Seedlings Started!

I did end up planting a very late planting of greens outside in November - I wasn't sure how they would do, but by late November, they were all sprouting! Well,  most anyway.  I  had put a row and a half of lettuces, and they didn't really do anything, but the other greens were doing great!  By December 9, they were getting fairly well established.  Notice the empty space on the left where the lettuces, and some OLD kale/mustard seeds were planted.

Greens - November 29, 2011

Dec. 9, 2011

By January, the garlic that I'd planted back in late November had also sprouted (see that post here), and by February, the greens were looking fantastic!  Time to thin them out and have a nutritious meal of  micro-greens.

Greens, Feb. 3, 2012

Garlic, Jan. 7, 2012

These are the greens that were planted in November: Mixed Kales, Champion Collards, Chinese thickstem mustard, Curly American mustard, Red Oakleaf lettuce, Italian Lacinato Kale, and Red Salad Bowl Lettuce.  The lettuces were on the far left (not so good). The half-row on the left is Lacinato kale. The first bushy row in the center is Curly American Mustard. The next bushy row to the right of that is Chinese thickstem mustard.  The darker green, not so bushy row to the right of that are Champion collards, and the half-row on the right are mixed kales.  The four rows on the right are all from seeds from 2008 from Evenstar farms - it was their "winter greens seed selection" - looks like the mustards had the best viability after all these years.  The lacinato kale on the left is from 2011.  I'll have try planting that one again in another season.

Jiffy pellets, seeds, and the garden journal. 2/9/12.

New pellets, along with planted seeds. 2/9/12

Now it was time to start planning the spring vegetables.  It has been such a mild winter, I am just kicking myself for not having started my greens back in the fall, they'd be so HUGE now.  Ah well - I can still enjoy these baby ones and look forward to more as the season progresses.  The first seedlings I'll start will also be those from the brassica/cole/cabbage family for an early spring start and a late spring harvest. I broke out my seed-starting  jiffy pot pellet containers and my garden journal and got started. 

I really like using the jiffy pellets.  The first year I tried them, there was some kind of white feathery stuff growing on the stems near the growing medium, so I did a web search and found all kinds of posts about jiffy pellet mold, etc.  So the next year, I used a planting mix, and sowed the seeds directly into that.  Well, the seedlings that year didn't do nearly as well, so I went back to Jiffy pellets last year and this year.  I sometimes still get some of that weird stem mold, but the plants seem to be doing fine, so I stopped worrying about it.

Newly planted greens and trays, 
both with and without covers.

Surprise winter snow dusting. Feb 12, 2012. 

The seeds that got planted in early February were: Swiss Chard - Fordhook, Bok Choy Tatsoi, Bok Choy White Stem, Spinach Mustard Tendergreen, Kohlrabi, Broccoli di Cicco, Chinese Cabbage Wong Bok, Cauliflower (Chef's mix), Cabbage Early Golden Acre, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage Red Acre, Chinese Kale Kailaan, and Collards - Georgia Southern. As of Feb. 17, 2012, most have sprouted except for the Swiss Chard and the Cabbage gold acre. Meanwhile, the outdoor plants are thriving - even lasting well through some ice and snow conditions. Those plants are definitely winter-hardy. You can take a look at last year's (2011) garden's seed starting and early plants here and then the later plants here.

This year, I am also trying something new.  I've been wanting to grow Stevia plants ever since I heard I could.  Of course, everything I read on the web said that the seeds were very difficult to germinate, and I'd be better off just buying already established plants.  I couldn't find seeds OR plants, and those who know me, know I'm always up to a challenge! Well, this month at Merrifield Gardens, I actually found Stevia seeds from two different companies.  Botanical Interests and Ferry Morse.  I bought the Botanical Interest ones (since I really like that company),

I then skimmed the web for Stevia germination instructions, and was delighted to find one website that was guardedly optimistic about home germination of seeds if one had the right equipment: light source, heat mat (they need to be between 70 and 75 degrees to germinate), etc.  (all of which I had).  So, I am proud to say that I also started FOUR pots of stevia.  Of course - they are the OTHER batch of seeds that have not germinated yet.  But I'm not worried yet, since  the packet says they take 7-21 days to germinate.

Feb. 15, Greens on left doing well.  Swiss Chard, Stevia and Cabbage Early Golden
Acre (under covers) not yet sprouted.  The cabbage seeds are older (2009), but the
Swiss Chard is from last year (??).

Of course, after doing some more reading, it said that the only stevia seeds that were viable were dark brown or black.  I thought back to the Botanical Interest Stevia seeds I'd planted.  They were green and tan.  Hmmmmm.  Now I wish I'd ALSO bought the Ferry Morse seeds.  Well, we'll see.  Keep your fingers crossed.