Seedling production is on about the same schedule as last year, except there are a few new things on the go: celery, onions, leek, celeriac. The three grow racks aren’t yet full (and there’s a fourth to build), but all that will change in a couple of days, when peppers and eggplant start. This is also when gambling on the weather begins, which at this point affects when I choose to start certain crops. Already, based on the 15-day forecast, it looks like a much colder March ahead than in the last couple of years, and with all the snow cover, a quick thaw towards the end of the month will still mean a few extra days of drying out time. And then there’s April to “consider”—it’s all basically pure guessing, colored by a little wishful thinking. IF there’s gonna be cold and snow for a good part of April, early transplanting will be delayed. So, starting some things in a couple of days, or in a week, or in two weeks, could make a fair bit of difference. If I have to hold things for an extra 2-3 weeks, there won’t be room under the lights as I start more, and out in the greenhouse, given real sun, growth will be quicker and the seedlings will get crowded. And so on, tons of little calculations and gambles… Nothing is THAT critical, but a little more work here, a little crop slowdown there, it all adds up. I enjoy this, juggling increments in the face of the weather, but it could drive some people into quite a state! :)
Veggies
Trimming leeks
Trimming back leeks is really satisfying. Here, I’m doing the first planting. With most indoor veggie seedlings and my two-lamp fluorescent fixtures, it’s lots of tray rotating and light height adjusting to keep the stretching to a minimum.
Leek can reach all they want: at three inches (7.5cm) or so, I snip them back to about an inch (2.5cm). What could be simpler?! This goes for the onions coming up as well.
With nice low seedlings, the light can be better concentrated across the trays, and cutting back may ensure stockier growth, which is generally a good thing when it comes to seedlings (update: I read a pretty definitive-sounding study that disproved the growing-stockier part; either way, it’s worth trimming just for keeping them closer to the light).
This is the first year of starting both leek and onion indoors from seed (in the past, it’s been direct-seeded leek, and onion sets)—I’ve not actually DONE this before—so there’s the usual slight bit of reservation with trying something new. Seeing is believing. Fun (easy) so far!
Elsewhere, we got what looked like a foot of snow overnight. No problem, no extra work, except the lane, barnyard and path to the greenhouse had to be plowed again…
Two arugulas
The arugula, about a month from seeding, is looking lush and…TASTY. While fiddling with macro focus and tripod (I’ve been using a borrowed one lately for indoor pics), I reached around to pluck a leaf. And another… I’ve been wandering back all morning for quick tastes. You either like arugula, or you don’t (can you be MADE to?)… It’s an easy, not subtle, veggie rush: first the familiar arugula flavor with that hint of mustard, slowly building as you begin to chew, and suddenly—wait for it—BAM, a little peppery explosion. I’m fairly new to this treat, it’s only since tiny farming that I paid attention, though I knew the taste, and only last season that I grew it out of salad mix, as a separate crop. It’s still a bit of a novelty. Here, the two varieties, somewhat generically named Rocket (smoother-edged), and Skyrocket, have quite different leaf shapes, but so far, I don’t think I could tell the tastes apart. These are two to a cell, and heading out to the greenhouse in the next week or so… (I should note, arugula grows fast, you can usually start harvesting 30-35 days from seeding, so planting this early indoors wasn’t exactly necessary, just a pre-season experiment.)
Still snowy
What would you expect at this time of year around here? This, I guess. Although we haven’t had any real storms lately, the snow keeps coming down here and there. The 15-day forecast has a short warmer stretch next week, and then below-freezing days through to mid-March. We’ll see…
Fuzzy little rosemary
Hmmm, so that’s what tiny rosemary seedlings REALLY look like with their first true leaves. I’m experimenting with the new camera. On macro, it’s practically a microscope. I can focus as close as 1 cm (less than half an inch) away. That’s a little tough to manage, but with 12 megapixels of resolution, I can focus from a more reasonable 6 inches away and then ZOOM IN in the image editing program. Rosemary gets a whole new look compared to the old camera. What a cool tiny farming tool, if you need pictures…
Parsley update
Around two weeks after showing up, the first set of curly parsley is putting out its first true leaves. This is Krausa Market, a “triple curled” leaf variety. Aka moss-curled. There’s also double-curled leaves, like the Forest Green and Green Pearl, also in the trays. Single-curled? Don’t think so… I still have a little time to leisurely examine seedlings and wonder about such things. I started thinking about the farmers’ market and all the SPEAKING that involves (on a busy Saturday, it can be practically 6 hours of non-stop veggie talk), and the gazillion kinda BASIC details there are to know about every single crop. What are the main types of leaf lettuce? Are muskmelons the same as cantaloupes? What’s the difference between slicing and pickling cukes, or American, European and Middle Eastern cukes? How do you pronounce Chioggia beets? Stupice tomatoes? How do you cook ____? The possibilities are endless! Of course, I don’t need to know any of these things. I don’t even have to know the names of the varieties. Veggies grow regardless. When questions come up, I could shrug and say, “Dunno” or “Good question!” Still, I’d rather have some answers, pass on whatever I’ve picked up along the way. Right now, I’m still wondering about triple- and double-curled parsley, but that’ll pass… :)
Simpson Elite
More early lettuce. This is Simpson Elite, an improved variety of Black Seeded Simpson, which is a really fast, reliable heirloom from the 1800’s. I grow both. They have thin, delicate, pale green leaves, but they’ve proven tough in heat, drought and cold. And they’re 40-45 days! These seedlings are now about 3-1/2 weeks old. I still haven’t thinned them from two per cell—all the lettuce looks so…pretty, densely bunch in their trays, and they’re stretching a bit, but just this side of really crowding each other. Anyhow, it’s the super-early lettuce…mostly for fun! (This is also my first tryout of the latest new farm tool, a Canon G9…a sturdy, field-ready bit of gear… :)