Spring Seeds Sprouting and Some Rows of Corn Planted

The time has finally come to start transplanting some summer crops now that all spring crops should be in the soil.  I finished planting my spring crops last week and all that is left is to place my carrots in the ground.  They were started in peat pots this year so I still have plenty of time to put them in the ground.  I also started planting some corn and looking forward to setting up my bean trellis and planting my beans as well. 

I finished my spring crop transplanting beginning with spinach, lettuce, and then broccoli.  This type of broccoli will probably not last long because they don’t grow well in hot weather unlike the sun king hybrid that I am growing outside in pots.  This type of broccoli can withstand the heat and I am hoping that I can start planting them as soon as they are big enough to withstand the garden soil.

My potatoes, peas, and radishes are all sprouting and they are looking good at the moment.  I will have to thin out my radish and pea plants, but I am waiting until they get a little bit bigger before doing so.  I don’t want to wait too long otherwise it will become much harder to thin them out and might end up harming the plants that I want to keep in the garden.

I added both alyssum and dill into the garden as well and put them all near my potato plants.  I also have some perennial alyssum that is already flowering and will probably last for another week before they are done for the season.  My dill will soon flower and hopefully this will attract the insects that I need in the garden.  I have planted my sunflower seeds and they are sprouting as well which should be a good attracter of bees. 

I have placed corn seeds into rows this week due to the good weather we have been having the past couple of days.  This is a good time to start planting corn, beans, and possibly tomatoes as long as the temperatures are between 60-70 degrees Fahrenheit.  I also have some peppers which will probably be going into the ground about the same time as my tomatoes.

Potatoes are Placed into the Garden Later than Recommended

Due to weather conditions I have been planting much of my garden later than I would like to.  As they say April showers bring May flowers.  This happens to be true most years, but this season it has been abnormally rainy and windy for the most part.  I normally wouldn’t mind, but unfortunately it is preventing me from planting potatoes and other plants into the garden.

Luckily today was actually quite nice, but definitely windy.  I can deal with the wind and since the sun was out for a short time I decided that it was time to get my seed potatoes into the ground.  I had cut them a couple of days ago and let them sit in the windowsill in order to cure them before placing them in rows outside. 

 

 Rather than digging holes which would have taken much longer to complete I decided that it would be best to start with a thirty foot row.  I had to dig a little bit deeper because they require at least three inches of soil to cover these seeds.  Once I did that I planted them into each row and took up about twenty feet of row instead of the usual thirty or more.

 

  This means that there was extra room that I need to fill.  Since I had no more potatoes to plant I thought it would be best to put some cool weather seeds there.  I wasn’t sure what to put in this spot, but I eventually decided on cabbage, broccoli, brussel sprouts, celery, and lettuce.  I could have placed some flowers there, but there was enough space for some seeds to be planted.

All my recently planted seeds have started to pop up.  I didn’t think they would be sprouting by now, but believe or not they are showing themselves through the soil.  I would guess that it was all the rain we have been receiving for the past couple of weeks with more to come

How Late is Too Late to Plant Peas and Radishes Outside?

Timing is everything when it comes to gardening because there is a time when it is too late to start planting certain seeds.  In this case it is between radishes and snow peas.  I always like to get them into the soil during the month of April and no later.  Although I just planted them in the soil today which is still within the month of April, I would have rather planted them a couple of weeks ago if the weather cooperated.  Luckily this week was good enough to cultivate the soil and I had to plant them today in the cloudy rainy weather.

Now that they are in the soil they can take advantage of the cool weather and rainy conditions which they seem to like and thrive in just like my onions.  I will soon start planting my lettuce, spinach, cabbage, and other plants into the garden soon once they get a little bit bigger.  These I planted indoors and have been in containers outside for the past month or so.

I plan on getting my potatoes into the ground as well.  I am thinking about giving them an entire thirty foot row in the garden.  I think one thirty foot row is plenty of room to get many plants into the ground once I cut off the eyes and dry them a little bit. 

Each eye is potentially a plant that is waiting to be planted into the ground.  You can just plant the whole potato in the ground, but if you cut the eyes you can get many more plants and hopefully a much larger harvest.

My containers that I have planted indoors that are full of edible plant seeds and flower seeds are starting to sprout and break through the soil.  Some seeds that were planted indoors include pumpkins, zucchini, watermelon, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, pickles, cantaloupe, honeydew, and many more.

I have also planted flowers that include Queen Anne’s lace, statice, coriander/cilantro, cosmos, calendula, marigolds, corn flowers, and many more.

Almost Done with All the Transplants in the Garden

I am just about finished with all the transplants that I will be adding to the garden.  All I have left is some dill, wildflowers, statice, alyssum, and various other flowers that I need to get outside real soon.  With vegetables and fruits finally planted from seed or transplanted into the garden from containers, I can now focus on weeding and caring for my plants.  I am just looking for the first harvest from my garden this season.

It looks like some of the first harvests of the season will come from either my lettuce plants or some other spring crop.  Radishes don’t take long to mature and they were planted in the ground a couple of months ago along with my pea plants.  These are just some of the harvests I have to look forward to this year.



The only flowers I transplanted into the garden this week were my cilantro and cosmos flowers.  These plants I started growing back in April and took quite awhile for them to germinate and grow in the containers that I provided them.  They survived this whole time and it was way overdue to plant them in the ground.  It seems like they all took to the soil and with the rain today should definitely help them out greatly.



Rhubarb was another plant that had been grown in pots and was eventually destined to be added into the garden.  I gave them a spot with plenty of room since they have very large roots and need plenty of feeding.  I don’t plan on harvesting any of the stems this season, but hopefully with some good care this year and a cold winter I should have a small harvest next season. 



Last but not least I wanted to mention some of the seeds that were planted and which ones have shown signs of germinating.  Squash was the first since they don’t take long to germinate.  This includes both zucchini and pumpkin plants.  Some cucumbers were in the mix beginning to sprout.  Sunflowers were the other seeds that are starting to grow in the garden.  All that I am waiting for are carrots and a couple of melon seeds that I added a week ago.

Weather is Right for Planting Onions Outside

It seems like the weather is just about right to get onions planted outside into large totes.  I love planting them in totes and is the best way for me to get good sized onions.  This year I have decided on two types of onions to place into my growing totes. 

I chose the usual yellow onions and I also picked some red onions which will be added to the garden.  I am only using a couple of totes for red onions and the rest will be filled with the yellow ones.  For now I am only going to use two since these onions are new for me to grow.

Now that my onions are planted it will soon be time to get some other spring seeds planted as well.  I plan to plant seeds such as spinach, snow peas, lettuce, and others in the garden real soon.  I am just waiting for a little bit warmer weather before I start tilling the soil.

I also will be removing the straw from my strawberry plants real soon as well.  I took a peak underneath the straw and it looks like many of the plants did survive over the cold winter.  As long as you put a thick layer of straw they should come back every year bigger and hopefully with more fruit.  It does take a couple of years before you get a significant crop.

For now I am focusing on what I have already planted indoors.  This includes many flower, fruit, and vegetable seeds at the moment.  Almost all of them have begun sprouting one way or another. 

The best plants right now are my flowers which are some of the first things that I planted this season.  Dill and alyssum have been growing for the past month and a half and will be ready to go outside with some warmer weather coming around.  I will probably start planting more alyssum real soon because I like to have at least three containers or more of these flowers.



I also have all three tomato seeds beginning to sprout along with melons.  I will keep them under the lights for a short time and then soon place them in the windowsill for some natural light.  Right now my tomato plants are in the windowsill getting as much sun as possible.

Look Some New Sprouts in the Garden

As you know I have planted some seeds of peas, radishes, celery, and spinach a couple of weeks ago right into garden rows.  I am now seeing the first signs of sprouting from both my peas and radishes.  The good weather that has arrived has definitely been helping them in sprouting very soon.

 I will have to start thinning them out real soon, but I just wanted to show you some of the sprouting that is going on within the garden.

Lettuce has also been growing good and a some more potted plants were transplanted into the garden.  I don't like leaving them in pots too long and once they are big enough it is time to set them into the soil in the garden.

Sprouts, Digging, and Soaking

Kind of an odd title, but that is what I have been doing this afternoon.  I am seeing sprouts coming from my alyssum and wildflowers only.  I am hoping that I will begin to see dill sprouting any day now.  I did plant them later than my alyssum and wildflower seeds, so I do still have some time before they sprout.

It was also time for digging now that I have my potatoes and need to get them into the soil as soon as possible.  I am looking to put them in the ground tomorrow all dependent on the weather conditions and temperature.  Although my potatoes may be safe in the ground covered by soil I still would like to plant them on a good sunny day.

Along with digging I did some soaking with my strawberry plants.  It is important to soak your plants in water before putting them outside in the ground.  They need to soak in water in order to get out of their dormant state.  This allows the plant to absorb water and get ready to grow once you put them outside in the garden.

Almost Time to Start Thinning Out Lettuce

It is almost time to begin thinning out my lettuce sprouts that have began growing sometime earlier this week to late last week.  There have only been a couple of containers that needed thinning and I made sure I did that today before they got too crowded.

I always leave just one plant per pot in order to have one good producing plant rather than many small non-producing lettuce plants.  Today I did about four pots that were ready for thinning.  I will have to do much more in the future once all my lettuce seeds have completed sprouting.

Here is just one example of iceberg seeds I have planted and sprouted rather quickly.  I then took the time today to remove all of them but one.  The one I pick is usually the strongest out of the bunch.

Weeded Onions and Most Seeds Have Begun Sprouting

I would say that I have been busy in the garden this past week.  This includes thinning out many of my plants, weeding all my onions both in totes and in the ground, and adding a thick layer of mulch to my onions. 

First I want to talk about the plants that have begun sprouting.  I had many transplants that I added to the garden, but they didn't fill up the rows that I gave them which happens every season.  With the extra room in the row I just fill them with seeds.  This is basically growing them directly in the ground which still works and is a great way to insure that you get at least one good plant at the least.

I only thinned out my corn, cucumbers, and melons for now.  The others will come later since I didn't think that they had finished sprouting entirely.  My corn and the others looked as if they were done with their sprouting phase.

I started with corn since it is one of the easiest to thin out.

You can easily see the before and after of my corn, cucumbers, and melons from the above pictures.  I also wanted to mention some weeding that I did this week.  I normally wouldn't write about weeding that much, but my totes were filled with so many weeds that you couldn't see the onion stems.  Take a look at them below.

You should never let weeds get this out of control.  Any longer and my onion plants might show signs of ill health.  Before that happened I made certain to remove every weed from each tote.

 This is how onions in totes are supposed to look like.  With no weeds at all is how they are supposed to look all year long.

To make sure weeds don't ever come back for the rest of the year I added a thick layer of mulch that I collect this past weekend.

Spinach Placed Outside and Flowers Sprouting Indoors

Whenever warm weather or at least sunny days occur I like to place as many plants outside as possible depending on various conditions.  For instance right now it is almost springtime, yet this doesn't mean that the weather is going to get warmer right away.  It will still be too cool for most of my plants except for spinach which is capable of withstanding cooler temperatures at least in the lower 40's to upper 30's (Fahrenheit) at the lowest.

They grow best in the 50's to 60's (Fahrenheit), but I do place them outside when it is much cooler.  Since last week was warm and sunny it was a great opportunity to place my spinach outside to enjoy the bright sun.  This week it hasn't been sunny at all and mostly rainy.  This week they haven't gone outside, but I hope to put them outdoors soon to adjust to cloudy weather as well as rainy weather.

They are growing very nicely at the moment and I will soon be placing them outside and throughout the night once the temperature is acceptable to them.

Now I want to discuss the various seeds that have been sprouting this past week.  The sunny weather last week definitely helped out my lettuce plants indoors and they started sprouting this weekend.  Both of the Ruby glow hybrid and the iceberg black seeded Simpson are growing.  Check them out below.

It seems that I may have added too many seeds into each pot and I think I will be very busy removing the ones I don't need.  I didn't think that all the seeds would sprout and since they are very small seeds it is difficult to know how many I added.  That is why I always add more than needed because I can always remove some.  In this case I am going to remove quite a bit and it looks that I probably should have added only half or more of what was planted.

When it comes to flowers I am not that worried about having too much because I have found that most of them grow best when they are in a large bunch.  One plant that I especially like that is perfect for this reason is alyssum.  I can grow them in large pots and put a large amount of seeds and they will do just fine for a few month until I place them in the ground.  They flower all season long which is perfect for what I need them for.

Pictured above are alyssum, sunflowers, and dill.  Now that they have sprouted I can remove the dill from under the lights and place some new plants under them.  Right now I am not going to plant anything, but tomorrow I plan on adding tomatoes, eggplants, and peppers under these fluorescent lights.

Just Another Day for Planting Onions

The time has come to start planting onions outside now that the weather is starting to warm up enough to plant these bulbs.  It has been warming up above freezing for the past week allowing me to work with the soil stored inside the totes that I use.  The first week of April is perfect for growing these bulbs.

One added thing that I am doing this year with onions is trying to plant them in the garden as well as in the totes that I used for the past ten years or more.  This was something I did many years ago, but didn't do quite as well as the totes.  I am trying it this year with all the extra onion bulbs that I had left over.  A pound and a half of onion bulbs can get you quite a bit of bulbs.

This means that I have to take care of two different areas of onions this season instead of worrying about the totes.  I will have to double my efforts such as more mulch, fertilizer, and watering.  This shouldn't be bad as long as I do what I did last season.

Peppers, tomatoes, and more plants are sprouting inside.  While it is warm for onion bulbs it is not warm for many of my other plants that I started inside.  Tomatoes and peppers have just sprouted last week and are looking quite good with minimal amount of sunlight.

Tomato

Pepper

At the same time I am beginning to harden off my spinach plants as early as possible in order to get them accustomed to the temperatures and winds that they will face once I plant them into the ground.

Finally My Spinach Seeds and More are Sprouting

I have been waiting about a month to see my spinach seeds to begin to sprout and I checked yesterday and found that some of them were beginning to grow.  It is always exciting to finally to see spinach seeds sprout instead of not doing anything.  I have had that happen before and it is not a good feeling.

Now that they are starting to sprout the gardening season will pick up real quick within a month or so.  Once they reach a certain size I will then bring them outside for awhile and then plant them into the ground.  Lettuce is another cool weather crop that I planted a couple of weeks ago and is also sprouting.  Check them out below.

Basically once I see plants sprouting all the work that I have put into it has not been a waste of time.  This is one of the reasons why planting seeds indoors is very important. 

Most of my beneficial flowers that I grow are growing as well.  The most important ones I would consider crucial include alyssum, dill, and sunflowers.

Dill

Alyssum is starting to look good and is beginning to grow rather quickly.

Here are the sunflowers that have sprouted the past couple of weeks or so.

The last thing I want to mention is the planting of cucumbers and cantaloupe.  Two plants that need a head start especially cantaloupe because they are similar to watermelons and are considered melons.