The Crafty Cultivator

Okay, Month 2 of keeping up with updates… This one is pretty wordy, and I might just add in some photos at the very end.

PEPPERS

• The Marconi peppers did not thrive, so I didn’t bother potting them up. They can have another shot next year.
• The Cherry Bomb was in the same boat at the Marconi, so they are out til next year.
• The Ancho Grande, Cayenne and Alma Paprika peppers got potted up on March 11. They were just starting to get their first true leaves, and I wanted to get them potted up before they got too big in the little peat pellets.
• The Tabasco peppers were hit and miss. I have one good one that was potted up on March 11 with the others, and one that is doing ok in the peat pellet for now. The other 2 didn’t thrive, so again, I didn’t bother potting them up.
• On March 30, While going through all the things under the grow light, I did prune the top growth of most of the peppers back to encourage bushier growth.

HERBS

• As usual, my Summer Savory got really leggy in the window, so when I potted it up into the 4″ pot (On March 6), I also sprinkled some seed on the soil to make a good clump. I would like to get a decent harvest of the savory this year, so I hedged my bets a little bit here. I also moved it under the grow light, so it won’t have to struggle as much as it was in the window.
• Winter Savory – This isn’t leggy like it’s “Summer” counterpart. I do have a clump outside and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it survives the winter. So far, our winter has been pretty level headed and not too bipolar like last winter.
• Catnip- I started 2 peat pellets of this for Hali (my cat), and I  just put these into the same 4″ pot. This should make a good decent clump so I can add it to my catnip patch out in the garden. I have also had to trim it back, so technically, We’ve had our first harvest of the year. Rather than bother drying a few sprigs, I just gave it to Hali right away.
• Greek Oregano – I did the same thing as I did with the catnip, putting the 2 pellets I started into the same pot. On the same note as the Savory, I want to get a decent harvest to dry of my own oregano again this year… so much so, that I might even buy a plant or two.  As with the Catnip, I also pruned this back a bit to encourage bushier growth overall.
• Rosemary- My two little sprigs from the grocery store that ended up rooting are still ticking along.. So nothing new to report here.
• Dark Purple Opal Basil – While I was sowing tomatoes, I decided to add in two pellets of the Basil I was sent as a “thank you for your order” from Baker Creek. Basil isn’t my most favourite flavour but the plants themselves are beautiful, so its just a bonus that its also edible if I so choose. I will be looking out for some classic basil to buy to add in around my tomatoes again this year.
• Sage – I was all out of seeds, so while I was grabbing groceries one day, I also grabbed some new Sage seeds. Started it in a 4″ pot on March 15th. My germination is slow and not great so far, so I will likely be on the lookout for some plants in the store.
• I might start a few more herbs… but at this point, I am so out of room for anything else until its nice enough to grow outside… that I will have to end up buying plants.

CELERY

• I finally got the Celery potted up into red solo cups. I was a few weeks behind in this, but I was waiting for our new grow light to arrive so they would have somewhere to go. This meant their transplanting was a little rough on them, especially since I had definitely over-sowed with the seed being so tiny. They recovered beautifully and are enjoying the fancy new light we now have.

TOMATOES: I originally was going to super-scale back how many tomatoes I tried to grow this year, but I couldn’t help it. Here is what I have sowed already, and If I can fit more containers into my garden plan,

• Here is what I started on March 14:  (Some of which sprouted on March 16th!  They love the new light we got!)Tiny Tim (x4): This is a little early for these quick growers, but I do want to try and grow some tomatoes inside this year, with our new grow light. So these are my test subjects. Additionally, The ones I clip out when I’m thinning, can go into a cup of water to grow some roots to be the outside plants. I did this last year as a test, and it was successful, even if our season was less than desirable.
  • Pink Oxheart (x2): This one always does quite well here the last few years I’ve grown it, so it was a no-brainer
  • Silvery Fir Tree (x2): My last few attempts at this one were fails, so I’m going to give it one more try this year.
  • Tasmanian Chocolate (x1): I tried this one last year, and the year was not good to it. So It get’s another chance this year. I went with just one pellet, so hopefully I can at least get enough to save some seed.
  • Red Brandywine (x2): Its been a few years since I’ve grown this one, so I decided to give it a go again. I had some good success with the Pink Brandywine previously and was able to save some seed from that, so I am aiming to be able to save some of my own Red Brandwine seed for the future.
  • Blue Cream Berries (x2): This is a new one that I am really excited about. Hopefully I can report good things.
  • Hillbilly (x1): I bought this one purely based on its name. It is a really big  slicing variety, so I hope we have a long enough season to get some decent tomatoes from it.
  • Federle (x2): This is a giant paste variety. I have dreams of putting up some good, homegrown sauce this year, which is why I am trying a variety of more paste-type tomatoes.
  • Opalka (x2): Another Paste tomato. This one is a polish heirloom that has quite a following, so I added it to my cart as soon as I saw it available online.
  • Chernobyl (x2): I bought this one to try based on its electric yellow picture. As I was sowing these, I was also working on some posts on each variety, starting with Tiny Tim. I’m not sure when I will publish them here, so keep an eye out… Chernobyl is next up 😉
• Round 2 of Tomato sowing on March 20th. With the whole situation going on in the world, My brain copes by sowing 3 times the tomatoes I originally set out to do this year.  Also, to be fair, some of these are not just for me.
  • Manitoba (x4): These are around 50-55 days to Maturity… Need I say more? I also want to be sure to save some seeds as the pack I have is quite old.
  • Marglobe (x4): Similar Days to Maturity as the Manitoba above, I just wanted to have some variety, even if there is only slight differences between them.
  • Oregon Spring (x4): Again, similar to both Manitoba and Marglobe, this one is cold tolerant, and fast to mature.
  • Yellow Pear (x2): These ones are for my friend. I have a good stock of seed for this for myself, and I bumped it off my own list in favour of new cherry types to try.
  • Principe Borghese (x2): One for me, one for a friend. These are what they traditionally use for Sun Dried Tomatoes. I always intend to dry them whenever I’ve grown this one in the past, but I always just eat them. Maybe this will be the year I actually do something more with them.
  • Opalka (x1) Added another one of these paste tomatoes for my friend.
  • Blue Cream Berries (x1): Again, added another one for my friend.
  • Oxheart (x2). Only one of the pellets I sowed on the 14th has sprouted, so I just added in another one. I should end up with 3 of these overall, and 1 for sure is for a friend.
  • Black Russian (x1): This one is for me, and I mostly want to be able to save seed from it, since I don’t have many and they are getting older.
  • Old German (x1): I thought about it, and I decided to try this one again this year. Definitely in a different spot than the last 2 years I’ve tried it. Hopefully it can be successful
  • Hillbilly (x1): I had to start one of these for my friend, so I should have 2 all together. One for me, one for her.
• And then, (because I always over-sow my seed and thin them out to the strongest one to keep growing) I put the thinning-cuttings into a small jar of water so they can start rooting. I just mixed all the varieties together, so they’ll be a grab bag of different heirlooms. I’m thinking I will give these away to people I know who want a few tomatoes, or just leave them in a try in the front yard for any neighbours who might want them. We’ll see what happens come May.

GROUND CHERRIES

• Along with the 2nd round of Tomatoes on March 20, I started 2 pellets of ‘Aunt Molly’s Ground Cherries’. I had an amazing crop of these in 2014 when we had a greenhouse to grow in. I’ve made a few futile attempts since then, but nothing whole-hearted. I have a few new things I want to try this year, so We’ll see what 2020 holds.  So far, nothing has germinated. The seed might be too old. I’ll leave them for another week or so before I decide to scrap them or not.

JELLY MELON (KIWANO) Cucumber:

• I wrote about this one in “Weird things I’m trying to grow in 2020”.
• I’m not sure If I will get anything out of these, but they are a fun thing to try, and maybe I’ll get something cool that the squirrels won’t steal.
• I sowed 2 peat pellets of them, based on the recommendation on the seed packet that says to start indoors 8-12 weeks before last frost. Peat pellets were likely not the best choice, but I used up all the soil I had while potting up my celery and peppers, and didn’t want to go out during all the panic-buying of supplies, while we were also in the midst of a snow-storm… So I will ideally pot them up quickly after they germinate, but this should buy me a few days at least to find some more soil.
• As soon as they had one true leaf just starting to poke through, I put the peat pellets into their own 4″ container. I did a newspaper liner thing, so when it comes to transplanting them, I will hopefully be able to disturb the roots less. They will be the test to see how good that works for me.  I was hoping they would grow a little more slowly than they are, so I may need to pot them up once more before it is nice enough outside for them.

LETTUCE/KALE/GREENS

• Since I want to try and get a little head start on the spring garden, I have started some lettuce and “friends”.  I just did two 4″ pots with a spring lettuce mix and a few older Kale seeds. We will see what comes. The seed mix is quite old, but I was hoping for a little bit of lettuce inside while we wait for Spring to actually show up here.
  • As of March 31, the germination in these two pots is spotty, but I do have some tiny baby lettuce leaves happening. I will be sowing some little plugs of lettuce in April to go outside… Same with a couple of Kale and Swiss Chard. How many of each will depend on how much room I can find under the lights.

STRAWFLOWERS

• I don’t think I remembered to include these in my February update, but I did start them the same time as the Celery back in January. I potted them up from the tiny plugs I started them in, into newspaper pots in late February, or early March. I did let them dry out too much, so I have a few leaves curling. I’ll be more diligent about keeping them watered for the rest of the time they are under the lights.

I was going to add in a whole big section on the baby crabapples, apples and pears, but I want to do them justice and be thorough about documenting each one that is cool (much like I did in the fall with my chance seedlings that I dug out of the flowerbeds). So I will do a full update on them when it is safe for them to move outside and I can move them into their own pots. So those 3 photos above are just a taste of what is to come.