Houston.. we have sprouts!

Whoaaa

Against all odds, the cilantro, basil, AND serrano chilis have sprouted (far right column).  That packet of seeds traveled all over the world, lived on a bookcase for 2 years, then the bottom of a box for 2, and finally... sprouted.  In fact, they've actually sprouted more little shoots than the basil has. 

In other news, I am sad to say RIP to my original basil, parsley, and rosemary plants.  Some sort of bacteria/fungus took them over.  I'm in the middle of moving, so I kind of didn't treat them until it was too late.  Plus side: I've got new basil on the way!

Progress Report

Tomatoes!

Everything's growing here in Apartment 434! The tomatoes are shooting off like crazy, although one is growing a bit more than the other (who knows why).  I just plucked off the lowest leaves today to reduce the risk of leaf fungus.

Cukes!

Of the craigslist plants, the cucumbers have grown the most in the past week.  It's a good thing we're moving soon or else all these plants would outgrow their plants and need to be repotted.

Baby Basil!

Look what's growing now! The winner of the basil-cilantro-chili race is basil, with a lead of 1 plant.  It looks like the cilantro will be coming up next.  No sign of the chilies (color me unsurprised), but it's too early to say whether or not they'll ever grow. 

Hope you are all growing well!

Christine

Craigslist Gardening

I was looking for nearby yard sales on craigslist when I happened upon a gardener's dream come true: herbs! fruit! veggies! $1 per plant already sprouted with soil in a little Styrofoam cup! I just had to stop by and I ended up picking up 5 plants.  They are all grown at home by this guy: http://www.therustedgarden.blogspot.com/  Apparently he does the sprout sale once a year.  Not too shabby at all.  I ended up picking out these bad boys:

Cucumbers

Bell pepper- California Wonder variety

Cayenne pepper for my spice-loving fiance

Green zucchini! Two plants that should really spread out.

Aconcagua! Which is.. apparently a type of sweet pepper that's long and narrow

All and all, I'm terribly excited.  I might need to briefly re-pot them before I plant them since we're moving in a few weeks and it will take some time to build and secure the raised bed garden of my dreams.  That is, if a raised bed is even possible.  I might have to plant the garden on the sloping side of the house due to the sun- the house faces exactly South-East and I doubt my future husband wants tomatoes on the front lawn.

Total money spent gardening today: $5.00

Grow grow grow,

Christine

Egg Carton Gardening

 

The Supplies

For a basic egg carton garden you will need:

• 1 egg carton (paper works better than styrofoam)
• potting/starter soil
• seeds
• 1 plastic spoon
• 1 sharpie
• scissors

Before starting, decide how many plants you want to sprout.  I decided on 9: 3 sweet basil, 3 cilantro, 3 serrano chilies.  I've never tried growing any of these plants from seed, so I have no idea how successful I'll be.  I'm betting the cilantro will come out the best, since I've purchased Burpee seeds before.  The basil comes from a "Welcome to PNC Bank!" type goodie bag we found in front of our apartment one day.  The chilies.. well.. the chilies came from a restaurant in London called Wahaca.

Great marketing

It was one of my first trips to London, so I was still in my "everything is British and therefore awesome" phase, and thus collected matchbooks and business cards wherever I went.  I thought that this was a match book- it's most certainly not.  That was about 4 years ago.  I just found the seed book (like a match book, of seeds!) at the bottom of a box in the closet and thought... why not?

Anyway, back to the task at hand!  Cut the egg carton to the right size and label the top of each row with the sharpie.  Growing in a row guarantees that you don't mix up your plants if you're sprouting a few varieties (been there, done that).

Gently spoon the soil into each section of the carton.  Once each section is full, I like to add about a teaspoon of water to pre-moisten the soil.   Then, use the back of the spoon to dig a little spot for 1-2 seeds in each section about 1/4 inch deep.  Use the spoon to cover it back up and voila, you have a mini garden ready to sprout.

Plastic spoons are great for apartment gardening when you don't want to make a huge mess

Be sure to keep the tray in a warm place (sun unnecessary) and water enough to moisten the soil every other day as needed.  Once the seeds sprout, keep them in the sun as much as possible.  The best part about using a egg crate is that, when the seedlings grow too big for their spots in the carton, all you have to do to remove them is scoop the entire ball of soil out with a spoon (I heart spoons) and transplant into a larger pot.

The Final Product (for now)

 So that's how you plant an egg carton garden.  I only put one seed in each section, so we'll see how this turns out.  I'm thinking that all three cilantro will sprout, 2-3 basil, and maybe one sickly chili.  Time will tell!

Happy Apartment Farming!

Christine

Growing from Seed: Tomatoes

Mmmm.. tomatoes

 As you can see, 1 packet of way more tomato seeds than I can possibly use cost an insane $1.79.  I picked a hybrid because I find that they're more hardy than Big Boy tomatoes.  These are the type of tomatoes you slice up and put on a sandwich, use in bruchetta, stuff with cheese and bake, etc etc. 

Since I'm not one for starter trays, I usually start my seedlings in a homemade pot.  To make, simply wrap a newspaper around a plastic water bottle and glue with non-toxic glue (liquid works better than stick glue). Remove bottle, glue one end shut, and voila, you have a homemade pot.  It's a good idea to set it on a piece of saran wrap in case you over water.

Eight seeds planted- eight sprouts!

The great thing about this technique is that, if you plan on transplanting into a garden, all you have to do is put your paper pot in the ground.  As long as you haven't wrapped the newspaper several times around, the newspaper will biodegrade and your roots will expand into the earth.  I usually cut off the bottom layer of newspaper just before planting into the ground, just in case. 

If you plant too many sprouts in a small container (oops), You'll need to thin the herd.  I left the 2 strongest plants and pulled the rest with a gentle tugging-twisting motion, just in case the roots were tangled.

Finally, when your tomatoes are getting more than 2 leaves, it's time to re-pot.  I picked bright green planters from Target.  The trick to tomatoes is that their stems, when buried underground, become part of their root structure, giving the plant a great head start.  To re-pot, I cut open the side of the newspaper pot and gently separated the two plants.  Then I buried them allll the way up to their leaves in Miracle Gro moisture retention potting soil.  I put the plants pretty deep in the pot so that the leaves were level with the soil, but 4 inches below the top of the pot. 

Let there be light! Tomatoes love sunshine

Now that the plants have had a little more time to grow, I can fill in more soil up to the leaves a second time.  It's even okay (and encouraged) to pluck off the very bottommost leaves and bury the plant up to the second set of leaves.  Once your plant has grown a big strong stem, it's recommended to pluck off the bottom leaves anyway to prevent rot.  I should have fresh tomatoes by mid-June. Mmm. Tomatoes.

May your fingernails remain forever dirty,

Christine