Seeds and seedlings 14 March 2009

This morning, I sowed most of the radishes and carrots (I decided it wasn’t worth risking the rare mixes on an experiment, so I am saving them to sow in a pot) and before heading out I did some thinking about the earliest greens.  I decided that since the ground is in a freeze-thaw cycle at this point, maybe it was worth experimenting with sowing some on ‘root days’ and some on ‘leaf days’ and then hoeing the ground (to give them a boost) and seeing if sowing on ‘root days’ provides good root development that helps them survive the freeze-thaw cycles.  So in addition to the radishes and carrots, I sowed a heap of greens – kale, chard, cress, purslane, mache/corn salad, mustard, turnip greens, and a couple of Asian greens I haven’t grown before (one is called “spinach mustard” but I don’t know if it’s really a mustard or just similar).  An arugula accidentally made its way into the pile, and I weeded it out of the stack.  It was only after I’d come inside and warmed up a tad that I realized it might have been an interesting experiment to see just how cold-hardy arugula really is.  One of the neighbors across the street came out onto his balcony (he was cold enough that he went back inside for a jacket) and looked around for a bit, and I saw him do a double-take when he realized someone was actually outside working, which I thought was quite funny.  I’m used to things like that; some years I’ve planted bulbs on days when the ground isn’t frozen but it’s cold enough to warrant a winter coat.  I like being outside when there aren’t many other people out, for whatever reason.  It makes it slightly easier to momentarily forget I live in a very urban area.  Plus, I just like the (comparable) quiet.

When I came back inside, I checked the seedlings for water needs and to see if anything new has sprouted.  There are more kohlrabis up (they have an extremely high germination rate this year!), and the lone okra seedling looks to have doubled in size just since I took that bad photo yesterday.  I checked the ground cherries, alpine strawberries, tomatoes, tomatillos, peppers/chiles, and other okras, but nothing looked to have sprouted yet.  On first glance it looked like none of the CowPot herbs had sprouted yet either, but upon a second look, I realized that the scallions were up!  There are several seedlings of ‘Evergreen Hardy Bunching’ and a smaller number of ‘Ishikura.’  A third look at the pots revealed that there were two seedlings of sweet Annie, two of the tiniest seedlings I’ve ever seen, each only about a centimeter tall so far, if even that.

This afternoon had passed on to ‘flower days’ and I sowed the flower seeds that need to be sowed earliest of all – the poppies (European and Californian), love-in-a-mist and other Nigella species, tassel flower (Emilia), clarkia…  I actually sowed half the clarkia and about half the poppies, the clarkia because I want to sow some more in a bit to stagger bloom and the poppies because I have so many of them and, frankly, I was tired and cold out there in the shade and stronger wind (this morning the garden had been sunny with a much softer breeze; by midsummer at least a portion of the front garden will quite literally be in sunlight the entire day, but the sun is not so generous at this time of year).  Plus, sowing poppies – especially Papaver rheos – in a stiff wind is really rather a pain.  The tiny (really, really tiny) seeds fly out of one’s hand at the slightest provocation.  I also sowed one of my two packs of bishop’s flower (Ammi majus) and one packet of annual candytuft (Iberis).  I am planning to sow more flowers tomorrow.

Checking on the seeds a short time ago, it looked like one more okra seed was pretty definitely sprouting and a third might be starting to.  They’re all ‘Dwarf Green Pod’ (including the one that sprouted yesterday).  I sowed six seeds of each of the five okra cultivars, so if there really are two more sprouting, that means that ‘Dwarf Green Pod’ has already had a 50% germination rate before any of the others have sprouted anything at all.  There are also more teeny tiny sweet Annie sprouts in their little pot.  I tried to take pictures of the seedlings, but none of them turned out.  Instead I just have a couple photos of the kohlrabi seedlings to share, taken yesterday.

Kohlrabi seedlings: The purplish-bulbed kohlrabis sprout with purplish stems (and sometimes purplish-tinged leaves), as can be seen here.

Kohlrabi seedlings

Somehow I forgot to include two of the peas yesterday.  I am adding them to that post, but posting them here too for anyone who already read the other post and thus might miss the edit:

SNOW PEA Corne De Belier A delicious French snow pea that pre-dates 1860! Wonderful, gourmet flavored, large, flat pods are perfect for steaming, sauteing and nibbling on fresh from the patch. A historic variety that is finally available in America. Creamy-white blooms. (Baker Creek)

SNOW PEA De Grace A lovely dwarf variety that was grown in America before 1836, and likely much longer ago in Europe. This variety has been extinct to the North American seed trade for more than 20 years, so we are happy to bring back this great pea. The pods are medium sized and sweetly flavored, crisp and tender. The vines produce over a long season and are more frost hardy than many modern varieties. (Baker Creek)