24 degrees!

Hello again.

I had to put all my germinated plants outside. Apparently a mold was growing in the pots and it was making me sick for weeks on end. I put all the seedlings in my greenhouse, but unfortunately that was when the temperature dropped again and they all died. This was just after the last article I posted here. What followed was a period when the days were about +5 degrees centigrade and the nights occasionally below zero.

Right now the thermometer outside my window says it's 24 degrees, so it's time to resurrect this blog. Here's what I've sown last week:

Patch 1.

A. Kale, lehtikaali (Brassica oleracea var. sabellica). I tried these a couple of years ago but with abysmal results. I think it was because they were in a dark spot. Someone told me they grow very large and you can pick leaves from them as the season goes on, so I sowed six of them with generous intervals. They are in the sunniest spot of them all this time!

B. Parsley, persilja (Petroselinum hortense). Alternating rows with carrot, porkkana (Daucus carota subsp. sativus nantaise 2). I've never grown carrots. I know they need a light soil, which they certainly won't have in my garden... but we'll see what happens!

C. Beets, punajuuri (Beta vulgaris). I love these! Easy to grow and yield well.

D. Radish, retiisi (Raphanus sativus) together with kohlrabi (Brassica oleracea Gongyloides group). Both are new experiments for me.

E. Salad. Two varieties in alternating rows. I can't figure out their proper names... but there will be pictures.

Patch 2.

I haven't put anything in patch 2 yet. For the seeds I went to a supermarket (kupittaa City Market) and bought EVERYTHING they had that could be sown directly outside without being precultivated inside. If I find more interesting plants to grow, then perhaps I shall sow something here too.

This year's plan + New life emerging

Ok, here's my plan for this year. A lot like 2010, but with some additional fun!

This is a preliminary idea of what I'm going to grow. I may add or drop out something:

-Swedes, Brassica rapa. Sown in April-May. Great yield, easy to grow. My favourite! Homegrown Swedes taste very good.

-Parsley, Petroselinum crispum var. crispum. Sown in May. I'm not a big fan of herbs (not very efficient use of resources from a survival-point-of-view), but parsley is pretty fun. They yield lots and are full of nutrients.

-Beets, Beta vulgaris conditiva. Sown in May-June. Yield well, taste good. You can grow them pretty dense in my experience. Will give you a scare when you urinate after eating them.

-Squash, Cucurbita pepo nimba. The package says to sow them inside in jars in April, but that sounds a little late to me. Transplant outside in May-June. I tried these in 2010, but with no success. The things barely survived the transplantation, but they certainly didn't yield anything. Anyway, I hear squash yields well and is supposed to be a fun plant to grow. So we'll see how it works out this time!

-Tiger Tomatoes, Solanum lycopersicum tigrella. Pre-cultivate inside, starting in February (that means now!). Transplant to a greenhouse in May.

-Beans, possibly. Mostly for fun: some varieties become over three meters tall and must be guided as they grow. There are some logistical issues that I need to solve before I can begin a bean-project. I have limited space, and also, I'm a poor student >:( Last season I was working and the expenses from gardening were negligible.

-Bonchi trees. Bonchi means Bonsai + Chile. When I choose what to grow, the survival-factor weighs most (that's why I choose plants that yield well), but this is purely for my own amusement. I stumbled upon the Bonchi-concept when I was considering getting a proper bonsai-tree, and found this page: http://fatalii.net/growing/

***

I was wonderfully delighted to see my Chilis are actually germinating. Here are the two first seedlings, the ones that were large enough to get any good pictures of.

One of the unknown breeds was first!

One Ramiro is also on the way.

Could someone please tell me what that white stuff is? A mold (home, mögel)? More importantly, should I do something about it? Pitäisiko tuolle valkoiselle kasvustolle tehdä jotain? Borde jag göra något åt den vita påväxten?

The red circle indicates a seedling. The unknown seeds seem to be of a quickly germinating kind! It will be most interesting to see whether they continue to display the same vitality later on.