And Sow It Begins
This past weekend I seeded my first two flats of lettuce and radicchio. I like to have a flat of seedlings ready to be planted into a low tunnel when the weather starts to warm up. For me, it’s well worth the few minutes it takes to complete this chore in early February in order to be harvesting loads of salad greens by mid/late March.
Littles decided that the flats needed a little warmth and has decided it’s her new favorite top. Thank goodness for these heavy duty Perma-Nest trays!!!
What’s the first vegetable you seed for your garden?
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First Seeds of 2016
Yesterday I planted my first garden seeds for this year. What were they? Artichokes.
At 180-240 days these babies take a LONG time to reach maturity. I’ve also read that they appreciate a bit of a cold snap early on to make them think they’ve gone through a winter.
Will I be able to harvest artichokes to eat? I guess we’ll find out this fall. If Eliot Coleman can grow them here in Maine, I think I can as well.
What fund edible are you going to try this year for the first time?
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Tiny Cherry Trees
Those cherry pits I stratified in the fridge are growing nicely under the grow lights. Most of them germinated, of those about 50% have turned into little trees. There have been a few that have struggled and then wilted under the grow lights. Right now there are 15 or so little trees that seem to be doing well.
No doubt there will be a few more that will perish throughout the coming months and perhaps years, but it looks like I’ll at least have a few nice little trees for the garden. I’ll definitely be doing this again. Next winter I’m going to try stratifying various stone fruits in a row of the main garden. I’d like to see if/how that will work.
What is your favorite stone fruit tree?
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Friday Favorite: Seedlings
I love seeing little seedlings pushing their way through the soil. Last week I potted up all the cherry seeds that had germinated after stratification.
I’ve been waiting for them to push their way through the soil, checking them every single day. Low and behold, I spotted the first one coming through yesterday morning. What a lovely sight! I’m really hoping these little trees do well, I have grand plans for them that involved pruning a few of them into a pleached form and planting them here and there throughout the garden.
Have you ever grown a tree from seed?
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Out They Come
Waaaayyyyyy back at the end of the summer I put sour cherry and plum seeds in the fridge to stratify. I noted on my calendar that they needed to come out at the end of December. This morning I pulled them out.
Now that they’ve had their dose of cold treatment hopefully I get a few of them to germinate. Some of the tart cherries have already germinated, so into small pots they will go. None of the plums are germinating.
I’m really hoping to end up with a few lovely trees for myself and for a few friends, we shall see. It’s always a gamble to do projects like this, but I don’t lose anything but a little time if they don’t germinate. I’ll keep you posted on their progress.
What fun things are you doing this week?
