Garden Babies

Well, it's week two for my seedlings and I am amazed at how fast things are going. I didn't expect anything for at least three weeks. The artichokes are getting their second set of leaves and it's time to feed them a little now. The onions are interesting. Everyday I take a peek at them and there are two or three that just shot up two inches overnight. I am putting them in three inch peat pots as they sprout. The herbs are doing just great. We have basil, cilantro, and mint right now. I will add more as spring nears. There are a couple sprouts in the pepper seed trays, time to give them a little sunlight I think. They are very delicate little sprouts. I planted the peppers a week after the artichokes, they are supposed to take a little longer to germinate. When the artichokes are ready for transplanting to larger containers, I will start some eggplant and maybe some tomatoes.

I am trying to space this so I have plenty of room to give them the light they need while growing. I can't plant in the ground until May 1, so I have to space this out right. I need to be able to keep them all alive until they get to the garden. We also have a small greenhouse behind the house. The dryer vent is hooked up so that the warm air goes in there to keep the small plants warm. We haven't utilized it in a long time as a greenhouse, time to get the shelves in order.

We have a nice plot in the local community garden. It is a great place to be. There are over 120 garden plots and when they are all alive, it's a very peaceful, beautiful place. It almost became our living room last year we spent so much time out there. In the NW the sun doesn't completely set until almost 10:00 p.m. in midsummer. We spent some memorable evenings harvesting and working as the sun set and under the full moons of the season. Even when I had a cast on my leg, I found a way to help out. A step stool worked great for weeding and harvesting. When I couldn't help out, I just set up a lawn chair and read. I'll post pictures as the field progresses from a flat piece of ground to an abundant food source made up of many original gardens. It's truly a wonderful place. Here's a couple pictures from last year.