Making soil blocksMy schedule says on January 20th I should seed the parsley. I decided to do it today. A day or two, or even a week won't matter much to such a slow growing plant. And smelling the wet warm soil is so therapeutic on a cold day.
Seeded and covered in plastic to germinateLast year I did the celery and celeriac very late comparatively. But they tend to be slow growing just like parsley. And like parsley they tend to be planted in mid April. I'm not sure the planting date will hold up with the cold weather we have had, but maybe the pattern will change before then. And maybe the snow will melt sooner than I think.
LabeledBecause of the possible late spring I planted some lettuce, bok choy, and mizuna early. That may seem counterintuitive, but I'm guessing I'll be chomping at the bit in spring and I might want to plant up some easy to grow greens in pots so that I can put them on the back steps to grow. I can bring them in easily at night if it gets cold and I would still get some early greens. I'm still not sure if I'm going to or not, but it gives me the option. If the weather changes radically and we get the warm temperatures the western part of the country has seen, they will just go into the ground in a month. But I really doubt it.
ShallotsThe shallots and bunching onions are up. The onions germinated a couple of days ahead of the shallots. And the onions have a lot more plants in their container. So I won't have a ton of shallots this year, but it will make a good trial to see how they grow and store here.
Wow. I haven't begun in any seed planting.
ReplyDeleteWe have given up on celery and celeriac completely.
ReplyDeleteI'm trying shallots from seed for the first time this year and it seems to me that they are finicky growers. It took me three sowings to end up with still not as many plants as I would like. They don't seem to germinate as well as other alliums and they are certainly easier to kill.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to see you getting the garden started, spring must be on the way. Go away snow!
Look at all those little shallots coming up - I get so excited when I see those first little seedlings.
ReplyDeleteI've been planning to get my onions & peppers started all week, but we had a statutory holiday on Monday & it's been busy ever since so I haven't gotten to it yet. Hopefully tonight...
Smart thinking to plant on potted greens on the deck. With all this snow, I wonder if it will ever melt. I am sowing some seeds this weekend now that my seed order has arrived. It will be nice to play in a little dirt.
ReplyDeleteI was thinking of you yesterday when our TV News had an item about the snow in Boston! I'm not sowing anything outdoors for a while, but I have got one or two things going indoors now.
ReplyDeleteIt's always nice to do a little sowing or planting on a cold winter day. The greens plan sounds like a good one. I sometimes plant my leftover seedlings in containers to get a jump on the ones that go in the ground.
ReplyDeleteThis is by far the best time of the year. Love seeing those little seedlings coming up. And onions and shallots are really cute. That sounds ridiculous. But--they are!
ReplyDeleteNice to see the shallot seedlings, I need to plant mine in the next few days. I don't remember having problems with germination, but I use a heat mat. Good strategy for the greens. I'm not sure we will even see the ground for 2 months or more, then it has to dry out. Let's hope for a premature spring, we deserve it.
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