Here’s a little bit of what’s happening in the garden:
Today we sowed four kinds of lettuce into flats, about 50-100 seeds of each. There were 2 kinds of “Buttercrunch”, a Romaine, and an Iceberg variety. As they germinate and grow, the seedlings will be transplanted into “cells” and later moved into the garden while it is still cool weather.
The leaf lettuce mix that was seeded outside under the garden bed cover on March 13th, has sprouted and is on its way to becoming a delicious salad mixture.
We seeded spinach today, directly into one of the covered beds. They love the cool weather too.
We worked on some flowers today as well: We removed the Cleome (Spider Flower) seeds from the refrigerator that had been cooling for 5 days and sowed them into flats. They needed a short cool period for best results.
The Thunbergia (Black Eyed Susan Vine) seedlings that we had been keeping in the semi-heated greenhouse (32-65 degrees) for a couple of weeks, were transplanted into cells (about 150 or so).
Our Pennisetum Rubrum (Dwarf Fountain Grass) was moved into 4″ round pots where they will probably stay until they are planted outdoors in May.
We moved our Verbena and Calabrachoa (Million Bells) from the warm greenhouse into the semi-heated greenhouse. I have had these easily survive mid-20 degree temperatures after being properly acclimated to the cold.
I also took some time to water spray the citrus trees, bananas, and the rest of the tropical plants. By directing a strong stream of water onto these plants, I was able to wash off many of the aphids, mealy bugs and other insects that have begun to multiply in the greenhouse.
We also have several varieties of flowers that have recently germinated and will have to be moved into other growing containers real soon.
There you have it, a brief summary of today’s projects.
Bob