herb update

About a month ago, I ordered some more herb seeds, this time from Renee's Garden.  The Greek oregano, French thyme, and French rosemary I planted have now all germinated, and the little seedlings are doing wonderfully.

Click on the slideshow to view it larger in Picasa:


The sweet basil replant and the fino verde basil are also looking very healthy.

Sweet basil:

 

Fino verde basil:

 

The main difference (so far) between the sweet and fino verde basil is in the shape and curvature of the leaves.  The sweet basil leaves are much more rounded and arc upward, while the fino verde basil leaves are pointed and lie flat. 

Here're both side-by-side for easy comparison:

In terms of flavor, the fino verde basil is supposedly stronger and spicier than sweet basil, and Seeds of Change says that the leaves retain their flavor even after flowering.

The shelf cilantro is doing well.  I've moved it to a west-facing windowsill, and while it's hard to beat the growth rate in a greenhouse, all of the seedlings now have primary leaves.

We're starting to get into sunnier and warmer weather here, which is creating nicer growing conditions for the plants by the window and adding intense broad spectrum supplementary light to the greenhouses.  It would be nice to live somewhere that had sunnier winters so that the fluorescent lights would be supplemental to the daylight instead of the other way around.

happy plants and new sprouts, new slideshow soon

I have to say, I'm really quite impressed with how well the plants have taken to the new greenhouse post-transplant.  I've read that some plants, particularly peppers, don't like to be transplanted.  Thus far, I've seen nothing but improvements in all the plants, especially the tomatoes.  It's really better than I could've hoped for.  In only a few days time, I've seen not only tremendous growth, but also a return of the green pigment to the shriveled and yellowing leaves.  I'm working on a slideshow to show-off the progress the tomato plants have made.  It's really so nice to see them all looking so leafy and green again.  I think they are going to make a full photo-bleaching recovery.

The cilantro plots seem to be doing well in their new pot by the window:

They really look so small there, though, especially compared to the cilantro herb packets that they sell at the grocery store.

Somehow the Fino Verde basil and the tarragon have sprouted already, even though I just planted them Sunday night.  This has to be a record, and an especially impressive one at that, considering that I'm not using the seedling heat mat to speed up the germination.

The newly sprouted FinoVerde basil:

and the tarragon:

I still haven't installed any fans for ventilation, although I have put in a few more velcro flaps.  Hopefully I'll have time to work on the ventilation and air circulation this weekend.

transplant success, new herb seeds

The transplant operation on Sunday went really well.

On the top shelf of the new greenhouse in 3" diameter peat pots being illuminated by the new Quantum T5 Bad Boy are:

17 purple opal basil, 

11 Oregon Spring Bush tomato, 

8 Santiam tomato, 

8 Crimson Sprinter tomato,

7 Chadwick cherry tomato,

7 Fox cherry tomato,

6 Maglia Rosa cherry tomato, 

6 pimientos de padrón, 

5 Red House Free Standing tomato,

4 Garden sage,

1 Dukat dill.

In 2.5" square peat pots on the second shelf are the tiny herbs:  4 each of the tarragon and marjoram.

 

I decided that I should probably let them grow a little taller before I put them up on the top shelf since the light fixture is so much higher there.  They are currently being illuminated by one of the two 2' T5 bulbs that had previously been lighting the second shelf of the old greenhouse.  I combined the six slots of cilantro into a single large clay pot and placed them in the kitchen by a window that receives direct sun for several hours every morning.

The new greenhouse structure is really fantastic.  I love having so much more space.  I can really get my head into the grow space and interact with the plants more.  Watering is also now much easier, as I have plenty of space to manuever a watering can.

With more space has come my first bug as well, a gnat.  As the warmest and moistest place in the house, I'm actually surprised that more bugs haven't found their way in.  

Tonight I used velcro to install some basic flaps in the plastic sheeting wrapped around the structure.  My next goal with the greenhouse is to set-up a few fans for air circulation and ventilation on the top (grow) shelf.  

On the germinating shelf, I've already started my next batch of seeds.  Before the move to the new greenhouse, I had reseeded the Dukat dill to make up for the yield of only one plant from before.  I don't know why, but they seem to have germinated much better this time around.

Dukat dill sprouts:

To replace the rest of the transplanted herbs, I've planted more Garden sage, tarragon, Syriaca Zaatar marjoram, and a new type of sweet basil from Seeds of Change called Fino Verde.  I think that the sweet basil seeds that I planted from Ferry-Morse had fusarium disease.  They all grew to about the same height and then suddenly became brown, wilted, and died.  I'm hoping to have better luck with the Fino Verde.

Wilty sweet basil next to healthy sweet basil that has since turned wilty, brown, dead:

I've also ordered from Renee's Garden the herbs that were no longer available from Seeds of Change, namely: True Greek Oregano, French Rosemary, French Thyme, and some Heirloom Pepperbox Poppy.  I think that poppies are so pretty, and apparently the pods are "handsome" and the "nutty-tasting seeds" can be used for cooking and baking, while the pods can be kept for beautiful decoration.  I can't wait.

Thanks for the transplant assistance, guest gardener.

The purple basil is sprouting! It's been germinating exactly a week now and there are already little purple sprouts poking up. There is sprouting in almost all 18 of the purple basil compartments.

The sweet basil seems to be lagging a bit behind. Most of the seeds still look like wet little eggs.

Here's a picture of the greenhouse in its almost finished form. It currently consists of a 4-tier plastic storage unit that measures 56" x 34" x 14", wrapped in 4 mil plastic sheet with a vertical slit down the front for access to the shelves. My short term solution for the opening was velcro and packing tape, but I've since installed a 3' zipper.

There's currently one tray that's half-filled with my germinating basil. I'm planning on using at least two of the shelves, possibly three if I can figure out a nighttime heating strategy that doesn't take up a whole shelf.

The grow lamp is attached to the underside of the top tier (on the right). I bought a timer switch for it, and so it's programmed to be on from 7 am - 10 pm. Ultimately, this will be replaced with a T5 fluorescent bulb, which I'm planning on hanging from on the underside of each tier. I bought a cheapo thermometer and hygrometer at PetCo (they're supposed to be used for iguana tanks), and stuck them to the top tier. I'm currently heating the greenhouse at night with just a programmable space heater. It's set to maintain 75 F by pulsing on for a few seconds every couple of minutes. The whole structure is on a second floor unheated sun porch in front of south-facing windows. If I find I'm having problems with insulation, I'm planning on replacing the 4 mil plastic sheet with some actual plastic, but that'll be more expensive.

velcro is better, but not best

So I failed in my attempt today to purchase a 5' zipper. Apparently not all craft stores sell fabrics and at Michael's I could only find replacement zippers for pants. I got some velcro stick pads instead, which, while an improvement to cheapo packing tape, is definitely less than ideal as there isn't really enough extra plastic sheet to make a tight seal from top to bottom. Tomorrow I'll head to a fabric store and hopefully be able to track down ridiculously long zippers and put the finishing touches on the greenhouse structure itself.

I still need to research the T5 lights a little more. I'm hoping to put in an order for those tomorrow as well. Meanwhile, my grow bulb is baking my basil seeds. I'm worried that they may be getting too dried out even though I've been misting them several times a day. My greenhouse's first official residents are: Ferry-Morse Dark Opal Purple Basil and Sweet Basil. The package says that they germinate in 5-10 days, and I think I planted them about a week ago. I'd imagine I should probably start to see something happening over this next week if the grow bulb hasn't destroyed them.

I received confirmation of my order today from Seeds of Change. Arriving in 4-10 days will be:

1 PACK, CILANTRO, SLOW BOLT (SANTO CILANTRO)
1 PACK, TARRAGON, MEXICAN (SWEET MACE)
1 PACK, TOMATO, CHERRY, CHADWICK
1 PACK, TOMATO, CHERRY, FOX
1 PACK, TOMATO, CHERRY, MAGLIA ROSA
1 PACK, TOMATO, CRIMSON SPRINTER
1 PACK, TOMATO, SLICING, OREGON SPRING BUSH
1 PACK, TOMATO, SLICING, RED HOUSE FREE STANDING
1 PACK, TOMATO, SLICING, SANTIAM
1 PACK, HERBES DE PROVENCE WITH A TWIST SEED COLLECT
1 PACK, BASIL, FINO VERDE

The Herbes de Provence collection contains some old favorites with some new herbs that I've never cooked with before (or even tasted, I think). It includes one pack each of Brussels Winter Chervil, Mubstead English Lavender, Loveage, Greek Oregano, Rosemary Garden Sage, Summer Savory, English Thyme, and Sweet Marjoram. I'm really excited to see how they turn out and even find some new recipes to put them in.