Seedlings & seedling log

When i first started this blog last year, a friend told me i should post every 3 days or so.. Sounds fine, and last year i tried my best to do that. This year, things are crazier.. I work for a non-profit helping coordinate 50 community gardens. Things have changed in the organization, we got a new executive director, moved the office, searching for money for the program.. it's a lot of work and keeping me much busier. So, yeah, i haven't posted in 17 days.. oh well.. This years blog is going to be a bit different, the same, but different, like life, you know?

The warm weather, so far, is pretty non-existent. It will be nice, sorta, like 50 F, which after this winter seems like a heat wave.. but then, it goes back down to freezing.. lovely.. All of us who want to start planting are getting very edgy.. but that's gardening in the new climate change world. Still i'm hopeful, sorta.. at least for this year.. so i've started my seedlings.

The photo above shows gretel and fairy tale eggplants, cayenne peppers and basil, and to the far left parsley. The basil is smaller cause i start it a week to 10 days later than the eggplants and peppers. Basil takes off like a rocket, and will outgrow the eggplants and peppers. If i start them later, they'll catch up, fast, to the eggplants and peppers and my flat will be pretty even height wise in another few days. This is important cause you want those seedlings 2" under the lights at all times.

This is why a seedling log is a good thing to do. I write down when i plant each variety, mark down when they germinate, so i can plant my flats and get everything growing at a good rate and together, as much as possible. Garden logs are good learning tools, but so are seedling logs. Even though i've been doing this for a lot of years, i learn something new every year. All that info helps me do it better the next year, I refer to what i did last year, so i can improve this year. Seedling logs will help you coordinate your seedlings so that they all get the best growth possible, and you'll get the best, most productive plants possible.

 I find it really useful to have a couple of garden planners. That way i can see at a glance, things i want to plant, when i need to either start seeds or plant outdoors as well as if i can get another crop in once the first is done. There are lots of garden planners out there. This first one is very useful if you start your own seeds. You can see by color what you want to start indoors and when. For instance, i've already started my parsley (notoriously slow to germinate) and a week later my hot peppers and eggplant, both a bit slow to germinate. On the other hand i don't want to start my tomatoes (super fast growers) till early April. By looking at my planner i can see when i should start my seeds. I can also put in when to direct seed some of my crops. I direct seed almost everything with the exception of tomatoes, eggplants, hot peppers, sweet peppers, basil, celery, a few other crops and other herbs. Everything else does just fine directly seeded in the ground. The other exception is a late crop of lettuce, kale, and others. Most lettuce will not germinate in soil temperature too warm. So i'll start some inside in late july for a fall crop.

Another good thing about this type of planner, is that you can see when things will be ready to harvest and can plan on a second crop to take it's place. I plant my peas usually in mid march. Course this year we still have almost 2' of snow on the ground so i'll be lucky if i get to plant in late march! Either way though, the peas should come out by early July and that leaves plenty of time to get another crop or even two, in. Beets, turnips, carrots, late lettuce, late kale.. they can all go in once the peas come out. I can see at a glance, where space will be available, or where it will be taken up by crops that go till frost.

This second planner is really useful for second crops. You will find all the info about how long crops take to mature on seed packets or in garden catalogs. For instance, beets and turnips take anywhere from 35-50 days to mature, that's less than 2 months. If i plant beets in spring, they'll be out by early June and I'll still have plenty of time to plant something else. By using a planner like this one, you can plot out what you want to grow and when that crop is mature, what you want to plant in it's place. That way you're not pulling your beets thinking, "what was i going to plant here?!"

We get so busy, pulling weeds, fertilizing where we need to, harvesting, etc.. That it's hard to remember what we wanted to plant where. With garden planners, you can have that info easily available and not have to stress out thinking what you missed.

Another good way to keep track of things is with a seedling and garden logs. Next post i'll talk more about them.