Update

The last couple of weeks have been very hectic with school stuff and a few visitors to Austin, so I haven't had much time to blog or really do much work in the garden. Honestly, there isn't much to talk about right now, other than a few small things.

Monday (March 15) I planted the remaining seeds in the garden: 2 plants each regular and pickling cucumbers (two adjacent squares in the upper left corner), 2 lima bean plants (from here, via the Masons), and 9 garden beans (in the lower right hand square). In the back row you can also see the shoots of four corn that I planted a few weeks ago.


Soon after taking these pictures I had my first bit of food from the garden: I picked a red onion and chopped up the stem and base for garnishing on some jambalaya, and I also picked some of the mesclun greens for a salad before St. Patrick's day dinner.

I have some specific concerns:

1. The potatoes are growing so fast. I have started trimming the plants, mainly to let some other plants surrounding the potatoes get sunlight, but I don't know the wisdom of doing this for three or four more months (for new potatoes), or what effect this will ultimately have on the potatoes I do get. Also, I have no idea what is going on under the soil... I've been thinking about next year and perhaps I will do a type of potato bin and just let the potatoes grow.

2. The strawberries are really disappointing. If anything they seem to be dying back. I don't know if they will take off once the weather starts to get really warm, but I hope so. My other berries, the blueberries and the blackberries, are doing really well. The trees also:

peach

apricot

Also regarding the trees, one of the main branches of the pomegranate in the front yard has been snapped off. There are also giant logs of crap around the base of the tree. I have a good idea who is responsible. I don't think the injury will be fatal to the tree, but in fact the tree may already be dead...or its just dormant for a much longer time than the rest of the trees.

I have two other projects. At the plant sale I bought two container tomatoes. I've planted those in some pots and I keep those outside most of the day (unless it is really windy or cold). Generally, I've begun to "harden off" the tomatoes and peppers I have under the lights by leaving them outside a few hours each day. The transplants should be ready to go into the ground in about 3 weeks (after the last frost).


Finally, I decided to try and grow some ginger, in what seems a very simple process. I'm doing it in the container because I will have to bring it in when it gets too cold.

Early Starters

Before I get to the dirt, I've got something a little more interesting. I figure on roughly two waves of planting: late January and early March. I'll do the January plantings this weekend and post about it in a week and a half or so. However some of the veggies (the peppers and tomatoes) need to be started indoors and transplanted into the garden when they are a couple of months old, in March. As of right now, I am starting:

• Habanero pepper
• Jalapeno pepper
  
• Bell pepper
• An Anaheim-type pepper
• Hungarian wax pepper
• Pepperoncini pepper
  
• Roma Tomatoes
• Beefsteak Tomatoes
• Cherry Tomatoes

I bought a simple Rubbermaid 24 x 12 shallow container to hold the trays. I planted the seeds in peat strips which will decompose when planted (50 individual pots in 10-pot trays). Each 5 pot strip held one type of plant, in Ladybug Seed Starter mix, which you can see labeled on the side of the container:

This is about 2 weeks after planting. All the tomatoes have sprouted, just now the peppers, especially the Habanero, are coming up.

I also bought a grow light rig (which I am quite happy with) so I can make sure the seedlings are getting the correct amount of light:

Pepperoncinis are in the regular pot

I try to give them about 10 hours of artificial, direct sunlight daily. I keep the soil fairly most with a spray bottle. Shortly after I took the above picture, I began to snip the seedlings so that only the strongest-looking one survives in each pot. Then I will choose the strongest looking plant of the 5 pot strip to put in the garden. I will give the weaklings to friends to plant. pwn3d.