Week one 2011 (03/03/2011)

I planted three different seedlings last week (02/24/2011) using Jiffy Tomato greenhouse pellets.  I saved money by just buying the refill pack and using milk cartons to hold the pellets.  I placed the milk cartons in a mini green house I had bought last year.

I left the seedlings in here and used warm water to encourage the a warm moist atmosphere for the seeds.  As soon as the seeds started to sprout I took them out.  One thing to watch out for is a white mold called "Damping off" that can grow on the top of your seed pellets and effect germination.  To prevent this you can lift the lid off of your seedlings and allow circulation.

These are my pellets for the Fairy Tale eggplant from Johnny's seed company.  No action yet, I read that eggplant can be a bit finicky and can take longer to germinate so I am being patient with it.  The pellets are still in my little green house, and hopefully keeping warm.  Eggplant likes to be extremely warm (about 80 degrees F).  I'm afraid it is hard to get that warm in my house so I may be waiting awhile till these seedlings pop out.

These are my Green pearl Soybeans from Johnny's seed company.  I planted two seeds per pellet and all of them germinated except for two in one of the pellets due to that little white mold I explained earlier.  I am going to plant two more seeds in there and see if they germinate.  In my garden I am planning for four plants.  Right now I have eight seedlings, but I will be pulling four of them as soon as the true leaves come out in order to give more space to one plant.  Because that leaves me with exactly four plants I am hoping I can get some seeds to germinate in the failed seed pellet in case one of the plants dies.

These are my Clemson Spineless Okra from Johnny's seed company.  I planted three seeds per pellet, a total of 18 seeds.  A total of 15 have germinated, 83% germination rate isn't bad!  When the true leaves show I will take the weaker plants out to give more room for the stronger ones leaving me a total of six okra plants.




I also took a walk around my garden and noticed little sprouts everywhere.  I have crocus, and tulip sprouts coming out.  My roses, trees, and shrubs all of buds.  I also noticed a little rhubarb poking through the cold mud. 

Spring is around the corner!