Robin's Outdoors

I’ve started a few seeds here and there but nothing remarkable. Steve brought in a 3.8 cu ft bale of ProMix for me yesterday (I have an arm in a sling, limited in what I’m supposed to do.) before he left for a snowmobile ride. My plan: fill all of the trays, pots and six packs I’d need, soak them and let them set while I sorted seeds, then get all of the seeds planted before he got home. Then I’d clean up the mess since I’m doing this in the kitchen rather than the roofless greenhouse (Thanks Nemo, you sucked.) and be ready to cook supper when he got home.

My accomplishment was sorted seeds and this:

1020 tray. It’s 10″ x 20″ inches.

One 1020 tray with 3/4″ of ProMix and two kinds of seeds. The ProMix, stored in the roofless greenhouse where no heat collects, was frozen solid. The bale is shrink wrapped with heavy plastic making the bale solid. It took two hours for the top of the bale to thaw. I planted Revolution bell peppers and Opalka paste tomatoes and called it good. I retreated to the couch to read. Steve brought the stand in this morning. I put cardboard down as an insulator underneath the heating pad.

The seedlings will be transplanted into one of the high tunnels.

The bale has thawed and ready to be used this morning. Steve is ice fishing on a new pond and I’m playing in the dirt…I mean I’m starting seeds. I have a long list of what I’m starting today but most of them will have only a few seeds. It’s too early to start them for outdoors planting as we’re still three months from the last average frost date. These seedlings will be transplanted into high tunnels in mid to late April, depending on the amount of sun we get and the temperatures.

Here’s the list and a little info on some of the varieties.

Opalka  (paste tomato) and Revolution  (bell pepper) are in one tray. I need more than a few of these plants, and they both benefit from a heating pad. The seedlings don’t look alike so I won’t confuse them. I can’t put two kinds of tomatoes in one tray; I screw up when I’m transplanting to six packs and mix them up every single time if I start them together.  “A butterfly! ummm….what end of the tray did I pluck this from?”

Photo by Renee’s Garden. Butterfly Rudbeckia Cappuccino.

Unless noted, seeds came from Fedco. For full disclosure, all seeds from Renee’s Garden were sent to me as a media package. They give me seeds, I write about them. I don’t give them my approval just because they were given to me. If I didn’t like them I’d say so.

*Johnny’s Seeds
**Renee’s Garden

• Bleu De Solaize Leek  A lot of people start them in January or February. I don’t like cutting them back several times before transplanting outdoors. It will be late April or early May before they can be transplanted. I’ll direct seed in a high tunnel later this week and compare production at the end of the season. New to me.
• Little Jade. Baby Napa cabbage. ** Seeds from last year’s media kit.
• Diplomat broccoli *
• De Cicco broccoli (48 days, it will be out of the high tunnel before the hottest summer heat)
• Kolibri purple kohlrabi
• Shuko pac choi (A favorite for stir fry)
• Tatsoi
• Kale Mix (I’ll start more in the summer for fall transplanting into a high tunnel for the winter)
• Snow Crown cauliflower. Cauliflower is a little more tender than the other brassicas. It will be fine with the warmth of the tunnel, and will be out in about 50 days before it’s too hot inside. *
• Rhapsody butterhead lettuce. ** I’ll direct seed leaf lettuces later in the week. **
• Brush Stroke pansy. Pansies are some of my favorite flowers. I’ll move the seed tray to the high tunnel in a week or so. They prefer cool weather.  New to me.
• Helen Mount Johnny Jump Up. Also being moved to the tunnel. I’ll randomly plant these around the homestead. They’re self-seeding perennials.
• Starlight echinacea ** Left from last year. I tried some, like them and used the last of the seed today.
• Cappuccino rudbeckia. ** Left from last year.
• Broadleaf Sage
• Greek Oregano **
• Lavender Hidcote **
• Lemon Balm
• Panorama Red Shades bee balm
• Bush Slicer cucumber. ** Great in containers. The first cucumbers I picked last year were these, grown in a hanging basket on the back porch.
• Astia Zucchini ** A bushy plant great for containers and small spaces.
• Super Bush tomato. **Another container plant. Super Bush survived three frosts last year. The leaves looked terrible in the morning and just fine by noon. Nice slicing tomato, determinate that maxed out at 3′ tall. The stems are thick and strong, needs little staking. I put one dowel in the container.
• Chianti Rose tomato. ** An heirloom. It’s a big “beef stake” type. It will be grown clipped to twine in the high tunnel. It maxes out at 7′ so I won’t be chasing it to the 13′ peek to drag it back down.  New to me.
• Stupice tomato. ** Another heirloom. It is early, cold tolerant and great for containers. New to me.
• Juliet tomato. My garden wouldn’t be complete without Juliet. It’s the first tomato to ripen. Juliet is a grape. It’s excellent eaten alone, dehydrates well, and is my fantastic in sauce. I wish there were a large paste tomato that tasted exactly like Juliet. It’s wild, suckers like crazy and will grow to 20′ long in the high tunnel if I let it. It’s worth the work. I’ll climb the ladder to grab the top and bring it back down to clip to twine.
• Sunset Mix sweet peppers. ** Heirloom. “…elongated plump peppers are perfect for pizza, salads or roasting.”
• Early Jalepeno. I’m not a hot-food person…but I’m starting to appreciate it. I can eat a Jalepeno popper now. A few years ago I wouldn’t try one. I like these best when they’re red. The plants branch out and reach 4′ to 5′ tall in the tunnels. I have to stake them to keep them upright.

I didn’t start a lot of seeds today. They fit on two shelves on the plant rack. I’ll start the majority of the seeds on April 1. Direct seeding in the garden depends on the weather. The ground is usually dry enough by late April. Remember, when the package says “as soon as the soil can be worked” you should be planting those seeds. Soil that “can be worked” doesn’t drip water when squeezed in your hand. I’ll talk more about that later, and about seeds I plant while there’s still frost in the ground.

I’m going to give away some of my favorite seeds. I’ll have Juliet tomatoes, Ministro cucumbers (49 days to maturity!) and a few others. Watch for a blog about it later this week.