The planting has begun here "en force", and we have many of the cool-weather loving plants seeded in their blocks. This includes three types of broccoli, three types of cabbage, cilantro, endive, orach, and scallions, just to name a few. A week or two from now they should be poking their heads above the surface. Here is a picture of some of them:
We grow our seeds without the use of peat or plastic pots by using a little device called a soil block maker to create a mold of potting soil. The seed is planted directly into the block, which is basically held together by peat and water. It is a wonderful invention - it keeps the plants from becoming root bound in a pot, decreases transplant stress to almost nothing, and eliminates the need for pots (which gets rid of a lot of waste!) We highly recommend block makers for anyone who enjoys gardening from seed.
The lettuce, spinach, arugula and kale we seeded a couple of weeks ago are doing great - they are just growing their first set of true leaves now. A few more weeks, and they will be headed into the ground!
Last evening we began the tomatoes and tomatillos in their blocks, under some nice warming lights. They need a soil temperature of about 75 degrees in order to get started - since we probably won't see that outdoor temp until June, we start them all indoors now. This way they will be ready to go into the ground in June when things warm up. We've got 13 varieties of tomatoes seeded, including several heirloom types. Pictures will be posted when they finally sprout!
Enjoy the first week of spring!
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