Garden 2011

I've been moving the Roma VF, Early Girl, and Jubilee tomato plants out into the sun for a few hours a day the last few days, but this cold snap (30 degrees and 35kt winds) makes that impossible for the next 48 hours or so. Most of the Early Girl plants now have several sets of true leaves, and the Jubilees look even better. I have about 16 of each. There are about 60 Roma plants, and very few of them have true leaves. I thought that I had killed a couple of them, but I tended them carefully and they seem to be recovering. Mixing in a couple bags of Perlite with the potting soil seems to have made damping off less of a problem.

The Tendergreen cucumbers, Black Beauty zucchini, and Early Straightneck squash are moving right along, if a bit leggy, but I should be able to harden them off next week and get them in the ground the 12th or so.

The Jalapeno M and Monster Bell peppers still have no true leaves but all seem to have good color -- they're still under the lights and haven't been moved outside yet. I'll wait 'til I see true leaves. I planted Habaneros in pots a few days back and they are under glass on the heated floor -- I expect them to germinate by the 16th or so; they take a while to get going.

All the tomatillos ended up being very leggy -- I don't know what I'm doing wrong, but something's amiss. The purple variety from new seed is behaving exactly like the green ones that I've grown from seed saved from last year's crop. The germination rate on those was not more than 50%, so I need to work on that for next year.

I planted cilantro/coriander in the peat pellets that didn't work with the old Serrano pepper seed, and made up a few to fill the sixteen spots in one of the covered flats. That should come up in about ten days as well, so I'll watch them and the habs closer around the middle of the month.

The Black Beauty eggplant seedlings are doing passably, but they are somewhat leggy as well. I might need to get some more focused light fixtures with full-spectrum bulbs and get them right down on the plants. I might try to rig up a fresnel and a lenticular sheet to diffuse a couple of brighter lights this Winter and do some testing...

Yesterday afternoon, I put out three rhubarb crowns out by the rosemary in the NE corner of the garden. The rosemary and sage from last year are on the way back, and the basil might have reseeded, but I need to get some dill plants from the co-op pretty soon. I ran the little tiller a little (after changing the gear oil and topping up the crankcase) and then got on the tractor and went back through everywhere I could get to easily. I nearly cleaned two of the sugar snap pea trellises off with the front loader; I should probably make a habit of running with it up when I'm in the garden anyway.

I'll likely finish the layout for the remaining rows tonight or Thursday and put a few rows of beans out this weekend on the odd chance that it will stay warm enough. I don't expect a hard freeze once we get through the night tonight.