Today's the day for lots of planting (for my wife). My work is taking me away for this beautiful day, but I've given my wife a list of plants and where she can plant them. She also spent several hours yesterday moving rocks out of a bed next to the house (sitting most of the time).
Planting Today: Spinach, Lettuce, Leeks, Chives, Peas, Thyme
Planting This Weekend: Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Kohlrabi, Peppers, Eggplant, Onions, Tomatoes, Dill, Asparagus, and possibly others
Work This Weekend: Hopefully the guy I know that has a tiller will be free to come over soon (and that we'll have enough dry time to do the tilling). Otherwise I'll have to look into doing it with the shovel and pitchfork, which will not be fun (did about 50 sq feet a week ago).
Problems: Some of the pepper plant leaves started getting mushy, I think it is because they are on the edge of the lighting and we've been watering them too much. I'm hoping that getting them outdoors will help them. I'm also having troubles figuring out who are Brussels Sprouts and who are Kohlrabi. The problem is they are both cabbage-like and I've planted so much. Same situation with the leeks & chives. Next year each tray will get 2 labels (#R, #L) and all info will be put into a spreadsheet.
Successes: It appears that the plants are growing very slowly, but it helps when I'm not paying attention to them every day. Our leeks & chives are over 6 inches tall and an inch away from the lights. The Roma tomato plants we started early have many leaves.
Financial: I'm deciding now whether to sell some of our plants or not. I'm thinking of try to plant everything we can with the space we have, then selling the excess. I have been good staying away from looking at more plants, since I've got so many already.
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4 comments:
If you find that things are overcrowded in the garden then it makes sense to sell some of the plants. If you have room to grow them they you may make more money from growing the veg.
Its good to hear your garden venture is starting to take off.
For the mussy peppers I would suggest that you water a lot less.
I plant in cell packs within a black tray with a clean dome top. If this is basically how you are set up then you really only have to water when you plant the seeds, the covering should keep everything evenly moist. Then start watering when the dome is taken off but just water when the top of the soil is looking almost dry.
You can also increase your successes if you purchase a heat mat that goes under your seed tray. You can purchase a small 10"x20" one on ebay for around $20 dollars and this will really increase your germination rate as well as help keep the fungus/diseases at bay, they are a really good investment.
Do you plan on selling any of the excess produce you get from your garden? This sounds rather large and may be more than you need, it could pan out to be a nice side business. The weather has been great lately.
It would defiantly be a good money marker, a friend of mine bought a farm from a couple that had a produce stand and they made 50,000 plus a year selling vegetables on the side of the road. A buck a pepper and a couple bucks for a basket of tomato's adds up fast.
You can even buy produce direct from the farmer by the bushel very economically and sell along side your produce.
With food prices going up people will be checking those classifieds for bargains.
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