Seedling Transplant

This is one of my favorite gardening tasks...potting up little plants that I grew from seeds :)  The tomatoes and eggplant I seeded back in February are big enough for me to plant each in its own little pot for some additional time under the grow lamp. Look at these little beauties!

But there is one part of this task that I hate!  Thinning the seedlings :/  It pains me to have to pull and discard a perfectly healthy seedling just because I planted 2 seeds and only need one plant.

But there is no other way to do this.  I don't have room for that many seedlings.  As it is now, I'll likely give away a few tomato and pepper plants.  But that's OK.  To me, that's simply part of gardening :)

Anyway, when transplanting the seedlings, it's important that the soil be nice and loose and full of good organic matter.  So I make a mixture in my wheel barrel of the following:  good potting soil, organic compost, sphagnum peat moss and organic fertilizer.

As an aside, yes, I know the potting soil is upside down.  My lovely pup, Laci, so graciously chewed a hole in the bottom of the bag that I had to stand it upside down to open it!

I mix equal parts, potting soil and compost but add a third more peat moss to make sure the mixture is not too heavy or compact.  I then add a scoop of organic fertilizer and mix it all together and this is what it looks like:

  Good soil is such a beautiful thing!

It's a pretty straightforward process from here.  I use small pots that I've collected over the years;

Put a seedling in each pot, fill it with the potting mixture, and set it under the grow lamp. 

I ended up planting 18 tomato plants, 3 cherry tomato plants and 3 Italian white eggplant seedlings.  So yes, I will definitely be giving some plants away!  But I just love it!  Look at my little rows of tiny seedlings :)  They look like little soldiers all lined up. 

Now it's just a matter of more grow time.  I lowered the grow lamp to where it is just above the top of the tallest plants.  I'll have to keep moving it up as the plants grow, but placing it close to the seedlings prevents them from getting too leggy. I also keep the heater on in the greenhouse overnight to make sure the temperature stays pretty warm and consistent.  

What a wonderfully productive, FUN day in the greenhouse!

Here Come the Peppers

Finally the peppers I planted have begun to germinate!  I know they take a bit longer to sprout than other seeds (like 15 days as opposed to 7-10 for the tomatoes and eggplant) but I was getting very impatient!  I saw signs of sprouting a couple of days ago from 6 of the 12 seeds I planted.  Yay!

I'm super excited about my peppers this year.  They are two varieties I've not planted before:  Red Ruffled Pimento and Corno DiToro Sweet Peppers.  I will baby these plants to give them their best chance to grow and produce beautiful fruit! 

They will stay in their little plugs under the heat lamp for several more weeks.  This will give them the opportunity to get a little bigger and stronger before I pot them up in small containers in preparation for transplanting into the garden.  Hopefully, I'll get 3 transplants of each kind to put in the garden.  The other 6 I'll likely give away to my gardening friends.  Peppers Linda?? :)

GBBD - Christmas Cactus

The Christmas cactus that is living in my greenhouse is in full glorious bloom.  This one is also a descendant of my grandfather's plant.  It warms my heart when it blooms like this.  I hope it does yours too :)

Garden Seedlings

Yes...geeky me again with an update on the seeds I planted directly in my garden.  With the exception of the carrots, which typically take a little longer, all have begun to germinate too!  The weather has been very cooperative with sunny, very warm days which is perfect for seed growth.  We had one cold night where the temperatures here in the hills dipped to around freezing.  But I covered each bed with a frost blanket and that provided just the protection the little seedlings needed.  All came through the cold night just fine.

Now I know it's really hard to see these little buggers, but they are there and get a little bigger every day.

Romaine and golden chard

 Arugula

 Arugula

 Gold beets

 Red beets

Red leaf lettuce

I have to say my spring garden of 2011 is off to a very good start and I'm very much looking forward to cultivating and nurturing this garden along as spring turns into summer.  That's when the real challenge of gardening in South Texas begins...dealing with the extreme heat that plagues us every summer.  But I prefer to live one day at a time and deal with challenges as they present themselves.  And I'm happy to say, today was a good day :)

Germination in the Greenhouse!

I'm so excited!  The tiny seeds I planted in the hothouse setup in my greenhouse have begun to germinate.

 
Like the garden geek that I am, I go out to the greenhouse every day to see if anything has begun to sprout and sure enough...all the tomatoes and the Italian white eggplant have germinated.  Nothing yet on the peppers, but I do know they typically take a little longer to germinate.  But I looked at them yesterday (deep inside their little grow plug burrows) and I did indeed see signs of germination.  Take a look.  These photos were taken over the course of a few days. 

To me, this is one of the most exciting things about gardening.  Taking this teeny tiny seed, placing in a simple growing medium, giving it light, warmth and water and before too long, here you have it...a plant in the making.  It's just too cool!

I'll let them grow a little more and then thin each plug to one plant.  The plants will continue to live in the makeshift hothouse, under the grow lamp for a while yet.  They need to get much stronger before I transplant them to their own little pots.  That's much later...but it looks like I'm off to a pretty good start!  :)

Linguine with Tuna, Walnuts, Lemons and Herbs

Yes, another recipe using lemons :)   

I love Italian food.  In fact my business partner (and very good friend) when I had my cafe and catering business is Italian so our food leaned heavily on simple, authentic Italian dishes.  Dishes that are easy, clean and made with fresh, high quality ingredients.  That's what this recipe is.  It takes basic pantry staples and turns them into a delicious, healthy and easy recipe.  This one comes together in no time and is a go-to dish for me, especially when wonderful hubby is out of town and I'm feeding just me :)  It's very easy to cut in half. 

Linguine with Tuna, Walnuts, Lemon and Herbs

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

1 pound linguine

1/3 cup olive oil

4 cloves garlic, minced or passed through a garlic press

2  6-ounce cans high quality tuna, packed in oil

2 teaspoons grated lemon zest, (1 or 2 lemons, depending on size)

2 teaspoons lemon juice (I usually use the juice of 1 or 2 lemons)

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup mixed chopped fresh herbs such as parsley, chives and thyme (I used parsley and chives)

In a small frying pan, toast the walnuts over moderately low heat, stirring frequently, until golden brown, about 3 minutes, being careful not to burn them.

In a large  pot of boiling, salted water, cook linguine until al dente, about 12 minutes.  Reserve about a cup of the pasta cooking liquid.  You may (may) need to add a bit to the sauce to loosen it a little bit.  Drain pasta and set aside.

While pasta is cooking, heat olive oil over medium heat in a large skillet.  Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for one minute.  (Note:  When I made this dish, I ran out of garlic {can you believe that!} and only used one clove.  It's really best to use 4 as called for.) 

Stir in the tuna and its oil, breaking up the tuna with a fork.  Remove from heat.

Toss the linguine with the tuna mixture, the lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, pepper and 1/2 the fresh herbs.

 

Top with remaining herbs toasted walnuts and serve.  This dish is best eaten immediately.  

Buon Appetito!

Tomatoes, Peppers and Eggplant

More seeds started!

These summer vegetables~~tomatoes, peppers and eggplant~~are a little more susceptible to frosts and cold nights; but it's plenty early for me to get their seeds going in the greenhouse to transplant into the garden when the weather warms up, likely mid to late April in the hills here in Boerne.

I have this pretty cool set up where I plant seeds in these little grow plugs,

 

 

 Set them in a float tray, 

 

Place a hothouse dome over the whole thing, 

Set it on a seed heating pad 

  And place the whole contraption under my grow lamp in the greenhouse

Voila!

This is the first year I've used this set up and I'm anxious to see how it works.  I need to keep the little plugs moist but it should work like a charm in getting the seeds going.  I checked it this morning and the little plugs are moist and warm on top of the heating pad so I'm pretty confident it'll work the way it's supposed to.  But...we'll see.  Right now the greenhouse is open but if it's going to get cold, I'll just close the door and windows and it stays pretty toasty in there, especially if I turn on the two heaters.

I did a little Mickey Mouse legend in my gardening notebook so I would remember what I planted in which plugs :)

 

Anyway, here's what I planted:

"A superb sweet pimento that is a favorite for fresh eating.  Clusters of 8-10 thick-walled, juicy pimentos per plant.  Fruits are flattened globes with gentle lobing.  Green when immature, cherry red when ripe."

"The largest of the sweet stuffing peppers, these are first-rate fresh or roasted.  Long and tapering with a non-bell shape.  When they are ripe, the fruits turn a stunning red, with an occasional brilliant yellow.  Tall plants bear an abundance of fruit."

"An oversized, juicy cherry tomato with great flavor and few seeds.  Vigorous vines are highly productive and disease resistant.  Selected by the late horticultural genius, Alan Chadwick."

  "Heirloom.  An old Italian variety excellent for fresh eating.  Prolific vines are vigorous and lush.  Indeterminate."

"Rich, smooth flavor and perfect acid/sweet balance in a medium-sized beefsteak tomato.  An exceptional fresh slicer.  Extremely productive plants produce up to 50 tomatoes each.  Trellis for highest quality fruit."

"Introduced from South America in 1951, this flavorful, prolific, mid-season variety bears firm, vitamin rich, crack-resistant fruit late into the season.  Indeterminate variety needs trellising."

"A beautiful, white to pale green eggplant is creamier and less bitter than the purple types.  Extremely productive plant and the earliest maturing in our (Seeds of Change) trials.  A great choice for container gardening. 
*Note from me:  I'm not a big fan of purple eggplant, so I'm very anxious to see what these little
white ones taste like. 

Again, maybe I'm overly optimistic about my gardening abilities, but I do hope these seeds germinate and grow into little transplants that I can nurture and eventually plant in my Texas garden.  All of these varieties are new to me so I have no idea what to expect.  But I do know that I'll watch them carefully and do my best to bring them all to beautiful, healthy plants that produce an abundance of fruit that I can share with my family and friends.  I guess...stay tuned :)