Fertile ground
Last week C asked how my mini garden was doing. It’s doing quite well!
Let’s see…so far I have two* small planters (10×22″) filled with seeds and seedlings. There’s the spinach I started several weeks ago in one, along with a second round of spinach seeds and a mesclun mix. In the other planter I have seedling pots, which are also full of seeds — yellow beans, tomatoes, brussel sprouts, chard, turnips, coriander, chives, lemon balm, peppermint, and three kinds of basil. (Pretty ambitious given I only have a small balcony, hunh?)
The spinach are still quite wee given how long they’ve been growing — they’re just starting their first true leaves now. They seemed to stall last week, and I’m not sure why. They’re healthy-looking though.
The mesclun mix seems…eager. That third of the planter is dotted with a spray of different greens, mystery plants poking their way through to sunlight. The mystery element amuses me; I look forward to seeing what the mix actually contains.
As for the other planter, it’s also doing quite well. Both containers have clear covers, and every time I lift the one on the seedling plantery I’m hit with a wave of super-warm, moist, earthy-smelling air (which I love). The turnip and brussel sprout seeds went in last Friday, and they fairly leapt from the earth — they had seedlings up the very next day! The other seeds took a bit more time. The chard came up next, complete with glorious little red stems. The basil was next, and the opal basil seedlings are a 50-50 mixture of green and purple. Neat. =) Yesterday I saw the first hint of a bean seedling starting to emerge. Today the first tomato peeked back at me, and also the first lemon balm and coriander — a nice sight to start the day.
They’re all still tiny and young, but tending my little mini garden makes me happy each morning. They have three whole weeks to grow before it will (probably) be safe to plant them outside, so I expect to see a lot of growth in the next little while. Hmmmm…that means I’d better start sorting out permanent homes for them, doesn’t it? Otherwise they’ll have nowhere to grow three weeks from now. And I’ll be away for part of the month**. Eep!
* Of course there’s also the sprouter, which continues to produce weekly mini crops of salad sprouts. Does that count as part of the garden? And also my recently potted basil plant, and two pots of coriander and chive seeds that don’t seem to like the soil they’re in.
** Anyone know of good vegan restos in Boston?
C said,
May 1, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Thanks for the update and the linkup
Very inspiring… I think I may have to spend my time off starting a mini garden of my own… Oh the possibilities!
Elaine said,
May 2, 2008 at 3:09 pm
Hello LV. Love your blog, which I discovered when you left a comment on mine (Greens & Berries).
I’m looking forward to getting to know you and learning from you through your words and photos. I’ll be adding you to my blogroll under the vegan/vegetarian category. I’ve also added you to my feed subscriptions so I get the posts as soon as they’re fresh.