Sprouts

During the heat wave we had in March, I had a sudden rush that I was behind the game with my garden. I wasn't but thank goodness for the push to get going.

My sprouts have been struggling though, we've been switching back and forth in the weather so that I cannot always get sufficient light on them. Last year was the first year I seriously tried seed trays and I have not yet purchased grow lights. I may have to make an investment next year. For now I'm taking advantage of all the windows in my dining room and just how much light is in that room. Even still, some of my sprouts are leggy, especially the tomatoes. Last year they produced despite being leggy although it was a rough season for tomatoes in general. The tomatoes last year didn't get very big but I'm not sure if that was from the weather or my leggy starter plants.

Some of this years sprouts are looking good though, especially the eggplant, leeks, cilantro, parsley and sweet banana peppers. I can't wait for the weather to consistently warm up so that I can get them outside in the ground so that they can have the better lighting from the sun.

Long overdue!

Ok so I've been busy, to be honest that's an understatement!

So to catch up, I started seeds indoors this year to save money and over a couple weeks in March I started:
- Leeks
- Celery
- Parsley
- Summer Savory
- Roma Tomatoes
- Beefsteak Tomatoes
- Tomatillo's
- Eggplant
- Romaine
- Basil
- Marigolds
- Patty-pan squash
- Mammoth Sunflowers rota
and
- some annuals for the flower bed

Note to self: The squash and sunflowers do NOT need to be started early. Everything else should be started EARLIER!

I doubled the garden this year with a lot of help from the hubby, and as a result I've concluded that I need rotatiller. I've made out fine hand turning the soil up to now but oh my, that's a lot of soil now.

As of this morning the last of the beds was prepped and seeded. The garden as it stands now is:

Halloween and still gardening

So far the fall has been kind and even though there have been some chillier nights lately the garden is still going strong. I harvested the eggplant and the parsley this week because the temps were supposed to get down to freezing and I didn't want to lose them. There's still kale, beets, carrots, leeks and some of the hardier herbs in the garden to keep us going for awhile yet though.

Now I play the gambling game of when to harvest the last of the garden. The 10 day forecast is all over the place. I think I'll be ok though without finishing the garden off yet. Last year when I played this game I lost. The temps dropped for several days during a time when I was extremely busy and couldn't get out to the garden so the ground froze with the veggies in it. I'm not doing that again this November.

My goal is to harvest the last of the garden over the next two weeks. That way I should be able to prep the soil some before winter. We'll see how well I manage my time though....