Tonight I took advantage of the last lunar date for sowing above ground crops for the next few weeks. I sowed almost a full flat of stuff and I am starting to wonder if I will run out of grow light space this year. I had to move the propagator on top of the fridge for this sowing because of lack of space under the light. I think I need some more lights... Here is a list of what was sown:- Red Celery - eight plants
- Big Chile II Peppers - six plants
- Ancho Pepper - two plants
- Early Jalapeno - two plants
- Elefantenrussel Pepper (yellow cyan) - two plants
- Pustagold Pepper (sweet whitish pepper that turns red) - eight plants
- Golden California Wonder Pepper (from Granny!) - two plants
- Quadrato Rosso D'Asti Pepper (from Granny!) - two plants
- Tatsoi - eight plants
- Pac Choi - eight plants
- Vates Kale - four plants
- Tuscano Kale - four plants
- 'Little Gem' Romaine - eight plants
The greens I started will hopefully start going out in the coldframe in a couple weeks. They should provide some early salad greens which I have been craving lately. The red celery is the same ones I grew this past fall. I am hoping they turn much redder when grown in stronger sun.
I have some Pasilla Pepper seed coming in the mail that I was not able to sow today. I will start them as soon as they arrive, it will provide a good comparison to lunar and non-lunar planting. The next thing coming up will be sowing all the Brassica's on March 15-16. The growing season is coming!
I was looking at the calendar today. I thought it was a little early for my peppers, but now here you are, saying you had better results with earlies. Hmm, decisions, decisions ...
ReplyDeleteI'm going upside-down with my peppers too. I think they'll do better than upside-down toms. (The tomatoes are going in beds this year). I'm going with the 5-gallon containers again. I'll probably pop two or three plants in there.
Miss M - If you have the room it is worth starting the peppers early or at least some of them. I am growing upside down tomatoes again but in buckets this year like you did last. Those topsy things are crap, the sun ate them by fall.
ReplyDeleteWoo-hoo! I'll be planting right along with you on the 15th-16th! I'm not going to have enough room, either. I plan on starting mine in the house, while I build another shelf in the mini greenhouse. That means I must buy more lights, so I might as well hang a couple on the outside of the unit for cool weather sprouts and devote the mini to peppers and toms.
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of peppers! I tend to sow only one type so I can save the seed. They are shockingly promiscuous!
ReplyDeleteWow, Dan - I am VERY envious of your pepper collection! Due to a lack of space, I'm just sticking with bells this year. Seems like no matter how much space we gardeners have, it's never enough!! It's nice to see I'm not the only one with that problem! :-)
ReplyDeleteI love the pepper and agree that earlier is better for them. They seem to take forever.
ReplyDeleteI really thought about planting yesterday, but I'm off on a long weekend trip and figured it would be best to sow them right before I leave. That way they wouldn't be stuck under the dome after they come up.
ReplyDeleteThat's quite a pepper crop you will be growing this year. I am lucky to get them to maturity with our cooler summer so I am sticking to just one kind, in the greenhouse (again), and a fast maturing variety at that. It will be interesting to watch how your peppers do in the upside down containers. I would imagine they would do very well - but have not seen any one do anything but tomatoes so far.
ReplyDeleteExciting variety of peppers you are growing. It will be interesting to see how they grow in different locations. My peppers produced the same in both the traditional garden and SFGs last year. I had them spaced 1 per square in the SFGs and about 1.5 feet apart in the traditional garden in rows.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reminding me! I have to sow more Asian greens!
ReplyDeleteI overdid it with the peppers as well. I figured that I would give away the seedlings I don't use myself. No sweet peppers for me this year. Just Poblanos, Jalapeno and chilies.
I too am limited with flats under lights. What I do to get double the space is run them 24 hrs. I have room for 4 flats under the lights so I switch the flats after 12 hours and am able to have 8 flats. Maybe this could work for you also depending on where your lights are. Mine are in the basement so they don't keep me awake at night with the light.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking I need to get on with starting my tomato seeds. Maybe I can get to it this weekend.
ReplyDeleteDo you really think that moon planting thing works? Has anyone compared plants that were sown at the worst possible lunar time? I'm still sceptical but awaiting to be convinced.
ReplyDeleteBest of luck with your latest set of seeds! I think I'm going to plant some more this weekend. I have a bunch of leeks coming up which I've never grown before. Every time I see them I get super excited.
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