Test and Harvest Plant Update

Harvest Plants

The spinach germinating in this container were planted March 19, 2013. They started germinating after 15 days. They were the first thing I planted and were not primed or pre-germinated. That seems to be why they took twice as long to germinate and continue growing at a slow rate. I thinned them into rows on April 8 2013. 

Test Plants

These spinach plants were grown from a seed in a glass bottle on a wet paper towel. Once the fuzzy roots came in, in the bottle I transplanted them into this cup. They took 1/4 of the time to grow to the same height as the control group above. These plants were squashed and poured out to the side (only a little) on April 6th causing the germinating seeds to bore deeper into the soil when replaced upright. I thought that permanent damage had been done because they were transplants and sensitive to begin with but they have continued to grow at a rapid and healthy rate. 

These spinach plants were primed or soaked overnight in tepid water and planted. They took about 7 days to germinate and since have grown taller than both the pre-germination and control groups above. They may be taller than the pre-germ group because they were planted in shallow dish under little soil. These plants were uprooted on April 6th by the wind. The soil cracked and the plants were replanted in there cups a few hours after the fall. I thought that it would cause permanent to deadly damage but they have continued to grow and at a rate that supersedes the control/harvest group.

These radish seeds were primed and planted. They have grown at a rapid rate and are now showing a second set of leaves after 5 days. They are on there 9th day of growth overall. These fell out of there cup on April 6th and were replanted immediately after falling. I thought that they would die from the uprooting but have continued to show growth with the aforementioned leaves. The growth may have come a little slower than it was supposed to because of the fall but the fall was not terminal to the plants. 

The 3 germinating spinach plants are  in the ground in what I have called the "Faerie Garden." The soil was not amended or watered except for when planted. The rain we've received since there sowing on March 19 2013 is the only water they've received. The seeds were not primed, scarified, or pre-germinated. They took an extremely long time to germinate, about 20 days and are smaller than any of the other plants but they did germinate. According to everything I read they should not have been able. The test was successful, I was able to germinate seeds in shaded, rocky, muddy, sandy, and clumpy soil*.

* Even though the test was to find out if I could get the control group seeds to germinate in unknown poor soil with little care and I've gotten the results for that test I'll continue the plants growth to further test the theory of resilience in spinach plants. 

She's Got Garden Fever

Potager Schoultz...

Mike's parents decided to set up a garden of raised beds in the backyard directly in front of the sun room about 15 feet from Patch Market. Mikes Dad bought a raised bed kit and 5 tomato plants and his mom bought some herbs and peppers. I am so excited that they decided to set up there own garden because the backyard will be full of veggies and fruits. My dream of stepping out on a warm late spring and early summer morning and smelling everything grow will come true. I was so excited that they were setting up there garden I decided to input all of the plant varieties they purchased and the sized beds into SmartGardener.com. I even chose a name and a few extra plants I'd heard them talking about. The new name is Potager (french for kitchen garden) Schoultz (their last name). I think it might be cuter than Patch Market, not that they are going to make a sign and all of that for their garden but I did have to input a name to create the garden layout on SmartGardener. 

It took me a couple of hours to find the types of tomatoes they'd chosen, pick vegetables that went well and they'd spoken of, and chose the number of plants. I don't know that they'll use the exact plan and don't expect it because I only went on varieties I'd remembered. They have a lot more space, I just tried to fill it in with the things they'd actually bought. The site recommends where to place each plant after selecting them. That was the true reason I set it up... Mikes dad asked me something that had to do with spacing and harvesting. So now they know where to plant what they did buy and maybe they'll even buy a few things I added so that the plants they bought have the best companions. 

Patch Market... 

Yesterday before all of the Potager Schoultz stuff happened I went to the AFAC work party and when I got home I had lunch, relaxed, and headed back out to tend to my garden. I finally planted something in Patch. I planted the carrots and radishes. I am so excited to see them start germinating. I hope that the carrots make it. I was a little discouraged when they spoke about the carrots they'd planted for AFAC at the Central Library. They sowed the seeds a couple weeks prior to the work party and as far as we could see they weren't doing very well. That's part of the reason I chose to plant yesterday instead of waiting until the LFD. If the carrots don't germinate I'll have the time to replant. 

My strawberries are so healthy dark green and tall it is amazing to see the growth from brown duds to lively beautiful plants. My lettuce on the other hand has started to wilt a little bit. The iceberg has shown new growth in the heart but the old leaves and some of the new have lost there crisp upright posture. I think it's a little hot in the greenhouse for them. Now, that we are in April, and the days have begun to warm, I am going to transplant them. Lettuce is a cool weather crop and because it's cool outside the greenhouse is now warm to hot. I realized that is how the greenhouse seems to work... it is about one season ahead of where the outside world is. So, tomorrow I add lettuce to the carrots and radishes in the raised bed. Soon I'll have a full house. 

Patch Testing...

My raised bed veggies aren't doing much yet, obviously, but I do have a few test updates. The spinach cup pre-germs. that fell over and were transplanted from the glass-papertowel-bottle are growing very well. The seedlings are about an inch tall and seemed to survive the little mishap without any set backs. Again, plants are much more resilient then they've been made out to be. The watermelon seeds are still just soil and newspaper. The radishes seed tape and primed radishes that fell over have all germinated and are doing extremely well. I even took them all the way out and put them back into the soil and they are growing at the average rate if not quicker for being primed and taped. And again, it seems like the flour water paste has the same affect on the rate of germination as the soaking in tepid water does. 

The carrot seeds in the glass bottle have pre-germinated at about 25% and the rest have molded. I'll have to look into testing other ways to pre-germinate carrot seeds. I don't think the wet paper towel works for carrots. The scarified watermelon seed is at the same stage of the control seed in the glass bottle, nothing's changed. I guess we'll see on those too. The sweet potato that rooted and grew root hairs is doing amazingly. It drink about a fourth of a glass of water each day and the roots just continue to grow. I am hoping that means I'll start getting some shoots in the next week and I'll be able to plant my slips rather than buy plants. 

I started priming the lemon balm for those tests. I am going to attempt growing it from seed by priming and pre-germination. I have my reservation because of the tiny seed size but we'll see how it goes. I'll be planting the primed seeds tomorrow along with the lettuce and a dry watermelon seed (control seed).