Hardening Off My Veggies

Finally set out a few of my plants today for a few hours. Everything is looking good with the exception of the tomatoes.  I have a few that are hanging on for dear life.  I lost 3 Cherokee Purple, but started a few more last week.  They've sprouted and doing well.  Hopefully I will have better luck with these.     

My peppers are doing great.  I have 20 cayenne, Hungarian wax, chili, and jalapeno that look healthy and are ready to go.  Two sweet minis are finally taking off.  I will definitely have to start those earlier next year.  I didn't realize how slow they are to grow.  When the packet states to start them in February that's what they mean!

Here's a few of my tomato plants, a beefsteak and Hillbilly.   I have a few others that are doing well, but others are struggling to make it.  Not sure what has happened with the tomatoes, as I provided the same care and maintenance for all of them.  Next year, I will plant far more that I need to ensure that I don't have to start over.  I'm sure somebody at the office will take the extra off my hands.  I still have a few weeks to see how they progress.  I won't put my garden in until the end of May and may stagger the planting through mid-June.  We've gotten frost in these parts in the middle of May.  So my philosophy is, when it's warm enough to swim it's warm enough to put the garden in. 

The squash, zucchini, watermelon and pumpkins are doing great.  I need to get them in the ground soon.  My guest room is starting to look like a jungle.  I've had to move most of them out of the pots and into these Hefty cups.  Thanks to Granny at Annie's Kitchen Garden, I used her idea of punching holes in the bottom of the cups with a glue gun.  We drink out of these cups regularly because Mama don't have time to be washing dishes all day, so we have plenty of plastic cups around.  The hot glue gun works wonderfully for the holes, and they're nice and deep and strong.  Perfect for the plants once they take off.   

This was my first year starting seedlings.  I have to say,  I really had a great experience.  I'm learning bunches visiting your blogs and taking a tip here and there.   Next year, I'll start the peppers and tomatoes a little earlier and the squash and zuchinni a little later.  I need to invest in another 4 foot grow light, other than that I'm getting the hang of things.  

Garden's Tilled

I'll finally seeing some growth with my veggie plants.  I've transplanted quite a few and so far they're all doing great.  The exception is sweet peppers.  I only had two germinate, and they are struggling.  Not sure what the problem is with these little darlings, but I was successful and have transplanted many into bigger pots.   I kept a lot of my veggie/flower pots over the years. They have finally come in handy.  Here's a list of what I've transplanted so far:

3 Squash
5 Zucchini  (Hopefully, I can give a few of these away)
3 Cayenne
3 Chili
1 Hungarian Wax
2 Jalapeno
3 Cherokee Purple
2 Box Car Willie
1 Hillbilly
2 German Johnson
2 Kaki Coing
1 Crimson Watermelon
3 Sugar Baby Watermelon
2 Pumpkin

I saved my drinking cups for some of the plants and glad I did.  I had a few that were leggy, and wanted to plant them deep.  I used one of my hot glue guns to punch holes in the bottom of the cups.  It worked great. 

I have several flats that contain Brandy Wine, Paul Robeson and more hot peppers.  They have germinated, so I'm hoping to transplant them in the next week. I'll be adding Romas, green beans, and red onions to the garden as well. 

We finally got the garden tilled today.  We didn't make it as large as I wanted.  I ended up with a 25 x 25 instead of the 25 x 30 that I was hoping for.  We'll see how it works out.  The dirt is so fluffy.  It's like powder.  I'm hoping that I will not have to do much amending.  I'll have a soil analysis done later in the week.  Last year, I only added a light fertilizer.  I'm hoping that my compost that has been cooking for the past year will be enough this season. 

I need to figure out how I'm going to cage my tomatoes.  How do you cage your Heirlooms?  I may follow your lead. 

Starting Seedlings

Well, I've started my first flat of tomato and pepper seedlings.  Wish me luck.  I decided to use the peat pots, and save the plastic for potting soil and transplants.  I love how the peat pots absorb the water.  This flat has heirloom tomatoes and sweet peppers.  They were in the process of absorbing the water when this picture was taken.  I have 12 tomato and 6 mini and grand sweet peppers mix so far.  I was leery about starting sweet peppers, especially after the monsters I grow last year with plants from my hardware store.  I decided to do 6.  If I can grow the quality and size from my seedlings that I did with the store brought plants, I know I'm on my way to being a true gardener, lol.  If not, I'll be ecstatic that I successfully germinated the seed.  I ran out of time, so I'll be starting my cayenne peppers this week-end.  I'm planting 6 cayenne, 5 jalapeno and 5 banana.  I probably should have started the cayenne's first since they seem to have the longest germination period.  Oh well live and learn. 

As you can see, I like it hot.  I'll freeze some, use some in salsa, and dry the others for pepper flakes.  I loved pulling out fresh peppers for chili and spaghetti over the winter, so I'm looking forward to replenishing my stock this summer.

I purchased a few packages of cukes, but not sure I'll try starting those from seeds or not.  From what I've read, they're difficult to transplant.  Do you start cukes inside or direct sow?  I want lots of cukes for homemade pickles this year.  I decided to purchase a few heat mats for germination.  I was going to use the rope method, but got a good deal on the heat mats at my local hardware store with free shipping.  I love them.  I found the perfect place to place my flats, in my laundry room.  I have two 4 foot shelves over my washer and dryer that were empty, so I thought it would be the perfect place for germination and grow lights once germination takes place.  They're out of the way, and I won't drive myself crazy because of the clutter through out my house.  I told you about my OCD  problem, right.  I can't stand for things to be out place.  I inherited that trait from my father.  Once the seedlings get large enough, I'll transplant and move them in front of a window in my guest room until it's time to harden them off. 

Here's my flat on the heat meat in the laundry room.  I used craft sticks from the dollar store to mark the plants, 100 for $1.00.  I purchased the peat pots from Big Lots, 20 for $2.00 and the water trays held geraniums from the nursery last year.  I didn't have a dome for the trays, so I used cling wrap and rubber bands to cover the posts.  Got this idea fron Martha Stewart, and it seems to be working great. 

I'm wondering if should poke a small hole in a few of the cling wrap covers, it looks like condensation is building on a few in the front?  It's only been 5  days, but I was hoping something would emerge.  I like immediate gratification.  It seems that patience is a must for a gardener. 

It's cloudy here today.  I may head out to the garden and take down the fencing and posts if it doesn't rain.  I'm suppose to till next week or the week after.   If I get the garden tilled within that time frame, I may plant garlic.  That will be a first.  I want to try that garlic pesto that everyone is raving about.   If the weather doesn't hold up, I'll head out tomorrow.  I need to take three 33 gallon bags of shredded paper down to the compost site and store them.  I have about 10 bags of leaves that are already waiting to be used.  Grass mowing starts next week, so I'll have plenty to add to the bins.  Especially after I weed the shrubbery beds. I visited Mark's Veggie Plot blog yesterday, and he had a beautiful pile of compost.  I'm looking forward to seeing what's happened with my compost pile over the last year.  I may have to remove the top and use what's on the bottom as he did.  I checked it a few weeks ago, and it hasn't completely broken down.

Well, I'm off to get the cayenne peppers started and see what else I can get into today.  Happy Gardening!