The Crafty Cultivator

By the looks of my windowsill currently, you wouldn’t guess that it has only been a week since I last updated you. It has been ever changing as I shuffle things around to place them in a more optimum place. It has even changed since I took that poor picture.

I “splurged” on a little digital thermometer to tell me the Max and Min. temps of the day, which can be indoor or outdoor. I was concerned about how cold it was close to the windows at night… and then how hot it was during the day with full sun shinning in. So far the lowest it has dipped (inside my house, right by the window) is 10C (and our furnace is set at a minimum of 18C… so if it goes below that it kicks on)… so at least 8 degrees different at night. On the hottest days so far this month, it has been 44C in the window. Huge range. I may go pick up another one of these thermometers for my little “greenhouse” shelving unit thing I have in my backyard. If it isn’t getting below 5C in there at night, I may start putting the hardier things out there and free up some precious windowsill space. (Also… by “splurge” I mean that the one I found was like $5)

I also added more wire shelves to gain as much room as possible in my little window. Now I just need to find some square seed trays and I would be a happy little penguin. The long trays just stick out a little too far for the higher shelves.

But without further ado, here is Part one of my update… (Part 2 will be tomorrow and will just cover the herbs and flowers)

TOMATOES:

I potted up the 4 earliest Rainbow Brandywine tomatoes that were starting their second set of true leaves… The next round will be potted up in a few days time… along with the Roma tomatoes. Just wanting them to put some more leaves on.

I sowed some Cherry Tomato Mix seeds (F1 Hybrids… Red-Ladybug; Yellow-Bumblebee; Orange-Monarch) So I’m kind of excited to see which ones I end up with (fingers crossed that I get at least one of each). They haven’t made their appearance, but they were only sown on March 12.

I sowed some more tomatoes this morning: Bonny Best, Black Krim, Brandywine Red and Brandywine Pink. I would also like to find a few more varieties, but if I don’t, I can wait until next year… I’m not even sure where I am going to put all of the ones that I am growing this year!

PEPPERS

My Cayenne peppers are finally looking like plants and working on their true leaves! So excited!

My first sowing of Jalapenos went into 3″ peat pots today also. They weren’t quite ready, but I really needed the little tray they were in for new seeds, so they got bumped. The second sowing is still working on sprouting… so it will be a little bit before they are all ready.

Also, maybe next year, I will try and grow some sweet peppers too, instead of just spicy ones.

LEEKS

I lightly thinned them on the 12th. Note to self not to put the entire seed packet in next time. These are going to just hang out until its time to put them out.

EGGPLANT

The Asian (Ping Tung Long) Eggplant I sowed on March 5 is just sprouting now.

I found some Italian Eggplant (Violetta Lunga di Napoli) seeds and sowed them today… So this little Eggplant section will be a little more exciting next time I update.

STRAWBERRIES

Some seeds are still sprouting, but others are working on their true leaves. This is a long process, but I can’t wait for these to be real plants.

GROUND CHERRIES

I’m not sure if I mentioned it, but I broke down and got some Ground Cherry seeds. They have sprouted!

ONIONS

I picked up some Annual Bunching Onions and thought I would give some of them a little head start. Then I thought I should try some of my own onion seed from the flower I had last year. Its all an experiment, but they are starting to sprout and it has only been a couple days!

I waited too long today to get a picture of the little onion shoots, and now the light is all gone. Maybe next update they will be less camera shy.

Tomorrow… Herb and Flowers update!

Last week’s update.