I'm getting a bit worried about the tomato seeds I put in on the 12th. They're not UP yet! There have been no floods or droughts in the cold frame, yet there they are, snuggled down in the $24/bag organic, gorgeous, super-nutrient-rich soil. I - of course - want them up already. Happy little green exploratory first leaves should be showing...info on them says 7-14 days and they're pushing it! Today is day 17. I'm wondering if they aren't coming at all. It isn't just one kind though, it's two, so I'm pretty sure they just haven't hit the sweet spot in temperature yet. Meanwhile, I'm putting in more this weekend just in case. *grumble*
The broccoli, cabbage and eggplant are all up though. More each day, so I'm not completely neurotic about the appearance of seedlings. Tomatoes rate so much higher on the taste scale though.
Outside under the bed hoops though, we have all kinds of lettuces up as well as the peas, five-color silverbeet and spinach. In the Onion Region the seeds I saved last year from our onions have sprouted!! Open-pollinated and haphazardly saved, but there they are just the same. The Walla Walla starts (6" tall) I planted must have some roots out because they've perked up and are starting to grow, and they now have a large neighborhood of red onion sets next to them. We will have plenty of onions this year.
Since the hoops are over everything but the rhubarb outside, the cold snow and wind we're getting right now aren't phasing the little plants that are under them. This is a wonderful thing. Had we known what cheap plastic and salvaged pipe could do, we would have started earlier last year. Speaking of plastic, we're going to put an inner layer on the greenhouse this weekend in an effort to not use the space heater in there at night (and hopefully get those dang tomatoes going!). Oh!! And on Wednesday I made Richard very proud. Our neighbor was tearing down his hoop house to move it out to his new home, so I asked him how much it cost him to build: he said about $1,000 including all kinds of things we wouldn't be buying. Then he mentioned he was building a bigger one at his new place, so I asked if he would be interested in selling the pipe from this one. He not only said "yes" but also said we could "just have it!" Sweet deal. Even if it only lasts a year or two, it gives us an expanded growing area with a deferred cost.
As far as the Harvest Potluck goes, Richard has gotten both beef and lamb commitments from some of his customers, and one of them has said he will BBQ also (the lamb man). Just as soon as Rick finishes building his BBQ haha.
P.S. The large, floppy paws of a snuffling, drift-y basset hound are not real helpful in the beds. Seedlings can take the snuffling, but not the big 'ol footprint. Good thing he's so cute and comical. Not sure what we're going to do about it though...
2 comments:
oh, bummer about the tomatoes! I was hoping from the title that maybe their roots were already dragging from their little starter pots. : )
That would be lovely! But no. When we get the second layer of plastic on, everything should really take off though. Hopefully they're just waiting :)
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