We placed a timer on the light so we don't have to worry about remembering to turn it on or off. We only had to buy the light, the bulbs, the timer and the hooks. Everything else was already on hand. Now to decide if this really helps as much as we hope it will.

Let there be light. 

Now we wait

Last week, we finally got the tomatoes started. Fortunatly this time Pooka was right on top of things and we were able to knock them out after school one night. The big question mark this year is how well will the Pooka tomatoes do. These were the seeds we saved last year.

Pooka's Tomato seeds 

I will admit, that once we opened our little paper envelope, the tomato seeds from the Pooka tomatoes looked slightly different. Slightly more "fuzzy" but it was completely dry and didn't feel like mold. I do wonder if this is the difference between commercial seeds and home grown.

Pooka seeds. 

 Due to the differing nature of the seeds and the fact I forgot to viability test them, I will say I told Pooka to be a bit more heavy handed. Usually, I only allow 2-3 seeds per cell, but with these, I just kinda let her go nuts. Hopefully that doesn't come back to bite me. I know she just grabbed a clump and placed them in each cell. We are not really expecting much from these seeds, so anything is a bonus.

Placing seeds

The other new seeds we are trying are some seeds from Pooka's Great Aunt B. She mailed Pooka these seeds in her birthday present. I placed in the website on the package to see where these seeds came from, and was more than a bit confused to be taken to a record company. However, the seeds were on the website and they do appear to be very interesting tomatoes claiming to "attract moose like creatures to the 1 ton tomatoes." Daddy hopes it is just good marketing, but we will see. Either way, these do seem to be rather fun tomatoes that I know Pooka is looking forward to growing.

These should be interesting seeds.

We also planted some yarrow and Valerian in this tray, as well as our tomatillos and eggplant and the new ground cherries. Pooka is all excited to try her new plants fruits. All in all, the seeds are all planted. Now we begin waiting as the heat mats under the trays hopefully jump start the process.

Now we wait

Time to get into gear

That time of year has snuck up on us again. It is time to get seeds started. Pooka has been so excited to get the seeds going, so we started them on the last Monday of Feb. I lied to myself and said I am not that far behind since I still got them done in Feb. We decided to start our pepper plants first, since they do tend to take the longest. 

Seeds everywhere

In our first tray, known as tray A we had 9 varieties of peppers, as well as 2 types of broccoli and some new purple cauliflower. Pooka received the purple cauliflower in her stocking from Santa.  She also recieved these Violet sparkle sweet peppers for her birthday. They are purple, they sparkle (supposedly) and they are sweet peppers. It kinda had to happen. I don't know how many kids will get excited to open a present of seeds at her birthday party.  

Pooka's two favorite new additions

Now, there are times I hate being a mom, not many, mind you, but a few. Monday was one of those times. I started rehydrating the seed tray before I went to collect Pooka from school. I told her all evening "Get your chores and homework done and you can do seeds. I am doing them with or without you." The seed trays re-hydrated, and Pooka was being, well Pooka and not getting her chores done. 

Seed trays rehydrating

Now, I love Pooka, I do. With all my heart, but some days, she can be the most pokey, easily distracted, hey look a shiny person you will ever meet. This was sadly one of those days. That Monday, true to form, I had to start seeds without her. I kept telling her "I am doing seeds, hurry up." I finally got them all in the tray except for her sparkle pepper and her purple cauliflower. She got to come in and put those few in the tray. She was disappointed that I started without her, but even Daddy reminder her I had been telling her for awhile I was ready to do them. It is a hard lesson, one I hated having to teach her, but I saved her favorite two for her, and maybe, just maybe she will be a bit quicker to get moving. 

Work in progess

In the end, we got to finish the seeds together. Pooka got to put her favorite ones in, then she helped me lay out the seed mat and move the newly planted tray to the seed raising area by the front window.  She was so happy to see that this means spring is coming, even if it is still freezing  cold outside.  

Signs of spring

And so it begins.

I will admit, we are running a bit late this year, but Sunday Pooka and I finally started working on getting seeds started. We didn't have time to get a full tray done, but we did have a chance to start some seeds in pots of dirt. We had the dirt inside from moving Cave, so it should of been warm enough to get things started.

We decided to start the things that really took the longest and that I have not had good luck with in seed starter cells. This meant the snap dragons and our beloved celery. The day before, Pooka got a letter from her Great Aunt B. She sent Pooka  package of butterfly flower seeds in the mail and Pooka jumped up and down for a good 5 minutes cheering for seeds. When we started the seeds, Pooka asked if we could start those as well.

Seeds

We filled some pots with dirt. Due to the cold, we had to do this inside. I will say some of this dirt is from transplanting the lemon tree as well. Pooka was all excited to get her hands dirty again. I have never had much luck with celery in a starter cell, but we have gotten better results putting it straight in dirt and just keeping it watered. This year we are looking forward to the celery more than most, since we have found more things to do with it.

Pots of dirt

Pooka sat there singing about how happy she was going to be to have snapdragons because she can make them SING. That is reason enough to keep around a flower we don't do much with. As you can see, we labeled with our favorite craft stick and sharpie method to keep track of which pots have which plant in it.  By the time we were done, we had 9 pots of seeds all ready to go. Next we need to get to work on the actual peppers and tomatoes, but I am hoping to do those this week.

Ready to grow.

Dear Teacher

Dear Pooka's Substitute teacher.

I know you don't know Pooka as well as some of the other teachers, but you simplified things a bit too well. You see, she came home and said "Mommy, I had to do this assignment. I told the teacher we were missing steps, but they didn't believe me." 

The short version

When you ask a Pooka to plant a seed, she will start with a seed starter, then plant it into a pot, then put it in the ground. However, at least she got to draw and write about gardening at school.  I am sure that helped

How to plant a seed part 2

Even if Pooka was a bit bored that day, she still told me she had fun explaining to her friends while they worked the correct way. At least the other kids expect as much from a Pooka and just let her roll with it. My only hope is that she didn't give you too much argument. Just don't try to teach her the steps of canning next.
Thanks
Pooka's Mom

How to plant a seed part 3

The Beans have sprouted.

The garden is finally starting to look like we have been planting. The last of the things started from seed have popped up, in this case the green beans. We have 2 main types of bean this year. On the left is a Blue Lake Bean. Pooka got these a gift from her grandparents as well as a garden kit. On the right are our standard kitchen bean.

 More beans have sprouted and they have all reached a good size since these pictures were taken. There is still a bit of an empty spot. I am sure it will not stay empty long since we had some plants we gave up on come back.

It has begun

A week ago after school Pooka and I decided to at least get the pea seeds in the ground. Now this year, I didn't start them inside and take them out. We just put the seeds in the dirt. It will be nice in a few weeks when I can send fresh sugar peas and blue peas in the kids lunches for school.

Home of the sugar peas

We started with the regular sugar peas. Those we planted straight into the ground in the front back bed by the deck where we have had peppers and tomatoes the last few years. Upside is that the pea plants will put back some nitrogen for the soil.

Home of the blue peas

Next we planted the new blue podded seeds in the containers. I was trying (maybe ineffectively) to minimize the cross pollination. I know Brother and Pooka really want to try blue peas. The location of the pots will most likely be moved, but at least its started and ready to go. I need to figure out where they will be moved too, and we may plant some watermelon in a blue bin under the peas. I will have to see how things are progressing.

Observing the seeds

Now, to be scientific, I had Pooka stop and observe the difference in the two seeds. I wanted to see if she could find any difference in them and similarities. Pooka ran and got her magnifying glass and got to work. She said the blue peas were "a reddish color, less wrinkley and stayed a bit more round as well a bit bigger." The regular peas were "white and looked squished and wrinkled, and were still a circle." Now we wait to see the begining of the plants.

Life finds a way

Pooka and I found a surprise on Monday. We were walking through the garage and I looked over at the very poorly cleaned up garden supplies. Sadly, by the time we tried to put the garden to bed last year, our hearts weren't in it, and things got thrown in our yard waste/old recycle bin.

Anyway, Monday, I looked over at the recycle bin and on top was the big pot of chives from last year. The pot Daddy loved having full of chives for cooking with. It had chives in it and a price tag to something, (this is real life folks). Not just the dead chives from last year, but new chives as well, that were growing and somehow surviving since that pot had not really seen water and more then 20 minutes of sunlight since fall.

I moved the pot out into the front porch so it could get watered/rained on and sunlight. The seedlings look in decent shape for where they were. You can see they had reached for the sunlight outside the garage, and now they should start developing really well since they are outside. This is even better since I decided this year we are not growing our own herbs from seed. I will pay for those, but here is one I don't have to rebuy. Maybe next year I will overwinter it in the house so Daddy gets his fresh chives all year. We will have to wait and see.

Sprouts

We have sprouts. Pooka was so excited.She told me Rosebud, (Green Thumb's friend) was working really hard since Green Thumb was still in Hawaii for training. Some of these seeds have been in the dirt for less then a week, but they are growing quite well. I will say this year we broke down and got some seed warming mats since we do tend to keep the air temperature a bit cold for them. It looks like the seed mats were a good investment.

So far, I know the leeks and the snapdragons, tomatoes and broccoli have started, and I am sure more have started since this picture. The pepper plants which I always seem to struggle with are starting to show a bit of green. We turned the seed trays after this picture so they would start growing the other way. To be completely honest, I need to get in there and see exactly what is growing and make a note of it for next time. 

There may be more cold and snow in the forecast (and it is official, this is the snowiest winter we have ever had), but it looks like spring is starting in the house. Lets just hope it warms up enough to take things outside a bit during the day once we transplant into pots. 

More seeds...

So I already admitted I had a problem. However, I will say that not all of this is my fault. Pooka and I just started 8 more pots of seedlings.

It started when Pooka brought home some seeds from Nainai's (did I mention Pooka is learning Chinese and Nani-Nani is chinese for grandmother). Turns out, one of Nainai's coworkers had some extra squash seeds and asked if Nainai wanted them. She said no, but Pooka would. We don't know what kind of squash they are exactly, just squash, so we figure once it produces we will figure the rest out.

Then Pooka asked if we could grow marigolds since her egg flowers didn't really survive. The last one was the fact that more then once Pooka and I have looked at this new type of broccolli called Brocolli Romanesco which has this really cool geometric pattern thing going. It just happened to jump in the cart one day.

More seeds

So Pooka and I planted the squash and the broccolli. Is it a tad late to be starting broccolli, sure, but if I can nurse it along through this weird spring and summer, I will have an early crop of broccolli come fall. 

Seeds hoping to start.

The marigolds have not yet been planted since their home is currently holding a tomato. I am hoping to get that in the ground after this cold snap. The same one that has a frost warning on for tonight. Welcome to oh who knows anymore.

Well, its official... I have a problem

I think Pooka and I both need a 12 step program for buying seeds.

It is spring break for half the family around here (Pooka's spring break does not line up with Brother's break) so Pooka and I have had a bit of extra time on our hands. It's been nice being able to get caught up on silly things like dr and vet appointments, transplanting, ect. It has just been nice being home.

On Tuesday, Pooka and I had to go to Walmart. Normally not a place I am likely to get into trouble (mostly due to the fact that I hate that place), however this particular day, I did. We went intially for dirt (we were planning to transplant sunflowers and green beans), and a few other odds and ends. Turns out, the dirt is so wonderfully located next to the seeds.

More seeds... again

I told Pooka no more seeds the instant we saw them. In fact, we walked away to find the dirt we needed, but we had to walk back past the seed display to get the rest of the things we needed. It was then, I had a moment. Call it a moment of insanity, call it a moment of stupidity, call it a moment of weakness, call it a moment of emotional breakdown.. I am not quite sure, but in that moment, I had to make her happy. Especially when Pooka asked for $0.50 red sunflower seeds. It was a whole half a dollar for something she had been asking for awhile about. She even said she would hold onto them for next year. She would put them in the box and wait, but could we just get them now.

Next to it was $0.20 zucchini seeds. Again, not something we wanted to grow originally, but the ones Pooka recieved as a birthday gift in the grow ums still have not sprouted a root or a leaf. Pooka has been watching them daily and worrying what we will do if they don't grow. I swear part of me felt like if I just pony up the 20 cents, maybe I could protect her from the other bigger hurts in the world. Hurts that are coming, and that can't be solved with a simple package of seeds.


New seeds and new seed pots

We walked out of there, with 2 new sets of seeds and some new peat seed starter cups. I was looking at them and Pooka got very wise and said, "Mommy we can save the rest for next year."

I realize that you get what you pay for when it comes to seeds, and I don't expect much from either set, but for $2, I can't get one zucchini for that price. If I get 1 zucchini and 1 sunflower I will consider myself paid back. If we don't get anything from either, well its not like I am out $10 or more.

We came home and spent part of what was suppose to be transplanting time on planting her new seeds. Then I had to find space for them on the ever growing garden tables. I managed to get them all the peat pots in the roaster pans. I did have to remove a snapdragon cup in the process.

Everyone in their new home.

What made this whole scene worth it? The giant smile on Pooka's little face when I told her she could have her red sunflowers and even zucchini, and then later that afternoon once Daddy was home and I had confessed what I did (only to get the "this will be interesting" head roll). Pooka ran up, stood on a chair and hugged me and said "Thank you Mommy, you are the best Mommy ever." She even went as far as to have one leg up in the air. For part of one day, I made a little Pooka happy. I will take that hug and those words over all the money and the plants and the stars in the world. That is the reason we do this, to make her happy. The science, the learning, the food, is all second to giving her one thing that is completly and utterly about making her happy.