IT'S SPRING TIME!

It's finally starting to feel like spring around these parts, and all things green are starting to turn up in the garden!  My seedlings have been spending more time outdoors, in preparation of the transplanting in a few days.

 

The fruiting fig tree that I thought was dead has even come back to life!  That tiniest of fruit buds on the tree has put a smile on my face everyday...

My favorite seeds to watch germinate are the colors and textures that comes from Swiss Chard...

I also ordered some hop rhizomes from Simple Earth Hops.  After planting them a week ago, new shoots are coming up everyday!  I need to get my act together on building a trellis...

 

 Columbus shoot

 

 Nugget shoots

Karma has also been enjoying the nice weather.  Her favorite past time is sunbathing on the picnic table...

 

CATCHING THOSE CRITTER BUGS

Something has been destroying my kale seedlings, as well as my blue lake beans, and noshing on my sunflower (remnants from last summer) as well as a couple of tomatoes.  Yelling at the bugs to cut it out hasn't been helping, and I don't know where to purchase ladybugs here in the city.  The next step was to buy some sticky cards.

Reading this article from the University of Illinois Extension helped me get a better idea of what might be going on.  I did some research on various cards that work in the garden specifically, and ordered some Universal Insect Monitor Cards.  They have two sides, one yellow and one blue, both sticky.  They also have a grid to help monitor the buggers.

Here's a card by my blue lake beans

I put the cards out today, and hopefully with the help of my oh-so-smart biology friend and the internet, the case can be solved and my seedlings can grow in a much happier state.

Poor kale! :(

Card by the sunflower

If y'all have any tips or suggestions on what else I could do in the meantime, it would be much appreciated! Fingers crossed we catch these little buggers!

AND THE WAITING BEGINS...

My last two garden beds were completed a week or so ago, and since the cold spell finally broke last week I decided to get my gardening in a little early.  I also really needed the therapy of being outside and working with my hands (aside from knitting and sewing).  Many, many bags of soil later, we have the 2012 garden!

Many of the seedlings were still small, but I felt like they would do better in the warmth of natural sunlight and getting a light rainfall on them.  I also sowed many of my greens, as well as beets and baby carrots.  The one thing I learned this season is that seeds from last season are funny little things, and when you start transferring soil from one bed to the other, things transfer.  I have A LOT of randoms in many of the beds (mostly flowers) but I decided to just let them do their thing for right now and hopefully they will add some spice to the bed later on in the summer.

My green onions are doing well, as you can see!  I'm pretty excited about these guys, being something I have never grown before.  Might have to do some thinning out soon; they're looking a little all over the place.

Mamma also bought this lovely flower combination to put in the garden for some color while we wait...

Have I mentioned how impatient I am?

Is it July/August yet?

BAD ASS CHERRY TOMATO SEEDS

About a month ago I was starting to clean out my garden beds and get organized with the new ones that are being built. Last season I had a habit of just tossing rotted tomatoes and peppers into the bottom of the garden bed, so it could compost on its own. Well, turns out I had tossed some hard core cherry tomato plants in there. I found the shell/skin of one of the tomatoes still in the bed and was going to toss it, until I saw this happening inside of it:


I kind of freaked out. This little guy survived the fall/winter season and is ready to make a come back! I had to give him a chance! I put him in a container and brought him inside to make some friends under the grow lights. It was pretty cool to see the changes the next few weeks...

Finally pushed through the skin


Taking in the light


Where he's at today

I am noticing a few other seeds from last year are growing on their own in the beds too. Mostly flowers, but did spot two other tomato plants growing outside in the same beds. I'm gonna keep letting them do their thing before I move them anywhere though. I just think the fact these seeds are making it happen on their own is so fascinating!

More seedlings starting in the garden bed

GERMINATION STATION

Well, I did something right. Only 24 hours later, did my kale and collard seeds start germinating! I kind of figured these would be the ones that would germinate first, only because last season I sowed them directly into the beds and they came up crazy fast. Either way, the whole seed to food process still fascinates me.

Little germinating Collard seed

My favorite seed so far has to be the Rainbow Swiss Chard. I'm a sucker for anything with obscure texture and color. So when these little guys started popping up, my heart melted a bit.

Rainbow Swiss Chard

Overall, both beds are doing great! I'm so happy, and really, this is all much easier than I anticipated. I'm still getting the outside ready for planting; I did toss some flower seeds in some of our containers today since it was so nice out. It might be a little early, but I figured why not and see what happens!

More of the little guys


My puppy and some spring flowers

LET THERE BE (SEEDLING) LIGHT!

My last two grow lights finally came in yesterday, and with that last piece of the puzzle in place, I am ready to start growing!

This weather in Chicago has been incredible. I spent part of Sunday outside getting the beds ready, and figuring out what containers I will need to make all of this garden magic happen. I found a wooden crate on my walk home from work last summer, and though it would be perfect to grow something in. I wish I could find more of these around town or in the alley to use and line up along the fence of the patio.

Found alley crate

So yes! I've started the little seedlings. I have 60 total that I've started indoors, and a bunch of seeds I am going to sow direct once all my beds are in order. I forgot to mention that I used a seed starting mixture by Hoffman in the pots. It's very light and got good reviews on Amazon, so I went with it (note: I've been in freelance hell and had to buy almost everything over the internet).

Filled peat pots

Everything seems to be going wonderfully so far. It's also a good thing that I like to keep my apartment around 70 degrees all of the time. I checked on my "greens" this morning and already saw some germination with the collards and kale seeds! Being this is my first time seeding, I started to freak out and took a picture to text to all of my friends!

Germinating collard seed

Final set up!

This is all super exciting for me, and I can't wait to document what the next few weeks will bring! Also, a good friend of mine gave me this guy to put in my garden for good luck:

Love this guy!

Here's to spring and gardens and puppies!

SEEDLING SET UP

After much, much research and numerous Amazon orders, I'm just about ready to start my seedlings.

The final set up!

It's a small start, but I'm pretty damn proud of myself. I don't get much direct light in my little apartment, so I purchased two of the light fixtures to hold two grow lights each. I also have two of the heat mats under the trays.

Since this is my first time growing seedlings, I am experimenting a bit, too. I am using a combination of my newspaper seed pots as well as some peat pots to start my seeds. I am fully confident that my newspaper pots will be amazing, but I just want to test them both out.

Seedling magic.

I also decided to make my own seed labels from some plastic containers that once contained honey dew melon from Whole Foods. Talk about sustainable!

Can you spot the seed labels?

Yes, the recycled container for these labels was clear, which makes it a little challenging to read them for the time being. I'll make new ones once I clean out those yogurt containers.

The only thing left in waiting is the last two grow lights and then it's planting time! Oh, and then I need to figure out where all these seedlings are going to be planted...