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Thursday, March 22, 2007
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I'm trying to identify this hot pepper. Jason received these two dried peppers from a coworker who said they were very hot chile peppers from India. The dried pods are dark red, about 3 1/2" long each. I am going to plant some of the seeds tomorrow. Hopefully, they grow well because I'm supposed to pay the coworker back with some peppers!
Posted by Yvette at 3/22/2007 10:09:00 PM
(1) comments
Sunday, March 18, 2007
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I added a Flickr photostream to my Journal pages so you can see what's going on with the garden. Lots of little seedlings in the most recent pics. Check it out!
Posted by Yvette at 3/18/2007 05:29:00 PM
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
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All of the tomatoes have sprouted, except 1 of my last 2 Peacevine Cherry seeds. I even saw a tomato seedling getting its first true leaves. That's always exciting! (Well, to me at least.)
The peppers are also doing well. I was a little worried because there has been NO action from the Jamaican, Thai Sun and Thai Hot peppers -- or my Bhut Jolokia (world's hottest!) -- but then I checked my records from last year (I actually have a spreadsheet ... I know, I'm a garden nerd) and realized that they're right on last year's schedule. And I do have 1 of 2 Scotch Bonnet peppers sprouting! Last year, I freaked out when there were no Jamaicans after 13 days so I sowed some more seeds and then the original ones sprouted the next day! I learned my lesson. I'll be patient this year.
I also think that my onion seeds may be too old. The Salad Red onions I bought from Burpee last year are doing fine, but the older seeds I have from 2002 -- Red Burgundy and Sweet Spanish Yellow Utah Jumbo -- are not doing too hot. I only have 25% of the red onions and NONE of the yellow onions sprouting. I didn't buy many new seeds this year, but I'll definitely have to get some fresh ones next year. (Which means I can't wait til the middle of February to think about the garden!)
Posted by Yvette at 3/13/2007 08:16:00 PM
Saturday, March 10, 2007
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Ok, I lied when I said I only had one Peacevine Cherry seed left. I actually had 2 and I planted them separately. One of them sprouted! So, now I should at least have one Peacevine Cherry plant, which is great. I also got my first Purple Tomatillo sprout today and several peppers started coming up, including Giant Szegedi, Sweet Banana, Candente Hybrid (I received these free from Totally Tomatoes a couple years ago but never used them), Cayenne Long Thin and NuMex Piñata (one of the new ones this year). It's been 6 days since I planted these pepper seeds, so I think that is pretty good. Last year, I only had one pepper come up in the first 8 days. The leeks are also doing well, although I have a lot more Winter Giant than American Flag right now. The Salad Red onions are coming up quickly, but I only have 2 Red Burgundy and none of the Sweet Spanish Yellow Utah Jumbo. I've never done well with the larger onions, but I try every year anyway. :)
I also started a bunch of flowers from seed today. I have 12 each of 3 variety of marigold -- Dwarf Bolero, Petite (Mixed colors) and Sparky (Mixed colors) -- and 2 kinds of Four O'Clocks from Burpee -- Kaleidoscope and Limelight. At the house I grew up in, we had a large clump of Four O'Clocks that always grew on the west side of our house. My mom told me that these were grown from seeds that my grandfather had brought with him from Yugoslavia (Serbia). They were a bright pink/purple color. It took me a while to figure out what they were, but once I saw the seeds, I knew they were what I remembered. We used to have those seeds all over the side yard around the flowers. I think they're considered "old fashioned" and aren't as popular as they once were. They get their common name because they're supposed to open at 4 o'clock each day. They are also known as "Marvel of Peru." They are perennials, but in our area (Zone 6) I think they may act more like self-sowing annuals. I'll have to wait and see how they do, but I'm hoping that by starting them indoors now, they'll get a jump on the season.
Posted by Yvette at 3/10/2007 09:02:00 PM
Friday, March 09, 2007
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Almost all of the tomatoes are now completely up! Still no sign of life from my lone Peacevine Cherry tomato. I only had one seed left, so I planted it to see what would happen. I think it's from 2003, but I've been getting good results with other seeds from that same year. I'll keep my fingers crossed.
Posted by Yvette at 3/09/2007 11:19:00 PM
My Greek Pepperoncini pepper seeds arrived today. I'm excited about these. I had Pepperoncini peppers before, but they were very slender and not like the Pepperoncini peppers I always thought of. So I bought this Greek variety. I may try to pickle some of them if I get a good yield.
Posted by Yvette at 3/09/2007 11:09:00 PM
Thursday, March 08, 2007
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About half of the tomatoes started sprouting today. Some are completely up (Big Beef, Giant Belgium, a Fresh Salsa and Bloody Butcher) and many more can be seen ready to poke through the soil. I also have my first leek -- a Winter Giant -- and my first onion -- a Salad Red (from Burpee). No peppers yet, but that's normal. I usually don't see any peppers until about the 7th or 8th day. And Lily! and her neighborhood posse will be happy because 1/3 of the Catnip is already sprouting (she's the neighborhood dealer).
Posted by Yvette at 3/08/2007 10:42:00 PM
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
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All of the broccoli and most of the greens have sprouted already. Still only one tomato, but it's still early. Also saw 4 of the lettuces sprouting -- Little Leprachaun, Red Iceberg, Freckles and Victoria.
Posted by Yvette at 3/07/2007 08:23:00 PM
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
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The first seeds are starting to sprout! I can see 2 Broccoli Raab, 1 Calabrese Broccoli, 1 Earliana Cabbage and the first tomato -- a Tumbler. I was also surprised to see some Catnip sprouts coming up. I've had a lot of problems with Catnip seeds in the past. You are supposed to scarify the seeds before you plant them. I didn't have sandpaper, so I used emery boards and I went a little crazy on the first batch and filed the seeds to dust. Oops!
Posted by Yvette at 3/06/2007 07:18:00 PM
Monday, March 05, 2007
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I received (and planted) my seeds from The Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University today! I had to order some of their Bhut Jolokia seeds after I read about them on BoingBoing. It set a new record as the "World's Hottest Pepper." Not sure what I'll do with them yet. Probably just dare people to taste one! I also ordered some NuMex Piñata, which is a multi-colored Jalapeno and some Mulato seeds, a brown-colored Poblano pepper. Hopefully, those last ones will end up as Chile Rellenos!
Nothing has sprouted yet, but it's only been one day.
Posted by Yvette at 3/05/2007 09:50:00 PM
Sunday, March 04, 2007
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Wow! This year is moving fast. I realized (with horror) on Friday night that it was March and I hadn't planted anything! So I updated my calendar, ordered a few seeds and hurried out to buy some supplies. I threw out most of my APS trays after last season because I felt like they weren't getting clean enough. The ones I had were made of Styrofoam so you couldn't really scrub them. So I needed some new seedstarting trays. I bought 4 trays that each hold 72 Jiffy pots. I'm sure I'll need to pot these up sooner because they're small, but they were inexpensive enough that I don't feel like I need to reuse them at all.
Today I started all the tomato and pepper seeds, along with some leeks, onions, collard greens, broccoli, lettuce and cabbage. I'll post a complete list later.
Posted by Yvette at 3/04/2007 09:48:00 PM
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