Garden Update

The sunchokes I ordered online and planted a few posts ago didn’t seem to be viable. I pulled them out and they were soggy. I bought some new ones from a local source. This time I actually got the tubers I was expecting instead of the plant crowns.

The plan was to buy 1lb for $8. When I got to the house to buy them, the looked at my bucket and offered me 2lbs for $10. Deal! We had a nice time chatting about plants and permaculture too. I was very jealous of his well developed yard and garden. He had over 25 fruit trees and many garden beds.

One of the sunchokes planted into my new raised beds.

Since it has slowly been getting warmer, I’ve been bringing some of my house plants and seedling outside to toughen them up and get them ready to live outside during the summer. In the photo above from the right,  have the pineapple plant I started a while back. In the middle is my banana tree which badly needs to be repotted, and my three-way citrus tree on the left which also needs to be replanted. It had two small flower blooms on it right now. I hope a friendly bee stops by and pollinates it.

These are the sedums I started late last fall from cuttings. They also need to be repotted and then planted somewhere in the yard. I’m excited they are so easy to propagate.

With Laura’s help, I started about 60 more soil blocks. About half the ones I previously started failed. I think they failed because I was being overly miserly putting one seed into each one. The germination rates seemed low for some seeds. The second is some neglect with watering while we were out of town. I will try harder with this new bunch. We put at least two seeds in each block this time.

A successful soil block with a tiny strawberry seedling.

A bigger strawberry seedling I started very late last fall in a yogurt container as an experiment. It worked! Time to get it outside to flourish.

Another strawberry propagation experiment above which went very well. They are even blooming and trying to grow berries. I should get it into the ground to really get growing.

How is your garden coming along? Successes? Failures?

Kale and Cabbage in Soil Blocks

My seedlings are coming along nicely in the soil blocks. The purple cabbage and kale are quite happy in them. Some of the other plants are doing well, but growing slower like the strawberries and cosmos.

I was excited to see some of the Comfrey and catnip poking up from their blocks. They are really tiny right now, but I am excited to see they are growing. I plan on using the comfrey for a nutrient rich green mulch. The catnip is for the cats of course. If they knew, I think they’d be excited like me.

Two of the indigo seeds finally sprouted, so I planted them in blocks today as well. They took a LONG time! I started them back on March 10.

Related Posts:

• Soil Block Update and Microgreens (3/16/15)
• Starting Seeds–Germination With The Wet Cloth Method (3/10/15)

Soil Block Update and Microgreens

As you can see my soil blocks are growing nicely! I feel like the seedlings are getting a tad leggy, so I want to move the light a bit closer to them. The plants above are broccoli and kale. Kale doesn’t mind being a bit cold, so I can plant it a bit earlier than most.

The microgreens are growing great. I’ve already harvested one whole tray, and will start into the others soon. On the left is some broccoli and in the center some sunflowers. I have these growing in my basement under a light as an experiment. They aren’t growing nearly as fast as in a window, but they are green and healthy. I have a 23W light on them 16 hours a day. It is costs a few cents of electricity a day for this setup.

Have you started planting for Spring yet?