I did not realize how far ahead I was with my indoor seed starting till now. I needed to look up a germination time from my last years spreadsheet. This time I also looked at the date sown column. My first seeds were planted on 3/12/2011 last year. Today, two days earlier on the calendar, I have 28 different types planted, some ready for the great out doors. The other big difference is what I've planted. I have 164 cups of seedlings, there are only 16 cups of flowers, the rest are vegetables. For me that's an extreme shift as it is usually reversed.
Here is some of what is growing under the lights.
 |
| 'Primero' cabbage, 'Albino Verduro Improved' beet in the background. |
 |
| 'Full Heart Batavian' escarole, 'Gonzales' cabbage. |
 |
| 'Ambition' shallots. |
 |
| 'Pixie' cabbage, 'Scarlet' spinach and various Swiss chard in the back. |
 |
| Six varieties of lettuce all sown on the same day. Interesting how one is leggy and the rest are not! |
'America', 'Giant Nobel' and 'Viking' spinach.
Can anyone tell me why one variety of lettuce is so leggy and the rest are very stocky? Just goes to show how plants will always surprise you...
'America', 'Giant Nobel' and 'Viking' spinach.
they look fabulous!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jenny! It's only taken me about 20 years to get it right, LOL.
DeleteGood heavens, Ed. Where are you going to put all of that in the potager? You sure are having better luck with your spinach germination than I am. I did presprout the last batch with better luck, but got in a hurry and planted a few that hadn't yet germinated, so I think I'll do another tray and do it right. I have no idea why the lettuce did that.
ReplyDeleteGranny, it won't all be going in the Potager. This year a lot of the more ornamental edibles will be in the flower beds. The red cabbage, Swiss chard, orach (if it sprouts), half the lettuce, parsley and basil are going in a bed of the pool area.
ReplyDeleteI did notice that the two Italian lettuce are the stockiest. The Thai letuce is the leggy one. I guess diferent varieties have different light needs.
So far all of my lettuces (except the romaine) are the mixes, yours and Wild Garden. I'm getting a nice variety of colors and shapes, so every salad will be a surprise!
ReplyDeleteI just sowed my Wild Garden Mix today. I can't wait to see what it contains!
ReplyDeleteNice setup you got going on. Looks like you have been a busy man with all those seedlings. We are going to convert you from a flower man to a hard core veggie farmer.
ReplyDeleteKris, my set up is nothing special. It is two of the put together metal stands with 2 very cheap flourescent fixtures per shelf. I've been using this set up since the late 1990's.
ReplyDeleteIt does look like I'm heading hard core into vegetables. I've got a big learning curve a head of me this year.