The 2013 season proceeds!  Today I moved the lettuce/beet/greens flat under the shop lights in the garage - germination was just fine (one of the lettuce varieties is a no-show, but this year it is less about lettuce trials - all I need is enough seedlings for the garden - hence our salads).

Eggplant germination is underway - only a few more to go.  Hot peppers are showing up in increasing numbers. The Cossack Pineapple ground cherries are always frustratingly slow, and haven't appeared yet. Sweet peppers are starting to emerge as well.  And the first flat of tomatoes is up in a hurry - lots of life in 49 out of 50 cells in just four days. All of the basils I planted are up, and the only herbs yet to show are Thyme and Parsley. This paragraph represents three flats of seedlings in front of my office window with the loose Saran Wrap topping. 

I just planted another flat of tomatoes today, which means the vast majority of our seedling varieties are now planted. I've another half flat of the really popular varieties to go, as well as a few fill in varieties and the Dwarf Project and tomato book feature varieties. In fact, I need to spend time with a scratch pad and my seed collection spreadsheet and finalize what else to plant and which specific vial number....easily a few hours of work.

Amazingly, the seed starting part of the season is nearly complete - when did that happen? Next steps will be moving germinated flats under the lights next to the greens. And very soon, it will be time to transplant greens and beets. And it is nearly time to uncover a few garden rows and get them ready for the beets and greens.

I've not made any changes to the From The Vine seedling variety lists yet. Germination success determines what comes off and what may be added...

Happy gardening to all!

It's all about germination, so I've not added these to the From The Vine seedlings list yet. But in order to feature certain tomatoes in my book, as well as a few new ones I am excited about, here are some varieties that, depending upon germination, could be available in very limited quantities this spring.

Big Boy F1
Yellow Oxheart
Hugh's
Yellow White (aka Viva Lindsey's Kentucky Heirloom)
Bisignano #2
Ruby Gold (aka Gold Medal)
Ferris Wheel
Livingston's Golden Queen
Livingston's Favorite
Livingston's Magnus
Burpee's Matchless
Lilllian's Red Kansas Paste
Inglehard Yellow Cherry
Lemon Drop
Egg Yolk
Italian Heirloom
Emmy
Peak of Perfection

There could me more...I am still planning!

The lettuce, beets, collards, chard and mustards are up and growing. They now have company in my office window; the first flat of eggplant and hot pepper plantings. Tomorrow will be sweet pepper planting time, then this coming weekend, tomatoes. I've updated my From The Vine variety lists - check them out! 

Other than that, the Dwarf project seeds have been distributed, I've finished two magazine articles, and the book writing continues.

busy!!!.......

The first seeds of the season are now sitting in MetroMix 360, resting comfortably on a south-facing window in my office. I guess that makes it official - game on! This afternoon, I set up a table in my driveway, filled 40 cells in a 50 cell plug flat try with dry mix, and planted an array of beets, collards, kale, chard, mustard and lettuce. After I sprinkled a bit of mix over the top to cover the seeds, misted with water and draped some Saran wrap over the top, up it went to my office for what should be a pretty quick germination. This weekend I hope to do the same with peppers and eggplant. Tomatoes will follow in mid February, along with some flowers and herbs. Once the season starts, there is never a dull moment!

On Saturday I shivered my way through the first garden talk/workshop of the year, at West Point on the Eno. Imagine...talking about tomatoes on what felt like the coldest morning of the winter!  I appreciated the attention of a similarly shivering audience (even more so...at least I got to stand up and walk around!). We discussed an awful lot about tomatoes - colors, flavors, sizes, shapes, many stories - and I hope it inspired people to grow something out of the ordinary. I also shared my method of seed starting, and encourage attendees with lingering (or new) questions to shoot me an email. 

If I collect a quantity of questions (especially if I ended up overwhelming or confusing people a bit), I will do a future blog post collecting them all together. I look forward to my next talk at that venue, on Sunday April 14; at that session we will talk about tomato growing - support, trouble shooting, care and maintenance, into a bit on harvesting and seed saving. I should have plenty of interesting seedlings with me.

Over the past two weeks I also managed to get the 2013 Northern Hemisphere phase of our Dwarf Tomato project up and running, and distributed loads of seeds all over the country...and a few places elsewhere. So, my tasks at hand are now continuing on with the text part of my tomato book, my own garden planning, seedling sales planning and a few magazine articles and workshops. Not much happening at all, hey.....