First Sign of Life



First Seedlings



Botanicle Interests Org. Cucumbers



I was very excited this morning to see some green popping up from my egg-carton tray. Since my last post, I have planted some lettuce, the Renee's Garden Superbush tomatos, and cucumbers. I had germinated the cucumbers in a paper towel for two days while the lettuce seeds were too tiny to germinate. I am pretty disappointed with the items I bought from Renee's Garden thus far. The tomato seeds barely grew in the paper towel and less than 10% grew roots. The roots were 1/10th of an inch at best on the ones that did grow. Hopefully these guys will do better in the soil.

I continue to be impressed by the seeds I purchased on amazon by Botanicle Interests. The cucumber seeds grew roots in under two days and then once transplated into soil, popped up as little seedling overnight. Out of the 30 or so cucumber seeds I already have 7 seedlings. I'm impressed!

There's Root!



Organic Sugar Sweetie Tomatoes

 after 7 days.

Super Bush Seeds

I was very excited to see that my little organic sugar sweetie tomatoes, after spending 7 days in a moist warm paper towel, had roots! Without counting to get a more exact number, I would say that nearly 90% of these seeds were growing a good size root. The root length varies from 3/4's  to 5/4's of an inch. I was very impressed with this turnout, especially considering that I have another 30 seeds in a baggie that I have not taken out yet. This is particularly impressive compared to the new bag of Renee's Garden Super Bush seeds that I just received, which only contained about 40 seeds. Nonetheless, I have layed out the Super Bush tomato seeds on a different paper towel and put it in a plastic bag in a warm spot. 

I also set some cat grass out to germinate. My little ones should be happy to get this nice combination of rye, oats, barley, and wheat. They seem to just love eating plants. Just this week they did a number on my fresh cut daffodils!









Germinating

I am getting very excited for this year's adventure in gardening as the weather gets warmer here in Boston. I try to hold back in fear of growing plants indoors too soon. My Alpine strawberries are underway in a egg-carton container.

Next, I started my Sugar Sweetie Cherry Tomatoes by placing the seeds on some toilet paper, moistening it and putting it in a warm spot (on top of the cable box). I also wrapped the paper in aluminum to block out light. I will be keeping the paper moist over the next couple of days before moving into egg carton containers.



Sugar Sweetie Tomato seeds layed out to germinate on toilet paper.



The Seeds

Last year I had the fortune of buying a wild strawberry plant at Christmas Tree Shop plant store in late July and to my surprise this little plant produced super sweet 1/2 inch berries through all of August and September. The taste of wild strawberries really is unlike any other berry. The best way to describe it is a cross between a very sweet strawberry and raspberry.

This year I have decided to try growing this delicious fruit from seed. I purchased Alpine Mignonette Heirloom seeds from Renee's Garden on Amazon. I've read that these berries take some time to germinate so I planted them in seed starter (composed of 40% Composted Bark and 60% Peat Moss by Miracle Gro) well in early March (about a week ago). I am hoping that these guys pop up and I can transplant them into larger pots in late April. However, there is about a 50% chance of a frost after April 7th.