Final Seed Order 2009

Yep, couldn't help myself- oops I did it one more time.

Here is today's order:

• English Daisy Tasso Strawberries and Cream
• Balloon Flower Astra White
• Monarda Panorama Red Shades
• Hollyhock Mallow 'Mystic Merlin'
• Hollyhock Creme de Cassis
• Organic Cilantro Longstanding
• Organic Dill Bouquet

I'm not sure I'll even have enough room for all of these flowers, but we'll see what happens.

As far as the third week of March update- some good and bad news. The good news is I've got two pole peas growing, and the whole row of arugula has sprouted wonderfully. No action on the bush peas in the strawberry bed, so something clearly went wrong there. No big deal though, I have plenty of extra seeds. I plan to soak and replant in the first week of April.

This experimental early March planting has told me that you don't necessarily gain much from starting earlier in this climate. This is probably especially true this year, since it has been so cold. Tonight it is supposed to go down into the 20's! That's the bad news. I hope the arugula lives!

I still may try to start early next year, as the head start on cool weather plants will leave more room for the warm weather plants in my small garden. But I think it will have to be protected by a double row cover greenhouse as described in "Four Season Harvest" by Eliot Coleman. Unfortunately the Agribon I purchased was back-ordered until at least 3/20, and I haven't received it yet.

More mixed news for the indoor seedlings. The lettuce and violet seedlings are doing OK, but some of the lettuce plants seem pretty leggy. So I'm a bit disappointed with these results too. I think it may be because we didn't get enough artificial light on them soon enough. The good news is Mr. Aubade was able to set up the shop lights using the corded switch. However, we forgot to ask the hardware store to cut the chain in half, and our hack saw wouldn't work to cut it. So we've got to go back to the store today and ask them to cut it, then we can finally hang the big grow lights and start the flower seedlings.

Ultimately I think the lettuce seedlings will survive, but I bet whatever I direct seed in the beds in the next week or two will grow just as well as the ones I started inside. Oh well, live and learn. They sure look cute on the windowsill anyway!