While I was visiting my parents, seeds I had ordered began arriving. And Ken began planting. First he planted onion family - Walla Wallas, red, storage onions and leeks. Next he planted greens, celery, celeriac (celery root), and parsley. Here are some of the baby onions after their first haircut.
Onions are fascinating. The shoot comes up bent and unfolds like a leg straightening out. So these trays of onions always make me think of a chorus line of Rockettes. Pretty glamorous those onions!
Once they get long enough to be floppy, Ken gives them a "haircut." Often I use the trimmings like chives - great with eggs at breakfast or sprout salads.
Most other seeds get planted in 3/4" soil blocks and then get moved up to 2" soil blocks. Soil blocks have advantages. Soil blocks don't require plastic pots that fall apart. The roots of seedlings grown in soil blocks stay inside the block rather than wrapping around the inside of the plastic pot so they transplant with less stress. Plants have size when transplanted and are well ahead of the weeds. The seedlings don't need to be thinned in the field.
Here are some plants just moved to 2" blocks:
This is the pottery studio by day and the seedling
Warming area by night. Tomorrow they move to
the main floor where they are my watering
responsibility.
Ken follows this sequence all spring: start new plants on a heat mat, move them up and out, and start more. Soon all our windows are filled with seedlings. Then the soil under the hoopettes warms up and they are transplanted into the garden or field.
Other than watering, I act as seed organizer. Yesterday I got the call for flowers. Today the eggplant and pepper seeds.
Here are seedlings moved up a couple weeks ago.
They fill out the 2" blocks quickly to "form canopy"
as Ken says. This is the time when they can be harvested as baby greens or transplanted for more room to grow.
Aren't they beautiful? So nice to see green!
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