Monday, March 29, 2010

Sunday Seedlings Update #5

My seedlings are feeling camera-shy. Really it's that it's been so cloudy, all my pictures look terrible. So you're going to have to take my word for it.

Oh, fine. We all need to be humbled now and then. Here's what the 99.9% of pictures I take that you don't see look like. It ain't pretty.

Broccoli is surprisingly tall and willowy in seedling form:

Broccoli seedlings

And the parsley continues to thrive, which is good because I have cooked two recipes that included parsley this week and I'm just so excited about getting to use my own soon. (Also, did you know that parsley attracts butterflies? Especially when planted near a butterfly-attractive flower like verbena? We had black swallow-tail butterflies and caterpillars the last time we grew parsley -- quite an exciting addition to the garden.)

Parsley

OK, seriously, that's all I'm showing you. They're doing well, I promise! Scout's honor!

And this week we planted basil and tomato. Red calabash tomatoes, to be precise, which for some reason makes me start singing "Rock the Casbah" in my head every time I read it.

Anyhow, basil seeds:

Basil seeds

And tomato seeds:

Tomato seeds

We have six weeks until my planned planting date, and still no soil in the raised beds. I know! I need to get cracking, but I was trying to calculate the amount of soil needed and my head exploded. Got to get on that this week, though, because my peas are begging to be put in the ground.

And now, because I have some kind of obsession with growing things, I must show you... the wheatgrass! I saw a fabulous tutorial on Simple Kids, showing how to grow wheatgrass in the kids' Easter baskets. I was totally charmed, and ran out to the grocery store to buy wheatberries. I soaked them overnight, lined the Easter baskets with containers from the recycling bin, filled with potting soil, and planted my wheatgrass. But I had all these extra wheatberries. So I kind of got carried away...

Soaked wheatberries

IMG_4162

Easter basket

Wheatgrass in egg shells

Wheatgrass in tiny bowl

Basically, I started planting wheatgrass in anything that would sit still. But now... look!

Roots and shoots

Roots and shoots! Ah, these are the things that feed my soul.

Our weekly summary:

Leeks: Planted 5 weeks ago, looking spindly.
Thyme: Planted 4 weeks ago, seems to have stagnated.
Parsley: Planted 3 weeks ago, lookin' good.
Eggplant: Planted 3 weeks ago, tall stalks.
Sage: Planted 2 week ago, finally emerging.
Broccoli: Planted 2 week ago, tall and willowy.
Basil: Planted today.
Tomato (red calabash): Planted today.

Check back every Sunday as we follow the progress of our kitchen garden from seed to table!

2 comments:

  1. Wheat grass is soooooo good for you. I put a powdered form of it in my smoothies. But all the fresh stuff you're growing would be so much better. The benefits are endless.

    ReplyDelete
  2. okay, we are definitely going to have to grow something in a glass container so we can see the roots - so cool!

    ReplyDelete