I don’t remember having this problem in other years. (Should have kept better records . . .)
Seems to me we always started in late January, in the greenhouse. That’s what we did this year. And the more we planted from seed, the more that grew . . . Did we plant too much? Too many tomatoes, that’s for sure. Maybe give some seedlings away, especially those that are obviously groaning under the weight of their crowded roots. We can’t sell them, because we got mixed up this year, in naming trays of seedlings. Which kind of tomatoes are in this tray? Or that one? It’s anybody’s guess.
This is the first year we haven’t had a person directing the entire operation. Rebecca was here for ten years, and then Daniel last year. This year we’re on our own.
And I confess: the original mix-up in naming was mine. I was so involved in planting little seeds that I forgot which tray was which!
We’ve decided that this is to be a year for experimentation. I’m sure there will be lots of other gaffes, as we transition into a truly group process, where everybody involved is taking responsibility for the whole.
But it’s rough, getting started. For example, I want to watch a video called ElectroCulture Gardening. But have yet to take the time to do it. Will it be worth recommending to the group? I don’t know yet.
Okay back to what we’re doing here. Gaffes #1 (too many plants) and #2 (too many without names). Re: #2: it wasn’t just me; we have several trays we call “mystery trays,” because who knows what’s coming up there?
Okay, in order to tell the following tale, of gaffe #3, want to do it in pictures. And to do so, I want to experiment with something I should have learned a long time ago, making collages out of photos. Camden pointed me to canva.com, a free site, that does this. So today was my first attempt. And what will take me, likely, ten minutes, once I get the hang of it, took over two hours . . . Oh well! My first stab at canva.com. Here goes.
TOO MANY SEEDLINGS!
And some of them, especially tomatoes, need to get out now! And kale will do fine in the ground, and we’re planting other greens, plus yesterday, we seeded a giant hugelculture bed that no has deep soil with root vegetables: carrots, beets, parsnips. We’d already put in some potato slips, about a month ago.
Official planting time in south central Indiana: Mother’s Day, or May 15th. We’re way too early on some of them, though root seeds go in 4-6 weeks prior to the last frost, so we’re okay there. And I doubt the baby kale will be hurt.
PLANT SOME OF THE SEEDLINGS!
But then, of course, the weather turned from wonderfully warm to cold, damn cold. And so shrouds were in order. Six beds planted so far, and we’ve covered all of them — last night through tomorrow.
I’m very grateful to finally get going on a more creative use of photos. But it will take me awhile to get up to speed.