Chronicles of a Noob Garden and Gardener

[Ben E Lou]

Did a little thinning this morning. I have 15 red Russian kale seedlings now.

 

[baymule]

You are going to have so much fun with this. My Daddy gardened all his life. My earliest memories are of toddling after him in his garden. We always had fresh produce to eat, and he gave away lots of it to friends and neighbors. You are also teaching your daughters a better quality of life.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Kale is one of the easiest seeds to sprout. These should be ready to go out in late February or early March which should be a good time for kale in your area. You probably will need to cover it if you get a frost but it can handle some cold and that will give you an early harvest.

I like the Red Russian because it is flat. The curly is more popular, maybe taste or maybe because it is prettier, but I like the flat because it is easier to see caterpillars or cocoons when you look it. Later in the season cabbage moth and cabbage butterfly caterpillars can be a problem on kale.

 

[Ben E Lou]

Planted 12 broccoli (arcadia), 6 more kale (ragged jack this time), 6 cabbage (brunswick), and 12 spinach (bloomsdale longstanding) this evening in peat pellets on a heating mat in the mini-greenhouse. Best part: my two incredibly sweet and devastatingly cute helpers. #DaddysGirls

 

[baymule]

what lovely young ladies! They are beautiful.

 

[Ben E Lou]

Planted 12 broccoli (arcadia), 6 more kale (ragged jack this time), 6 cabbage (brunswick), and 12 spinach (bloomsdale longstanding) this evening in peat pellets on a heating mat in the mini-greenhouse.

Wow! This was my first time germinating with both the heating mat and the dome cover over the peat pellets, and I must say that I'm thoroughly happy/impressed. We have kale and spinach seedlings trying to poke through already--less than 48 hours after planting!

 

[baymule]

My brassicas last year were a total failure. I didn't know why they did this. Broccoli, brussel sprouts and kohlrabi all grew straight up, fell over and died.

@thistlebloom posted this on my 2018 garden thread and it explained why they were such a miserable fail.
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Q. I have read in technical papers that one failure can be leaving seedlings too long in the “germination chamber,” which in my home setup would very roughly mean on the heating mat and under a plastic dome.


A. I have a germination chamber in which I have messed up many times. It provides humid heat at 80°F, so the seeds germinate really well. If it is done right germination is fast and uniform, and the plants do really well later.


But if the cotyledons so much as peek up above the soil surface in there, they are a lost cause. They put up thread-thin hypocotyls very fast, and those will never survive in the greenhouse air. With brassica crops, for example, I need to get them out of the chamber in 36 hours.

That info was found here.

 

[AMKuska]

I just found your gardening thread and have been reading it avidly. I wish you lived closer as my son has the gardening bug too and it'd be so fun if he knew other kid-gardeners.

Eh...do you like kale? I find it so tough and grassy tasting, but it's so good for you I keep trying new varieties hoping I'll get a good one.

@baymule was it something besides not enough light/wind? I can see they are very long and stretched out. Last year when I was learning to indoor garden I discovered they stretch if the light isn't 4" above them or less, and that if you don't put a fan indirectly on them or touch them at least once a day, the stems will get thin and fall over.

I'm sure you already knew that as you've got 500x the experience I do. I'd love to know if there were any other symptoms?

 

[digitS']

Chiffonade is French for "little ribbons," @AMKuska .

Chiffonade your leafy greens, especially if you find them a little tough.

Garbanzo the Dog has her favorite places in the yard to visit to eat the lawn grass.

Steve

 

[ducks4you]

Regarding seed viability, I went back to an old gardening book that lists germination rates after so many years. It is still available:
https://www.amazon.com/How-Grow-Thr...ooks,+how+to+grow+a+thriving+vegetable+garden