Snip Snip

Well the tomatoes came up all to well and in need of some serious thinning. I planted a lot of seeds as I did not know how reliable they were as it was my first time collecting tomato seeds.

I absolutely hate cutting a potential seedling, but I do not need 12 yellow pear tomatoes. So with a couple snips they were thinned to the best looking seedling. Here is the carnage.

Warming Box

This is the warming box that Thorny guy made for me. It was much less expensive than the seed warming mats. We have a soil thermometer and the sand in the box is 80-85 degrees. It is working well so far, the eggplants germinated in about 4 days and are fully up in 7.

It consists of a clear storage container with some drainage holes drilled in the bottom. There is a string of clearance Christmas rope lights wrapped around the bottom and caulked in place. The cord comes out the side through a drilled hole. After all the caulk was dry 2 inches of sand was put in the bottom to cover the lights completely, the sand helps hold the heat. The original instructions said to keep the lid on the storage tote but we found that the temperature got very hot (100 degrees or more) with it on. The total came to around $10 for everything, much cheaper than the $40 seed heating mats you see in gardening centers.

First Sprouts

The first seeds have sprouted after a week of being planted. The petunias are up and as you can see I did not do a good job off sprinkling them in rows. They are very heavy toward one side.

The eggplants which were in the warming box are up. These are Eggplant Lavender Touch Hybrid. The seeds from last year for Rosa Bianca Eggplant have yet to come up. I am thinking they won't, but here is hoping.

This weekend the peppers and tomatoes got planted- two full flats.

List of ToDos

Here is my list of outside todos once things have warmed up a tad. Not all of them will get done but a girl can wish.
1) Prune apple/crabapple trees.
2) Remove rest of rock tree circles.
3) Rip up grass in rhodie garden. Move grass to cover tree circles.
4) Add border, compost, plants to rhodie garden
5) Finish ripping up grass/clover in half circle garden.
6) Put down path/bench in half circle garden
7) Move boxwoods to half circle garden
8) Remove rocks from old boxwood garden
9) Shape border from old boxwood garden
10) Plant old boxwood garden

Potting Shed Puzzle

What do you do when you are not gardening? Thinking of gardening. The folks found this puzzle of a potting shed in spring. It is helping pass the time until spring actually comes. Currently it is 0 degrees. BRRRRRRRR.

Seeds!

This weekend, we started planting seeds indoors. Looking back on our records, this was the exact same day we started planting them last year. Here is a tray ready for planting.

The soiless mix is coir, perlite, and sand. This year we used less sand as it was too heavy. Coir is a great replacement for peat as it is made up of coconut hull fibers instead of being taken from peat bogs. The mix worked great last year, here is hoping for more happy seedlings.

Round one consisted of planting eggplant, impatiens, begonias, vinca, viola, yellow vine bleeding heart, primrose, and petunias.

Icicles

Icicles dot the landscape as the snow melts and freezes once again. The pine trees sparkle with their winter decorations.