Mmmm..what will I do today?

The word of.....??????

I did a bit more on the Outdoor Kitchen...

See that floor...well it is actually

the bottom shelf under the bench.

Then I heard a voice.

It was a voice IN CAPITAL LETTERS.

It told me I had better plant some seeds.

I looked up to see where the voice was coming from.

The only one there was, Claude.

But it wasn't him speaking...

he was just smiling.

Anyway, I decided I had better heed

the words and I planted some seeds.

Tomatoes: Tommy Toe, Mortgage Buster, Gross Lisse and Roma.

Some eggplants and zucchini.

Well, it is a start.

I hope I never hear THAT VOICE again.

It was scary!

Stressville!

Every Southern Hemisphere blog I read

is raving on about the seeds they have already planted!

Go on...ask me how many I have in.

No, don't ask me!

I can't drag myself away from building

the Outdoor Kitchen!

The Cook can't understand my dilema

and wonders why I don't just plant my seeds.

Because my head is full of the kitchen.

I think about it going to sleep.

I dream about it.

It is the first thing I think of in the morning.

I sit with my breakfast and 

look out of the window at it.

I plan what to do, how to do it

and what order to do it in.

I photograph it.

I talk about it.

I admire it.

I blog about it.

I resist leaving the property...

even to do the most important things

because I don't want to stop!

On Tuesday, the Cook dragged me

screaming and kicking to visit her mother

and to go to a market.

The pain!

So, I succumbed and bought

a mini greenhouse

as suggested by Farmgirl

and endorsed by Veggigobbler.

I even put it together yesterday...

but look!

You will note, it is still empty,

and I have promised three other people 

that I will grow seedlings for them.

Maybe I will plant 

some today.

M A Y B E !

She has her father's nose.

I recently became a Great Aunt for the fourteenth time.  As my niece lives in a different state, her mother and I were reduced to pouring over one photo on Facebook.  After the initial the oooooing and aaaahhing we began, that generations old game of, looking for family resemblances in the gorgeous, squishy little face.  My sister and brother in law only lasted a week before they jumped on a plane to continue the game in person.

I love the way the tiny babies of different plants look when they emerge.  

Sometimes they resemble their parents and other times not.

Onion seedlings - although folded over, look a bit like onions

Carrots look more like grass

A beetroot has its mum's colouring.

Brassicas bear strong family resemblances with the same little heart shaped leaves
whether they are cabbages, cauliflowers, broccoli or another. Of course grow up to look
exactly like their Mum or Dad.

Which gardener among us doesn't recognise the furry little leaves of the  infant tomato plant when it pops up in the compost.  This little fella will have a short existence...wrong time of the year for it at this end of the world!

You can see, by their heart shaped leaves, that turnips are members of the brassicaceae family too.

Mmmm!  I may have been a bit heavy handed with the turnip seeds (three types) in these rows.  

A bit of thinning required I think

I also like the way, when you nibble on them,  seedlings usually taste like the vegetables they will grow into...just like the way human babies all have that irresistible smell. 

Fruitful labours

Thanks for all the advice about planting seeds.  

The next lot I plant, I will use seed raising mix and bio char only.

Once the seeds are up and I water with liquid seaweed, the bio char should hold the nutrients and make them available to the seedlings.

The seeds planted only five days ago in my compost mix have germinated.

These are the older seedlings in plain seed raising mix.  They have developed their second leaves so I will now pick these out and pot them into compost.

Check this out...my first seven raspberries.

Already gone (yum), but not forgotten. 

I have shared a photo of this beauty in a recent header but it is so big and beautiful that I wanted you to see all of it.  I love the shape and colour and am always amazed at how fast pumpkins grow once they set.

Seed Planting RSI

I have been planting, planting, planting.  In the last two days I have sowed these seeds...

In seed trays:

• Onions: Pickling Onions - Paris Silverskin 
• Onions: Ailsa Craig
• Kale: Cavolo Nero 
• Kale: Chinese Gai Lan
• Cabbage: Savoy
• Celery: Tendercrisp
• Broccoli: Purple Sprouting 
• Broccoli: Green Sprouting
• Cauliflower: Early Glory 
• Cauliflower: Snowball Improved
• Leek: Carentan

Direct into the garden:

• Turnips: Early Purple
• Turnips: Swede - Champion Purple Top
• Turnips: Japanese Turnip - Hakurei.
• Carrot: Chartenay Red Cored
• Beetroot: Crimson Globe

You can see why I have Repetitive Strain Injury!.

The photo above shows some brassicas I planted about a fortnight ago in seed raising mix.  They germinated well but have stalled.  I gave them a drink of weak liquid seaweed yesterday.

Yesterday's seeds are planted in a combination of my own compost, some bio-char and seed raising mix.  I covered the seeds with seed raising mix.

The truth is I haven't grown a lot from seed in the past.  I have always been either too busy or too slack and bought seedlings.  The tomatoes and things I planted for this season germinated but, like the seedlings above, didn't flourish like the 'commercial' ones.  They took off eventually once transplanted but were slow.  *sigh*

What do you use as a growing medium for your seeds?  

What tricks to you have to share?

Feeling Seedy

Brewster and the hens are beginning to moult and the silver birch leaves already have a definite yellow tinge.  My Northern Hemisphere blog friends are talking about seed catalogues and some are even beginning to plant under lights.  

As mild as it has been, the Summer isn't going to last much longer.  

I have ordered some heirloom seeds from a local seed company and have been perusing the Digger's catalogue for treasures.  

However, impatience got the better of me and I bought some 'ordinary' seeds the other day...just to get me started.

Yesterday I planted some in seed trays - there is a list in the sidebar.

I also wanted to show you this little number.  It is a nozzle that fits onto a soft drink bottle.  It cost me less than four dollars from Diggers and is one of the best gadgets/tools I have.

It has a soft flow and you can pour a lot of water onto seeds without washing them out.  

Zucchini in

The first of my home grown seedlings have gone in the ground.  The four zucchini had produced their secondary leaves and were robust and the weather has warmed up with an even warmer forecast. 

To protect them, I will be putting little bottle 'glass houses' over them at night for a while.  But I think they will outgrow these pretty quickly.

  The chickens take their job of working over the newly dug beds very seriously so I have to protect the seedlings from their enthusiasm, hence the orange fence.  

These beds are in a different section of the vegetable garden to the 'no dig' beds mentioned in earlier posts.

Germination!

A big surprise was waiting for me today when, for the first time in a couple of days, I checked the seeds I had planted.  There has been a good germination rate with beans, zucchinis, peas, basil and ball cabbages all popping their heads up.  The corn hasn't made an appearance but I prefer to plant this directly in the garden anyway.  The tomatoes (a mixed pack of heirloom varieties) only produced four tiny plants.  I will nurture these and wait because more may come up.

Overall the experiment to put the seeds on the shelves behind the shed with a plastic box over the top to make a mini greenhouse has been very successful.

I will watch these now and, depending on the weather,  either transplant them into the garden or pot them on when they have a second lot of leaves.  The weather will be warm enough soon to plant more seeds directly in the garden.  I will also plant some more in seed trays as back up in case there is a late frost and also to give away.

I also want to plant some flower seeds.  Propagation from seeds is much cheaper than buying seedlings.

Today I planted two full packets of tomatoes.  The ones on the left are Grosse Lisse (a favourite of my dad's) and a heritage variety called Mortgage Buster (AKA Mortgage Lifter).

Digger’s Heirloom Tomato Mortgage Lifter 

This tomato has an interesting history. Radiator Charlie produced this tomato in the 30’s during depression time and the quick sales of this popular tomato successfully paid his mortgage in record time. Growing a Tomato with an inspirational story undoubtedly would be uplifting to many. Tomato Mortgage Lifter is a good flavoured pink/red beefsteak variety, with a mid to late season.

Sounds like a good one to me!

I have planted enough to share.