Planted Tomatos!!

I planted these tomato seeds on April 11, I think that's a little late, but hey - better late than never! I also threw them into some packs that already had dirt in them from whatever I killed last year. 

The week I planted them, it rained and I forgot about them, and the soil dried out, and then it rained again, but I really thought I killed them, but I kept watering them just in case. A week later there were 1-2 seedlings and I was happy because I was going to get a few, and I put chive seeds in the cells where nothing had come up, and continued watering them. Tomatoes are hardy, and the rest totally sprang up a week later, so it looks like I'll have a lot of them. These are the varieties: 

Dr Carolyn
Uncle Mark Bagby
Tomato Paul Robeson
Tomato Purple Bumblebee
Tomato Basrawya

My friend also shouted out on facebook that he had more tomato plants then he could handle, so I picked up a couple each of the Martinos Roma and principe borgese he offered up.

I planted one of each of those in a large container with a nursery-purchased Arkansas traveler, I put a tomato cage over each, and planted a couple borage seeds in the middle, and a few bunching onion and chive seeds in between, hopefully some of those come up. 

Tomatos

 Bloody Butcher Tomato - purchased from The Seed Bank in Petaluma, CA - Planted 4/1/12, all seeds sprouted, (four per cell) thinned seedling replanted 4/22/12. Will plant in the garden when they are a little larger, and when I can set up some fencing around the raised bed to keep the dog out of it.

Today I planted tomatoes that were purchased, four cherry red tomatoes from a six pack that I bought at OSH about a month ago.  They've been on my windowsill waiting for the weather to be warm enough to plant. They had grown pretty tall, so I trench planted them, laying them sideways, and leaving just a bit sticking out from the top, so the plants will root well.

Tomato Arbunzyi purchased from Annies last weekend. Planted deep down and mounded soil up to encourage rooting.

Seed tray 5

Two melons, - a leek and a scallion all purchased from the Baker Creek seed bank in Petaluma, CA

planted a week and a half ago, or maybe it was two weeks...

Seed Tray 4

I started these seeds about 10 days ago.

Cilantro - 6 sprouts
Cherry Tomato - 3 sprouts
Squash - 4 sprouts
lettuce - lots
Cucumber - 5 sprouts
Pepper (no sprouts )

Seed Success!

This is my first successful seed growing venture... EVER. Seed to bloom with this beautiful sweet pea! This particular one was planted directly into wine barrel #2 back in November...

Seed Update #2

It's about time to transplant some of these guys.

Morning Glory 5 of 11 sprouted
Cerinthe - 6 of 12 sprouted
Poppy - approx 50 seedlings
Watermelon - 3 of 5 sprouted
Nasturtium - 2 of 6 sprouted
Phlox - 2 of 6 sprouted
Lavender - 0 of 6 sprouted
Chives - 2 of 6 survived
Thyme - approx 40 seedlings

Out of all of these, I think I am most happy about the morning glory. I have tried and failed so many time to grow these from seed, and finally I have a taste of success!

Heirloom Seeds

On my way back from a long weekend on the coast, I stopped at the Seed Bank in Petaluma and got a few seed packets - carrots (Danvers 126), leeks (Carentan) and a couple of different melons, Charentais and Ogen. The woman behind the counter was excited about the Ogen, because someone else had come in looking for them, and they had said it was the best melon he'd ever tasted. SO of course now I am excited to get these planted and taste one for myself.

Seed Update

Here's an update on the second seed tray for this year:

Morning Glory 4 of 11 sprouted
Cerinthe - 5 of 12 sprouted
Poppy - approx 50 seedlings
Watermelon - 3 or 5 sprouted
Nasturtium - 1 of 6 sprouted
Phlox - 2 of 6 sprouted
Lavender - 0 of 6 sprouted
Chives - 5 of 6 sprouted
Thyme - approx 40 seedlings

Even More seeds

Today I planted some more seeds bunching onion, tomato beefsteak, bread seed poppy, Spinach, and cucumber, this is Seed tray #3

Seed update

The seeds are starting to come up. Here's a rundown:

Morning glory - 3 of 11 seeds have come up
Cerinthe - 6 of 12 seeds have come up
Oriental poppy - 26 sprouts in 11 cells
Watermelon - 2 of 5 seeds are coming up
Nasturtium - 0 of 6
Phlox - 0 of 6
Lavender - 0 of 6
Chives - 4 of 6 seeds are coming up
Thyme - 42 sprouts in 6 cells

Thyme is already sprouting!

The new seeds I planted the other day are already showing signs of life. The common thyme is coming up, and one little morning glory is also starting to poke out of the dirt.

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New Seeds

I planted a new batch of seeds:

Thyme
Chives
Lavender
Phlox
Nasturtium
Watermelon
Oriental Poppy
Cerinthe
Morning Glory

They go on the windowsill today to start baking in the sun today

Weed Transplants

A couple of springs ago this plant started growing in the backyard along with all the other winter weeds, and we were super lazy that year about cutting them down.

I have no idea what it is but I liked it a lot so I held on to some of the seeds from a bloom or two and have been calling it the weed from my backyard.

This Winter when I planted my seeds, I planted some of them to see if anything would grow. To my suprise and delight, a bunch of them came up!

I have transplanted three of the plants into wine barrel #2 in the front yard(the three stringy plant on the left side are the weeds). as I recall this plant got to be about 4' tall so they should have a bit of an impact if they make it...

If you are wondering what happened to the morning glories that were on that side of the wine barrel, the two that weren't eaten were killed by a front that came through.

Parsley

 

I took one of the plugs from the seeds I've been growing, and replanted the Parsley into larger cells. A couple of them are kinda weak we'll see how many survive...

Seed Update 3

I think I need to transplant these seeds now, they are getting pretty big.

Some of the seeds did well. Others not so much...

Seeds that came up strong and numerous:
• Weed from my backyard
• CA Rockcress
• Flat-leaved parsley
• Blue-eyed grass
• Dill
• freesia
• Nicotiana

Seeds that came up, but only a couple of them:
• Echanecia
• Sweetpea
• Lunaria
• CA poppy
• Neighbors mimosa
• UC Arboretum Tree
• cynglossum

Ones that came up and then promptly died:
• CA Bluebells
• Penstemon

One's that never came up:
• Summer blue delphinium
• morning glory

Seed Sorter

 

As a gift to myself this Christmas, I bought a set of jewlers cases from Lee Valley. I'm using it to save the seeds I've collected from my plants and other plants. I was using the little half sized ziplock snack bags, but they were starting to get a bit untidy.

Today I took a sharpie marker and numbered the top and bottom of each case so I can track what type of seed is in each case and reuse them for different seeds in the future. I'm very happy with the results and think this solution is going to work well for me.

Importing Seeds

Buying seeds can be addicting... and frustrating - when you see seed catalogs from outside the US and find out you can't order from them. so I was excited to find out about importing seeds from other countries. Annie's Annuals posted Secret Seeds as one of their favorite seed catalogs, and as I was perusing their site, I found their instructions on how to import seeds to the US - whoo-hoo! http://www.secretseeds.com/USA_seed_imports.htm

Seed update 2

Some of the seeds are doing pretty good. Others not so much...

Seeds that are coming up:
• Weed from my backyard
• CA Rockcress
• CA poppy
• Flat-leaved parsley
• Blue-eyed grass
• Dill

Ones that came up and then promptly died:
• CA Bluebells
• Nicotiana
• Penstemon

Some others that are starting to poke through the soil or only a single seedling has come up:
• Echanecia
• Sweetpea
• Lunaria
• Neighbors mimosa
• UC Arboretum Tree
• cynglossum
• freesia

One's that haven't shown any growth yet:
• Summer blue delphinium
• morning glory

Seeds update

Some of the seeds are starting to come up! The bad thing about these Jiffy 7 seed trays is that they don't leave enough room for the seedlings - there is only about a 1/2" between the top of the pots and the plastic top. Maybe the trick is to put all the same kind of seed in one tray so they all come up at the same time and then you can just take the lid off once they come up, but what home gardener needs that many of the same plant?

One of them came up and then promptly died - the CA Bluebells

Seeds that are coming up:
• CA Rockcress
• Weed from my backyard
• Nicotiana
• CA poppy
  some others look like they are starting to poke through the soil:
  • Echanecia
  • Sweetpea
  • Lunaria
  • Flat-leaved parsley
  • Blue-eyed grass
  • Neighbors mimosa
  • Dill Penstemon
  One's that haven't shown any growth yet:
  • UC Arboretum Tree
  • Summer blue delphinium
  • cynglossum
  • freesia
  • morning glory

Seeds

My mom bought me a couple of the jiffy seed starting trays that she saw on sale somewhere or another, and I'm super-glad she did because the jiffy seed starter trays that I had were intended to hold the jiffy 5 peat pots, and I had two packages of jiffy 7 refills (which don't fit nicely in the 5 trays); these new trays she got however, are for the jiffy 7 peat pots...Yay! So I decided to try to start from seed some of the plants that should be started in fall in CA.

I have never had any luck with growing anything from seed. But I've learned a few tips and tricks so I keep trying...Tip #1 tamp the soil down after planting the seeds, so there is good soil/seed contact (Thank you Annie of Annies Annuals for that tip). Also, this is the part I usually screw up on, but you need to prevent the seedlings from dying of rot (damping off) where the seedling is too moist next to the soil. I have yet to figure out the secret to this. I am putting these seed trays next to a south facing widow with partially open vertical blinds.

Here's a list - Seed tray 1:

• Sweet Pea
• Echanecia
• Freesia
• Cynglossum
• CA Bluebells
• Lunaria
• A weed from my backyard
• morning glory
• CA Poppy (white)

Seed tray 2: Mimosa from a neighbor
• CA Rockcress
• Blue-eyed grass
• Nicotiana
• Flat-leaved Parsley
• Tree from UC Davis Arboretum
• Delphinium Summer Blues
• Dill
• Penstemon Rocky Mtn.