I’m so excited! All six of the yellow pear tomato seeds, and
one of the two Principe Borghese tomato seed, that I planted five days ago have
germinated!!
Why is this so exciting? First, the potting mix the seeds
are in had started to get a little moldy on top. Second, I didn’t have any
homegrown tomatoes last year.
Generally, I’ve been a busy beaver in the garden the past
week, what with getting strawberries planted on our new vertical garden,
planting a bed of carrot seeds, and transplanting all the kale and broccoli
seedlings.
The bummer this week has been running out of my sweet
potatoes, thanks to the sweet potato weevil ruining my large crop. The
non-organic sweet potatoes at the local grocery are tasteless compare to either
mine or the ones we buy from Whole Foods. They also are often at the point of
going bad – yes, even this time of year, when they still should be fresh.
The best way to plant carrots?
In the second of two garden vlogs that follow, I talk a bit
about my experience with growing carrots. Long story short: the results so far
have been dismal. Based on the cost of carrots in the grocery store, you’d
think they’d be easy to grow. But I get a lot more production from the
vegetable-fruits (cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers) – which are considerably more
expensive than carrots.
Here are some things I’ve learned about growing carrots.
- Loosen the soil, then smooth it out in preparation for planting.
- Broadcast the seeds. Don’t kill your back trying to plant just two or three seeds every three inches. At least half the seeds aren’t going to germinate, and you will have put all that time and effort into planting for nothing.
- Sprinkle organic dry fertilizer over the whole area, and water in the seeds and fertilizer.
- Water the seeds two to three times a day until at least half the seeds have germinated. If there’s dew or frost on the ground in the morning, just water around lunchtime and suppertime.
- If possible, if a thunderstorm is predicted before the seeds germinate, cover the seeds for that day or night when it’s supposed to storm. Use row cover, cardboard, or big plastic bags, and weight them down with old boards. If you don’t, the pounding rain is going to wash a frightening number of the seeds either right out of the growing bed, or cause them to accumulate in one small spot.
- Be sure to thin carrot seedlings to three inches apart once the plants are an inch or two tall. Yes, even if you grow them in wood chips or a loose potting mix. Unless you want carrots so thin that a wisp of a breeze will blow them out of your hand.
Enjoy the following two videos, for more goings-on of my
garden the past couple of days!
