Garden Update and Happy Easter!

My garden last summer :)

There is so much going on in the garden, I don't know if I can remember everything. I'll try though. Yesterday, I planted out my bell peppers that I got at Rite Aid. The variety is called California Wonder, which is a popular open pollinated variety. There were 8 to 10 plants so I planted them in my second raised bed. I also have marigolds planted in between the plants to bring some color and I have heard they are a good pest deterrent as well. I also planted my bok choi transplants in the ground. I watered them with a fish emulsion mixture.

Everything I planted in the ground, except for some carrots, arrugula, cilantro, and pumpkins (I planted these on Sunday) are sprouting. I also found that I have bean seedlings from last fall. I let some plants go to seed and they are already coming up. :) Oh how I love mother nature!

My heating mat experiment update:

This is going so well. I was pleasantly surprised at how well this thing works. Within a couple of days, I had sprouting. I already have a banana pepper seedling, another ca wonder pepper, supersweet tomato, little prince eggplant, and more! I've also began pre-germinating my bean, pumpkin, sunflower, cucumber, and squash seeds. To see how I pregerminate my beans, check out this link. It is super easy. I found that if I do that and place them on my heating pad, I'll get sproutage in 2-3 days! Yeah for the heating mat. I'll do a more in depth review once the season has started.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter. We did. It was a great day of catching up and of course the adult Easter Egg hunt (my shoes were muddy) :) Can't wait until next year!

Seed Sowing List 03-29-10

 Picture of lettuce, tomato, and garlic in Spring 2009

Today's seed sowing list is full of herbs,corn, lettuce and flowers:

Herbs:

• Lemon balm (Groco Seeds) 
• Cilantro (American Seed) 
• Sage (Burpee) 
• Oregano (Groco Seeds) 
• Fennel, Florence (Burpee) 
• Dill (trade) 
• Asparagus (trade) 

Lettuce:

• Baby romaine (trade) 

 Flowers:

• Snapdragon first ladies mixed (Sow n Grow)
• Morning Glory giant mixed colors (Sow n Grow) 
• Four o Clocks mix (Burpee) 

Corn:

• Popcorn (my own kitchen) 
• Corn Chinese baby (trade)

Today's Seed Sowing List

Today, I planted carrots in one of my raised beds. I planted Ferry Morse Long Imperator #58 and Chantenay carrots. I read that carrot seeds take longer to germinate because of a natural growth inhibitor in the seeds. I will have to wait 14-21 days to see any signs of growth.

The other day, I planted the following:

Tomatoes:

• Beefsteak x4 (American Seed) 
• Tomatillos x3 (Renee's Garden) 
• Red current x3 (Burpee) 
• Jelly Bean x3 (Walmart Gardens) 
• Supersweet x3 (Burpee) 
• Marglobe x4 (Groco seeds) 

Peppers:

• Pimento x4 (Ferry Morse) 
• Jalapeno early x3 (Burpee) 
• California Wonder x8 (American Seed and Ferry Morse) 
• Habanero x3 

Eggplants

• Rosa Bianca x3 (Renee's Garden)
• Beatrice x3(Renee's Garden)
• Nadia x3 (Renee's Garden)

Today's Seed Sowing: Carrots, Tomatoes, Peppers, and Eggplants

Today, I planted carrots in one of my raised beds. I planted some Ferry Morse Long Imperator #58 and Chantenay carrots. I read that carrots take longer to germinate because of a natural growth inhibitor in the seeds. I will have to wait 14-21 days to see any signs of growth. I can’t wait.

The other day, I planted the following:

Tomatoes

Beefsteak x4 (American Seed)

Tomatillos x3 (Renee’s Garden)

Red Current x3 (Burpee)

Jelly Bean x3 (Walmart Gardens)

Supersweet x 3 (Burpee)

Marglobe x4 (Groco Seed)

Peppers:

Pimento peppers x4 (Ferry Morse)

Jalapeno early x3 (Burpee)

California Wonder x4 (American Seed)

California Wonder x4 (Ferry Morse)

Habanero x3 (unknown)

Eggplants:

Rosa Bianca x3 (Renee’s Garden)

Beatrice x3 (Renee’s Garden)

Nadia x3 (Renee’s Garden)

Hydrofarm Seedling Heat Mat Mini Review

Tonight I broke down and bought a Hydrofarm Seedling Heat Mat at my local garden store.

It was $24.95 and I had a 15% coupon making it around $21.00. On Amazon, they are around $25.00 dollars as well. I think it's a good deal if it works. I read great reviews on this product and am excited to try it out and provide my own review.

Most of the reviews on Amazon, people said to place a towel underneath the mat to draw heat upwards to your seed trays. I placed the mat on a cookie sheet on the floor, followed with a towel, then the heat mat, and my trays. After a couple of minutes of it plugged in, I could tell it was warm but I expected it to be much hotter than just warm. I placed my eggplant, tomato, and pepper seed trays on top and now we wait and see. The company claims it will raise the rooting area 10-20 degrees over the ambient temperature in the room. Regardless of what it says, I just want to get my tomato, pepper, and eggplant seeds to germinate faster.

This will be my little experiment over the next couple of weeks to see if this product really does work. Wish my luck everyone!