Starting Seeds in the Kitchen

Tonight I started some seeds in the kitchen. Eggplant, tomato, tomatillo, sweet and hot peppers, artichokes and some purple cauliflower.

I have two shop lights (about $8 each) hanging from the bottom of one of my kitchen cabinets. These lights are on for 16 hours a day. K is building an A-frame structure that will have 2 or 3 levels of shop lights to accommodate larger plants. I'll post a picture of it when he finishes it. I'm using seed starting trays with expandable peat pellets. These are expensive, and peat is non-renewable, but these trays are super convenient.

I'm starting seeds a bit earlier than usual because I want to have bigger, stronger plants than I did last year. Also I think I'll put some out early and use a wall o' water or two.

We are in USDA zone 7b. Our average last frost date is in mid April.

I've never tried to grow artichokes before. And I've never successfully grown eggplant.

Weeding and Seeding

I finally got around to pulling up a few weeds in the garlic bed today. It isn't a huge bed. I planted 110 cloves of Inchelium Red, some other variety whose name I forgot (this is why I need a garden journal), and a few cloves from the Publix to fill out the bed. The bed was double-dug by K and enriched with compost, manure, and worm poop from our kitchen worm farm. Then I put what I thought was a pretty heavy mulch of wheat straw down. The garlic started pushing up in December, but all the literature I read said that was ok. However, what with working nights, being a new nurse, winter, and just general laziness, I haven't been out to the garlic patch much since. Garlic doesn't like to compete. I've not only read this, but I've lost an entire bed of garlic in the past because of winter-laziness-lack-of-weeding.

Even more exciting than weeding: I ordered seeds today from Baker's Creek.

Tomatoes:

Tappy's Heritage
Black Cherry
Dr. Wyche's Orange
Ananas Noir

Hill Country Red Okra

Tomatillo

Golden Midget Watermelon

Flat Egyptian Beets

Rosa Bianca (or is it Blanca?) Eggplant

Helios Radish

Purple Artichoke

Some butterhead lettuce whose name I can't recall

I'm recreating this list from memory because I'm in bed in a dark room with The Real Housewives of Orange County on the television -- I'm on call -- and yes, I do feel dirty. Although Baker Creek is my favorite seed source, sometimes I wonder if it isn't also written (or at least edited) in bed in a darkened room by someone also secretly watching some really trashy television. It has typos (but not too many) and sometimes will call a particular variety by one name on one page and a slightly different one on another page. But it is still my all time favorite lie-in-a-hot-bath-in-January-and-look-at-pictures-of-exotic-veggies-I-could-plant-in-the-spring-catalog.

Welcome!

Welcome to K and M's garden diary. Here are some things you should know about us before you make the decision to continue reading:

1. We aren't really sure that we know what we're doing.

2. We used to call ourselves organic gardeners; now we aren't sure what that means (many thanks to the USDA.)

3. We like to grow stuff we can eat.

4. We do grow some flowers, but only if "SUPER EASY-ANYONE CAN GROW" is printed somewhere on the seed packet.

5. We have a small (30ft x 45ft) garden.

6. We aren't vegetarians but we sometimes think we should be.

7. We sometimes get behind on the weeding.

8. K is a composting MANIAC!

9. M has no self-control when it comes to buying tomato seeds.