It's impressive how a tuber like Jerusalem Artichoke can do so well under lights for such an extended period of time. I feel pretty confident now these will be just fine despite having to plant them so early. I guess they aren't really known for being finicky growers.
They are at least a foot tall now.
The thrill of growing something totally new from seed never gets old. The first true leaves of Hamburg parsley were a surprise. I don't know what I was expecting really, I've never seen the plant. I still remember the first time I grew parsnips, a big bed of them, and a friend came over and asked what was growing in that bed. When I said parsnips, she flatly said 'no, I've eaten parsnips my whole life and they don't look like that'. For some reason I found that so funny. I noticed she said 'eaten' and not 'grown'. That whole summer she refused to believe me, she was sure it was a packet mix up, until I finally had one big enough to pull up and show her!
I think she was expecting carrot tops.
This martynia is sizing up! I may not have ruined them. They are gaining in size but not unduly so, at this rate they will make it under lights for another couple weeks. Apparently the plants are on the larger side. This one should be fun.
Ground cherries are all
finally sizing up. That took a few weeks for sure. I find once they get to this size they increase in size quickly. Probably needs some fertility too. Soooo excited to eat! The ground cherries I mean.
My little survivor. I brought a little tray of Yellow Canary mini-dwarf tomato seedlings to seedy saturday in early February. What was left got carried outside and put into my vehicle at below freezing temps. Most of them melted into green goo. One guy though stayed
somewhat perky. I was tempted to just throw him out because I have still a lot of seed for this variety, but I decided since he survived such very cold temperatures in early February I'd keep him going for his good genes. He didn't have good lighting since then ( he got ignored a bit) and stretched up too much, so I cut him down and am rooting him in water for a deep planting soon. Amazing how fast they root in a cup of water.
Time to replant all the peppers and tomatoes, they're too big for the cells now. Peppers are so sensitive to light I find, these new fixtures are stressing the bigger plants a little with that antho coloring. Very pleased with most of the pepper germination rates this year. With older 2019 seeds though, even if they sprouted, some just sat there and didn't budge afterward. Seemed like there was only enough energy left in them to germinate, unfurl cotyledons and then stall. A few sprouts haven't budged and aren't growing true leaves. Such a funny species the capsaicins. Very few seeds seem to do that. Beans can be less vigorous as plants if the seeds are older, but they'll still grow if they can sprout.
I feel like the cotyledon leaves of cotton actually grow a fair bit until the true leaves arrive. They didn't seem that big inititally.
The grey-blue tone of the collards is appearing! Just love the grey greens in the vegetable world; I have a tomato called Zapotec Red and the leaves are exactly this color. You can spot it in a tomato crowd a mile away.
Going to finally use this molasses in some diy fertilizer. Had it for a while and never got to it. I need to do some research because I have no idea how to safely use it without harming plants or soil.
Time to plant some chufa nuts too. I may start the 4 week ahead plants this weekend since it's going to rain and won't be hospitable outside. I'm looking forward to it, as daunting as the volume needing to be done seems right now. My Lambert soil has really worked out well, and this has been such a relief. I've had a couple rough years with bad mix so it's nice to not have to worry about that.
Tick tock, in no time at all we'll all be out weeding again!
