Cover 'em up!

Well, Derby Day is the unofficial planting day for summer crops around here; generally it's safe to say our area will be frost-free after the "most exciting two minutes in history." Here we are, though, a week after Derby --- and we have a frost warning issued.

No worries! To keep your plants safe, just cover them up. You can use something simple like sheets, towels, or upside-down pots. Or you can get all sophisticated (ahem, like us) and use special frost cloth to protect your plants. This is sold by the foot and is quite inexpensive. We bought 30 feet of it for around $20. It's reuseable as well, so should last several years.

Tucked in for the night!

Of course the frost warning comes tonight, because we spent all morning getting our beautiful seedlings outside in the raised beds. We've been hardening them off for the past week, and they look amazing. We're so excited to watch their progress!

---Autumn

Grow, baby, grow!

Have I mentioned how much I love watching our plants grow??? Well, I do. Here are a few photos of the seedlings we've started indoors. Remember what they looked like just 4 days ago? 4 days, folks! Now look at them!

Zucchini!

 Since it was 80 degrees yesterday, they enjoyed some outside time in the sunlight. Our grow lights work well, but nothing is better than the real thing.



Cucumbers!

The seeds are slowly, but surely, emerging from the raised beds outside. We just got a really nice rain, so I expect major growth by the end of the day; especially if the sun decides to come out at all. It's amazing how effective rain water is versus water from the hose. A few weeks ago, we constructed our first rain barrel. We got about a half inch of rain the next day, and the barrel was completely full. We're working now on getting a few more barrels - once we do, I'll share our methods of construction. Stay tuned!

In the words of Tom Petty...

...the waiting is the hardest part! We've done all we can do at this point. The beds are filled with soil, seeds are planted outside, and seeds are started inside. Now? We wait. This is a good time to mention that patience isn't my strongest characteristic. Ugh. But, like most things in life; good things come to those who wait. (I still want it to hurry, though)

The beauty of starting seeds indoors is that we can see the progress of each seedling --- and that is enough to get me through to harvest time. Not only do I water and rotate the plants each day, but I also frequently go check on the wee little seedlings to see what has decided to pop out. And while it may seem excessive to look in on them more than once a day, it only takes an hour sometimes to see new sprouts emerging.

Three days ago, we spotted a lone zucchini breaking through the soil. A few hours later, there were multiple cells that had seedlings emerging. As of yesterday, we have zucchini, cucumbers, kohlrabi, and tomatoes sprouting.

So yes, the waiting really stinks. But I am rewarded daily, if not hourly, by the promise of growth. And that's enough to keep me going.

 

Our first zucchini!

 

 

A tiny kohlrabi, breaking through the soil

 

So, much to my dismay --- there's nothing to do but wait. (and keep our fingers crossed) And for now, I'll keep checking our plants to see what else comes out to greet us!

 

---Autumn 



The seeds

Once we prepared the beds, it was time to get the seeds in the ground. We spent a good while planning where everything will go, and then plotted it all on a large poster board lest we forgot where we planted everything. It was actually quite fun to sit and color tiny carrots and tomatoes on the plan!

 

The master plan

 

As I mentioned, this is our first year at square foot gardening. As a previous row gardener, I find it nerve-wracking and a little daunting to plant so many plants this close together. The growing season will be interesting, to say the least. For now, we'll keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best.

 

This is also our first year at planting early crops and seed starting. Until this point, we've waited for the normal planting time in our area --- the day after Derby Day (the Kentucky Derby, for you non-locals). This is traditionally the time when people get warm weather plants in the ground. It's well past the frost date and safe to plant. Because we're novice spring planters, we purchased a very handy slide tool from Fresh Start that tells us everything we need to know, including when to start seeds inside, when to transplant, and when to sow directly outdoors. It cost less than $4, and has proven invaluable to our journey. Along with the slide tool, we also purchased our seeds from our friends at Fresh Start. We bought High Mowing Organic Seeds. There's no room for Monsanto in our yard!

 

 

Look at all those veggies!

 



On Sunday, it was nice enough to get into the garden and plant the direct-sow seeds. These included onions, peas, turnips, leaf lettuce, mustard greens, carrots, and radishes. When we had the unfortunate accident with the seedlings, we lost broccoli, cauliflower, kale, swiss chard, lettuce, and spinach. We plan to replace those seeds by the weekend.

 

Inside, we started the following seeds: squash, zucchini, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, kohlrabi, and various herbs. They should be ready for the ground just in time for Derby Day! For now, they're happily sitting under grow lights.

--Autumn

Seed Starting Sucess...then death.

In late January, I went to a "potting party" at a locally owned garden supply store. There, I was able to gain knowledge of seed starting (which has never been successfull for me), and came home with four trays of organic seeds. These trays included spinach, swiss chard, kale, red lettuce, broccoli, and cauliflower. I was so excited to see them start growing!

 (three days after planting!)

                                                           
We purchased a few grow lights, as our home doesn't have enough sun through the windows to get seeds growing. Our whole family delighted in seeing the progress from day to day...

(12 days after planting)

(22 days after planting)

(35 days after planting)

 

 At this point, it was warm enough to start hardening off the plants --- so, we took them outside on a lovely sunny day...and then forgot to bring them in at night. Needless to say, they died. Instantly. As in, one day they were big and beautiful, and the next day the stems were limp and translucent. I was sick. Sick! My first ever successful attempt at seed starting ended overnight because I neglected to bring the plants in overnight. 96 plants...gone. ACK! But --- the time I spent at the "potting party" workshop was totally worth it, even if my plants did die. I was able to enjoy the company of my best friend (hereby called "bestie") and alone time from my kiddos for a few hours on the weekend. So all was certainly not lost! Though our plants died, we bought seeds to replace them; and I sure had fun, despite the tragic death of our seedlings...duh duh duh...

 

--Autumn