radishes germinated, eggplant transplanted, tomatoes and herbs in the sun

The Champion radishes first poked up above ground on Friday, right in their three-to-six day window.



I really like their little heart-shaped leaves.  Now they have 21-24 days until they can be harvested, and I´m supposed to plant a new crop of them every two weeks to have a constant supply.

Last Thursday was an absolutely gorgeous spring day, and so I decided to transplant the rest of the eggplant outside.  They will probably stay in these containers until they are planted in the garden.



My current totals are: 16 black, 17 snowy white, and 10 italian white.  Suffice to say, I think we´re going to have a ton of eggplant this year.

Since we´ve had a few warm sunny days in a row now, I´ve started bringing some of the staked tomato plants and herbs outside during the day.

Tomato plants along a south-facing wall:

Bucket of herbs:

These plants have been in the sun room living off whatever direct sun that comes through the south-facing windows.  I think this is probably sufficient on sunny days, but when it´s consistently cloudy, they really start to droop.  They´ve taken to the outside conditions pretty well for the most part.   Only one tomato plant has shown any signs of photo-bleaching:

So this Fox cherry is going to stay inside for today and recover.

I also planted a Crimson Sprinter tomato plant in the ground outside.

This plant has been nothing but unlucky.  During the second tomato transplant, I accidentally placed it too close to a space heater and it wilted.  I didn´t want to give up on it, but it quickly fell behind in growth compared to the other tomato plants, and then it wasn´t getting as much light in the greenhouse since it was so much shorter.  So it´s been living outside the greenhouse in the sunroom.  I went ahead and planted it in the ground even though it´s still really early because it´s short enough that I can easily cover it on cool nights.  True to form, this plant had been in the ground all of five minutes, when the wind blew really hard and snapped off the tallest stem.  I´m still not giving up on it, though.  I want to see if I can get it to produce a tomato after all it´s been through.

Pimientos de padrón transplanted

I finally transplanted my six pimiento de padrón plants.



I´m very pleased with their progress.  All of the plants have nice shiny leaves and lots of new leaf sprouts.  A couple of the plants have some yellowing leaves that could possibly be indicative of photobleaching.  Since I know that these pepper plants require an intense light source, I´m thinking that the yellowing is more likely a sign that they needed to have been re-transplanted before now.  Hopefully in their new containers with fresh soil, they will quickly recover.  

more transplanting and a(nother) new greenhouse

After only two weeks, the tomato and pepper plants are already growing out of their peat pots:

The second batch of Maglia Rosa cherry and Dukat dill had also outgrown their containers:

So I decided to do some more transplanting.  Since the tomatoes had outgrown their new pots so quickly, I  chose a much larger upgrade, and bought 50 round, plastic "Classic 200" containers.  They are tapered, measuring ~5.75" deep and in diameter.  So far I've only transplanted 10 of the tomato plants, and of those, most are Santiam and Red House Free Standing.

In order to be able to transplant the tomatoes, I needed to have a space for the plants in their larger containers.  I bought from Lowe's a "Garden Treasures" greenhouse for $40.  It's 64" x 35.5" x 19" and has a really nice heavy-duty clear plastic cover with two zippers running up the front to make for convenient access to the plants. 

 

I've installed this new greenhouse in the south-facing sun room on the first floor.  This room is heated through vents in the floor, and I've positioned the greenhouse so that it is on top of half of one of the vents.  This seems to be providing sufficient heat and airflow to the structure.  

It still isn't consistently sunny here, so I've installed a 2' single T5 bulb fixture as supplementary lighting.  So far, I've transplanted and moved one each of Crimson Sprinter and Oregon Spring Bush tomato, and four each Santiam and Red House Free Standing tomato.  The Santiam and RHFS are both determinates that are supposed to reach maximum heights of ~30", so I'm not too worried about them outgrowing the structure any time soon.  I moved the Crimson Sprinter and OSB as more of an experiment to see how they'd do in a cooler and darker environment as compared to the growing shelf of the main greenhouse structure.  Even if this noticeably slows down the growth of these tomato plants, it will only help to space out the eventual tomato harvest.  

The newly-transplanted Maglia Rosa cherry tomatoes have joined the larger transplanted tomatoes in the new greenhouse.

  

I think they look dwarfed there by the other tomato plants, and even the basil.  Again, it will be interesting to compare their growth in this environment with the other Maglia Rosa plants growing in the warmer and brighter greenhouse.

All of the Garden sage, (second batch) Dukat dill, and Slow Bolt cilantro have now been transplanted into more permanent containers and placed by a window.

Close-ups, Dukat dill:

Garden sage and Purple Opal basil:

 

Purple Opal basil hanging by a west-facing window in the sun room:

 

I need more containers before I can transplant the rest of the Purple Opal basil.  Then I can use all of the shelf space in the new greenhouse for transplanted tomatoes.

first transplant slideshow

Here's a slideshow of all the plants after their first transplant.



I really can't believe how quickly the tomato plants are recovering.  The Maglia Rosa cherry tomato plants all had roots growing ~5" past their plastic slots, so I guess I waited too long.  Thankfully, all the tomato plants seem to be doing fantastically now.

Today, I had to raise the 2' 2-bulb fixture on the germinating shelf since the second batch of Maglia Rosa cherry tomato and Dukat dill have both gotten so tall.

Germinating shelf, Dukat dill and Maglia Rosa cherry tomato:

Dukat dill, second batch:

 

Maglia Rosa cherry tomatoes, second batch:

 

I can't believe how many tomato plants (and hopefully, therefore, tomatoes) I'm going to have.

I installed another velcro flap this morning.  So there are now two providing access to the front of the germinating shelf, and one each on the front and back of the growing shelf.  It's nice to be able to get in and out of the greenhouse so easily, but the greenhouse temperature seems to be decreasing as the number of flaps increases, which suggests that there's air is leaking out through the velcro seals.  As it gets warmer out, this won't be as much of an issue.  For now, I'm covering the velcro with packing tape to make a tighter seal.

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.

happy cilantro and transplanting soon

This morning I raised the light fixtures on both shelves again.  The general recommendation for mounting is ~3" above the tallest plants.  The tomato plants are growing taller and taller in spite of their discolored leaves and the purple opal basil seemed to be showing some signs of photobleaching, so I decided to raise up the fixtures another inch or so.

The cilantro on the shelf is doing fantastic.  I'm really pleased that this idea seems to be working out so well.

The Greenhouse Gardener's Companion says that it's generally a good idea to transplant seedlings from their tray to a larger pot when they have produced 3-4 leaves.  The garden sage, pimientos de padrón, basil, syriaca zaatar marjoram, cilantro, tarragon, and the tomatoes have all reached this point, so this weekend they will all get new larger pots.  This means I will also need to fashion a new greenhouse structure to contain these new pots and purchase the new light fixture that will illuminate them.  I'm really excited about transplanting the seedlings.  I like to think that a larger pot and fresh soil will do them all good.