Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Sprouts

All my little brassicas are doing lovely. When I checked on them earlier in the week I noticed tiny tendrils of roots poking out the bottom of the pots. Time to up-pot already?! Okay... done! As soon as they get their first true leaves I'll be sure to give them a little food - liquid seaweed.
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Broccoli, Cabbage and Cauliflower.

Lettuce on the other hand isn't doing so hot. Hum. That's never happened before. I only had two sprout. I think it's likely due to the age of the seeds though, they're pushing 4 years old. I really need to buy some more but for now I'll just plunk in a few more old seeds and see if I can't get them to go. It was also pretty wet in that tray as well. I removed the lid a few days ago to let the whole thing dry out a bit. That should help as well.
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Happily I'd started a few lettuce seeds in the garden last fall (though ignored them throughly due to health so they're a bit paltry) and still, nature finds a way. They're little now but I think they'll pull though the rest of the winter and be fine in the spring so happily I'll have some garden noshes early.
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My poor garden beds were, as I've mentioned, sorely neglected last summer/fall. So here's the state they're in. Ugly! I've got a bunch of old onions that weren't harvested. I'm afraid to get down there and take a closer look. I figure my big ol pregnancy belly will really be in the way soon enough then I won't have to deal with it. lol Well, maybe the leeks will be okay? The weeds look good though don't they?! Nice and healthy. Bah!
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Lots of onions and a few leeks

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At least the collard greens look perky.

The last thing I did (besides pull a few weeds while I was out there) was take a small root nodule with a bit of greenery on it from my chocolate peppermint plant. I've got the thing contained in a nice pot but the best mint always comes from the outside edges once it warms up and really gets busy with the growing. Ideally I'd start a new plant from cuttings every year and repot the whole thing but it's been a couple of years and last years mint harvest was awful. So! I had to be sure to get on this early. Since this bit had a bit of root I just took it and put it in a pot with starting medium and stuck it under the lights with the rest of the seed starts. Once it establishes and I can plant it outside I'll be sure to rip all the other mint out the pot and plant just this one. It'll give me a nice bright green harvestable mint plant all season long. Looking forward to a mojito or two this summer. ;^) (It's also excellent chopped up and tossed with cubed watermelon)
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Chocolate peppermint "cutting".