Today I sowed a few seeds:
– Florence Fennel
– Spaghetti Squash
– Black Zucchini
I also potted some seedlings into newspaper pots:
– Bok Choy ‘Fun Jen’
– Bok Choy ‘Joi Choy’
– Swiss Chard ‘Fordhood Giant’
Tag Archives: newspaper pots
Bunch of Plants Purchased and Potted Up…
It started to rain last night and for some reason I felt the need to buy some leafy winter vegetable starts, so I visited Mid City Nursery this afternoon. I didn’t find any leafy vegetables, but I got a six-pack of Walla Walla Sweet Onions which contained about 17 seedlings. I haven’t grew big Onions, so this will be good experience.
I also looked for different colored Carrots and found Blend of Colors Carrot seeds which contains 4 varieties: Cosmic Purple, Lunar White, Solar Yellow and Atomic Red.
I also wanted to try Parsnips, so I got a packet of seeds, but when I got home, I discovered they were not Parnips, but Parsley… actually Hamburg Root Parsley ‘Piestruska’ which seems similar to Parsnips, so these will do. I’m interested in trying them out.
Hmm… This just popped into my head… I just realized that Parsnips kinda sounds like a combination or Parsley and Turnips. I wonder if that’s how it got the name. Although, I think they are from two different families. I’ll have to look that up.
I then visited our local Lowe’s to get some potting soil. I also purchased:
– Wallflower sp. (six-pack)
– Calendula ‘Calypso’ (yellow with black centers)
– Spinach ‘Bonnie’ (2 four-packs)
– Collard ‘Georgia Hybrid’ (four-pack)
– Asparagus ‘Jersey Giant’ (3 bare roots)
When I got home I potted up a bunch of seedlings (grown from seeds indoor under grow lights) into newspaper pots. These include:
– Mustard ‘Crimson Red’
– Pak Choi ‘Purple Choi’
– California Poppy ‘Mission Belle’
– Japanese Chard ‘Umaina’
– Swiss Chard ‘Witerbi Mangold’
The Snap Pea ‘Sugar Ann’ seeds that I soaked are just starting to sprout roots, so I planted those into about 22 newspaper pots.
Alyssum Sprouting + Daikon and Mango Sowed…
I was surprised to see sprouts already from the seeds I planted 2 days ago. The Alyssum ‘Easter Bonnet Deep Rose’ 
is already sprouting…
Daikons
I know Daikons are supposed to be planted directly in the ground and not transplanted, but I was curious if I can start it and plant it once I see a small sprout. For my experiment, I planted it two ways:
Left: I made small, but tall newspaper pots, so I can plant them directly into veggie bed once sprouted. I planted Daikon ‘Mino Early’ in these.
Right: I used Jiffy Peat Pellets with the outside netting removed. I placed them on top of about an inch layer of soil, so the roots can grow deeper. I planted Daikon ‘Sweet Glade’ in these.
Mango
I saved another Mango seed from a Mango we bought and ate… and will try growing it.
Tomato Harvest + Flowers Starting to Bloom…
Today I thinned the seedlings in the newspaper pots to a few strong ones. I’ll thinned them to a single plant once they get a little bigger.
I also clipped a lot of dead leaves from the tomatoes and cucumber to make things a little tidier. Anyone know why most of the bottom leaves are dying on my cucumber? Is this normal? or is there something wrong?
I did my fourth big tomatoes harvest and I got a lot, considering I only have two tomato plants this year.
Here are two photos of flower that are about to bloom
Fucshia triphylla Firecracker
Naked Lady
I’m not sure if this Naked Lady is Amaryllis belladonna or Lycoris squamigera. Can anyone tell just from the photo?
Back to daily postings :)
I returned some library books and checked out two more:
– Sunset Pruning Handbook
– Rodale’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Organic Gardening
Recently we’ve been harvesting a lot of pears, peaches and prunes. Today I harvested more Sweet 100’s and Lemon Cucumbers.
Italian Prunes
I also planted four types of seeds into newspaper pots: Grand Rapids Lettuce, Calabrese Broccoli, Catskill Brussels Sprouts and Jewel Mixed Colors Nasturtium.
The seeds I planted on the 12th are doing well and I thinned them down to a couple few.
I had a few failures though… The Correnta Hybrid Spinach I planted on the 13th, looked well, but when I transplanted them a few days ago, they just died :(… Also, the Ginger rhizomes that I tried to root on the 12th got moldly and shriveled up :(…
More sowing…
I made even more newspaper pots this evening and planted more leafy vegetables: Salad Bowl Lettuce, Grand Rapids Lettuce and Correnta Hybrid Spinach.
My oldest brother and sister-in-law came by and picked up some extra plants that we had, so they can plant it in their new house. They took some Bamboo, a Fig, some Ferns and a Pomegranate. These are plants that we have lots of. My mom takes division and give them away…
Right now I’m looking at some greenhouse plans. I’m just interested of the cost of building one from scratch versus a pre-build one that you just snap together. hmm?… I’m just curious…
The Scent of…
I made more newspaper pots and planted four kind of Asian vegetables: Chin-Chiang Cabbage “Hybird Summer Boy”, Misome Japanese Greens, Upo (Bottle Gourd) and Komatsuna “Hybrid Senposai”.
I know the Upo is probably too late to plant, but I want to see how it grows. I’ll make sure to plant is early next year.
As I was planting (at 9pm), I can smell the scent of our Dama de Noche plant. I think it’s called Night Flowering Jasmine in English. It is very fragrant and reminds me of Hawaiian leis.
Speaking of Asian vegetables, I harvested another eggplant and my mom made this Filipino dish called Pinakbet
Some of the ingredients include: Japanese Eggplant, Ampalaya (Bitter Melon), Sitaw (Yardlong Bean), Tomato, Garlic, Bagoong (Tiny Fermented Shrimp) plus more. It may look like a weird dish, but it’s good :)
I also found some Ginger rhizomes growing, so I placed them on a moist paper towel and placed it in a plastic bag. Hopefully it will grow roots and I will be able to grow it.
One last photo… My Pink Echevaria at work only has one flower left.
Thursday, Friday and Saturday’s Gardening…
Thursdays
After making those newspaper pots, I planted some Grand Rapids Leaf Lettuce, Correnta Hybrid Spinach, Lemon Basil and Miike Purple Giant Japanese Mustard.
I planted some William Guinness Columbine over a month ago and didn’t think the seeds germinated, so gave up on them… When I was looking for a place to put the newly planted seeds, I discovered 2 Columbine seedlings that sprouted plus another mystery plant. So I made 3 more newspaper pots and planted these 3 seedlings into them.
The Tendergreen Bush Beans are starting to sprout and they are just breaking ground. The newspaper mulch is really helping in keeping the ground from drying.
Friday
I didn’t do any gardening on Friday because I took 3 of my friends out to sushi (yumm!!!) for their birthdays… They all have birthdays within a one week period and they live together.
Saturday
I spent the night at my friends and later went to the Berkeley Horticultural Nursery (see previous entry)
I was surprised to see that the Tendergreen Bush Beans that were just breaking ground on Thursday have 2 sets of leaves. Damn! they grew fast!
I also noticed that the bed without the newspaper bed were dry to about 1/2 inch, but the mulched ones were not, so I shredded more newspaper and mulched almost all my vegetables. I think this will help a lot.
Ready to harvest: Peas, White Icicle Radishes, 1 Eggplant, 4 Pepperocini Peppers, 2 Hungarian Hot Wax Peppers