garden update: zucchini and green bean germinated, sugar snow pea flowered and harvested

I returned from my trip to find almost a completely different garden from the one I left thanks to the watchful care of my guest gardener.  Seven zucchini had germinated and already sprouted their primary leaves.



As instructed, a few days ago I thinned them to two seedlings on each mound.  All six of the plants were very healthy, so I´ve given the two I removed to a friend (and guest gardener/photographer).

Several green beans had also germinated, although they´re struggling somewhat to put out their primary leaves.



I think that they´re being eaten nightly by slugs.  I´ve had this problem with green beans before.

The Snowy White eggplant also sprouted (thorny!) buds in my absence:



The buds are quite large now, but haven´t yet begun to open.

Both varieties of sugar pea are doing really well.  The sugar snap pea plants are now approaching 5´ tall, and the sugar pod snow pea bloomed and grew pods in the week I was gone.



I can´t believe how fast the pea pods grow.  I´ve harvested them three times in the past two days already.

Sugar pod snow pea:

The garden space itself is now almost complete.

I put in the last row of eggplant this past weekend.  These eight black eggplant are a little behind all the rest, but they seem to be doing well in the ground. 

I´m planning on sequentially planting green beans this year, so I´ll probably dig up and plant the next row of beans this weekend. The beans should be the final planting of this year´s summer garden.

I just ordered some more seeds from Seeds of Change.  I´m planning on trying out a few new types of bush bean to see if I can find something that the slugs don´t like quite as much.  Arriving soon should be Bountiful Stringless Snap Bush Bean and Robert's Royalty Bush Bean (which is on backorder, unfortunately).  I also ordered more fino verde basil and some holy basil for a friend.  For the fall garden, I ordered a new type of radish (French Breakfast) and spinach (Renegade F-1) to try, in addition to some Taisai Chinese cabbage, which is supposed to be like bok choy.  I always like trying to grow something new.  I´m hoping to extend the growing season of my leafy greens well into autumn, and possibly even have a winter harvest.

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.

germination and primary leaves slideshow

I've been reading up on germination to learn the correct terminology for all the stages of development I've been seeing in the greenhouse. A seed consists of four main parts: the seedcoat, the endosperm, the cotyledon(s), and the embryo. When a seed is exposed to heat and moisture, it begins to germinate. The first bit of green to break the surface is usually the hypocotyl, and the pronounced bend that is typically seen is called the hypocotyl arch. With sufficient light, the hypocotyl will straighten itself, and the cotyledon(s) emerge. All the plants that I'm growing are dicots, meaning that they have two cotyledons. They look like leaves, but their job is to supply food to the developing plant until the primary leaves can take over. Eventually they turn yellow and fall off when they are no longer needed by the plant.

Cilantro germination:


First primary leaves slideshow (click to view larger and prettier in Picasa):



In younger seed news, the Garden Sage and Syriaca Zaatar Marjoram have sprouted in tray 2, and the Dukat Dill is just now starting to emerge, along with a single tarragon sprout. I'm starting to wonder about these tarragon seeds. Maybe it wasn't lack of heat in tray 1 that caused only three seeds to germinate.

seed arrival

My Herbs de Provence replacement seed order arrived today, proving again that Seeds of Change has a very reliable shipping service. Only three of the six packets were shipped, though. The Greek Oregano is on backorder, and I'm going to have to find another seed source for the rosemary and thyme. Apparently they are no longer available through Seeds of Change.
Tray 2 is now two-thirds complete, though, which is exciting. I planted six slots each of the Syriaca Zaatar Marjoram and Dukat Dill in the same section as the Pimientos de Padrón. I put the Garden Sage next to the pepper seeds, and in the center of the tray I replanted some tarragon. Only three of the tarragon seeds in tray 1 germinated, and I think it was because they didn't get warm enough. Their package says they need 70F and are supposed to be planted 1/4" deep. I just put them on the surface of the soil (they seemed so thin and delicate), and I know that the soil was at least ten degrees cooler than they needed. Hopefully they'll fare better in the warmer tray 2.
The tarragon is again supposed to be the first to germinate of the bunch at 5-7 days. The marjoram should be next (7-14 days), and then the sage and dill, requiring 10-14 and 14-21 days, respectively. Judging by past experience with the seedling heat mat, though, I would imagine they'll all have sprouted by the time I return from Christmas break. Hopefully my guest photographer and gardener will be able to capture and care for them all.

(kind of) new seeds ordered and temperature data soon

I received an email today from the Seeds of Change Customer Service Coordinator informing me that the Herbs de Provence seed collection had been discontinued as a result of the company being unavailable to acquire a number of the included seed packs. The main disappointment of the email was that it removed the possibility that the seeds would be waiting in my mailbox when I got home today. They´d already refunded me the money for the purchase, and so I quickly put it toward six seed packs that should round out the herb garden nicely. Hopefully arriving before I leave for the holidays are:

1 PACK, DILL, DUKAT
1 PACK, MARJORAM, SYRIACA ZAATAR
1 PACK, OREGANO, GREEK
1 PACK, SAGE, GARDEN
1 PACK, ROSEMARY
1 PACK, THYME, GERMAN WINTER

The Rosemary and the German Winter Thyme are both on backorder, but if Seeds of Change ships to me as quickly as they did before, then I stand a good chance of having the rest of them planted and germinating over winter break.
I´ve never grown dill or marjoram before, and this marjoram is supposedly quite different from the sweet marjoram that was a part of the Herbs de Provence collection. They say on their website that the Syriaca Zaatar Marjoram has a flavor that combines the tastes of sweet marjoram, thyme, and oregano, which definitely makes it sound like it´d be interesting to cook with. The other main decision I had in picking out seeds was the dill. They sell four different varieties: Bouquet, Dukat, Goldkrone, and Mammoth. They say that the Dukat is "Delicately aromatic, never bitter or overly pungent. Perhaps the sweetest of all dills. The preferred commercial variety. Stays leafy longer than others." All of those seemed like good things, especially for cooking. I also liked that it´s only supposed to grow to be 18-24" tall, as opposed to the Mammoth which can get up to 5´. The Bouquet Dill was also a smaller plant, growing to be 3´ tall. The website said that this variety was the best to grow for the production of seed, though, and since it is the leaves of the plant that I use most frequently for cooking, this didn´t seem like the best option. They didn´t have any information on the Goldkrone Dill, so it wasn´t really in contention.
In other non-seed-related news, I used a portable thermocouple to monitor the temperature and humidity of the top tier of the greenhouse for almost four days last week to get an idea of how accurate the thermometer and hygrometer are that I have placed on the shelving structure. I also wanted to know how much the temperature varied between sunny and cloudy days, and how much heat and moisture was escaping when I open the flaps for watering and photographing. The quick summary is that the PetCo terrarium meters do a pretty good job of representing the conditions (of at least that shelf) of the greenhouse, and that I should really be keeping the greenhouse warmer, especially at night. I´ll upload the data once I have the graphs processed so that they can be presented in a more accessible form. In response to this new information, I´ve increased the setting of the heater on the bottom shelf of the greenhouse from 70F to 80F (still on the low setting), and that appears to have resulted in an increase in temperature of about 6-8F on the top tier. How it will increase my electric bill, is yet to be seen.

new seeds and cilantro slideshow

The Pimiento de Padrón and sunflower seeds arrived yesterday from Renee's Garden. The package says that they take 10-21 days to germinate, and that they need to stay very warm (75-80F). I planted them toward the back of tray 2 so that they hopefully won't even cool off when I open the greenhouse flap for watering. The back half of tray 2 also receives the most sunlight, which should help not only with warmth, but also the strong light source that the seedlings supposedly will require once they've sprouted.
I think I finally understand why the cilantro seeds I planted are called "Slow Bolt." They took 7 days to show any signs of germinating, but since they first started to emerge, they've grown very rapidly, and have now almost caught up to the tomato sprouts in height.

Click for full screen viewing in Picasa:

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.