All but 4 pots now under lights

... some stubborn seeds planted on 22 Feb are refusing to grow ... but enough about them ... here's the inventory of what's up & under lights

Pepper/Eggplant/Tomato
INVENTORY

as of 5 March 2011

Peppers

2 o 2 Buran Sweet need 1 more (for outdoors)
3 o 6 Sweet Chocolate have enough
4 o 4 Mini Chocolate have 1 EXTRA
2 o 4 Early Jalapeno need 1 more
2 o 3 Chinese 5-Colour need 1 more
6 o 6 Poivron Gourmet have 3 EXTRAS
3 o 6 Lipstick Sweet have enough


3 o 5 Whippersnappers have enough
1 o 3 Micro Toms need 2 more
2 o 4 Tiny Tims → this year's beheadling #3 o 4 in water rooting need 1 more


7 o 8 Rosa Bianca 4 EXTRAS
6 o 8 Black Beauty 3 EXTRAS
7 o 8 Slim Jims 4 EXTRAS

Some Toms Up

I peeked under the dewy plastic cover this afternoon and saw that a few little tomato seedlings are just bending their way up ... so I hopped to and got new florescent bulbs and will be setting them up tonight (or first thing tomorrow morning). No peppers nor eggplants are up. Next year, I'll plant the toms a few days later so they're all ready for the lights at the same time.

Post Mid-Feb Pepper Planting + some Toms & Aubergines

True to what I promised, I've planted this years peppers today (same day as last year ... they flowered in the greenhouse and began fruiting before going into pots at the end of May). I figured why try to improve on perfection! I'm going to try out a greenhouse shelf within a sheet plastic greenhouse on the roof and use the greenhouse again this year. There have been two break-ins already at the greenhouse so hopefully this experiment works - just in case. Just in case, too, I suppose I should keep one of each indoors in a sunny window.

I've planted 9 peppers (Buran Red, Lipstick, Chinese 5-Colour, Mini Chocolat, Sweet Chocolate, Jalapeno, Jimmy Nellow, Pepper Gourmet and Cayenne), 3 determinate tomatoes (Whippersnapper, Tiny Tim and Micro Tom) and 3 Eggplants (Aubergine Slim Jim, Black Beauty and Rosa Bianca). They are on my heat mat inside a big clear plastic bag sweating up a storm right now.

Mid-February Pepper Planting

I just checked to see when the peppers were planted last year ... phew ... I have a week to get it together. I located my bags of seed starter soil on the roof in the first tupperware container I looked in ... somehow these serendipitous systems I've worked out work BUT if I heed my own 'warnings' I'll take note(s) and have it all fixed by Year Five - YA!

Planting Peppers Soon

A lot can happen overnight. I purchased five new packs of pepper seeds. I've now almost got my soldiers lined up ... soon I'll be pouring soil and planting seeds and writing up sticks for the 28 pots I found by the sofa hidden behind the curtains. I have a little box top and table top soil cloth holding everything I'll need. I have seven types of pepper seeds so doing the Math is easy. I'll pot up 4 of each of the following Jimmy Nardello, Lipstick, Buran, California Wonder and Sweet Chocolate - those are the sweets and the two hots are Chinese 5-Colour and Early Jalapeno.

Seeds

I've already visited Urban Harvest to pick up some random pepper seeds just because I could and I just found out Cubits is shipping for free. The Cottage Gardener 2011 catalogue is sitting at my feet beside my desk staring me in the face.

I swore I'd not buy any more tomato seeds this year ... so I only ordered sixteen from Solana. Tomato Cream Sausage ... white tomato sauce - come on.

Tomato Bali
Item# $1.99 CAD 1 $1.99 CAD
Tomato Black Sea Man
Item# $1.99 CAD 1 $1.99 CAD
Tomato Canestrino no 1
Item# $1.99 CAD 1 $1.99 CAD
Tomato Bibor
Item# $1.99 CAD 1 $1.99 CAD
Tomato Chianti Rose
Item# $2.99 CAD 1 $2.99 CAD
Tomato Cream Sausage
Item# $1.99 CAD 1 $1.99 CAD
Tomato White Currant (Tomate Mini Blanche)
Item# $1.99 CAD 1 $1.99 CAD
Tomato Micro Tom
Item# $3.49 CAD 1 $3.49 CAD
Tomato Millefleur
Item# $2.99 CAD 1 $2.99 CAD
Tomato Nepal
Item# $1.99 CAD 1 $1.99 CAD
Tomato P20 Blue
Item# $2.99 CAD 1 $2.99 CAD
Tomato Red Robin
Item# $1.99 CAD 1 $1.99 CAD
Tomato Rose Quartz Multiflora
Item# $2.99 CAD 1 $2.99 CAD
Tomato San Marzano Nano
Item# $1.49 CAD 1 $1.49 CAD
Tomato Sweet Orange 2
Item# $2.99 CAD 1 $2.99 CAD
Tomato Tiny Tim
Item# $1.99 CAD 1 $1.99 CAD

Pepper Gourmet
Item# $2.99 CAD 1 $2.99 CAD
Pepper Mini Chocolate Bell (Mini Chocolat)
Item# $2.49 CAD 1 $2.49 CAD

Eggplant Slim Jim
Item# $1.99 CAD 1 $1.99 CAD

Onion Cipollini Red
Item# $2.49 CAD 1 $2.49 CAD

Subtotal $47.80 CAD
Shipping and handling $6.00 CAD
Total $53.80 CAD

Jan Plant Plan

I said I would write a blog (in two days) on 31 January about planting peppers for the3six5 blog because I want to get them in soil two weeks earlier than I did last year aka before February. Last year I was fairly successful extending their growing season, inside my condo ... then on shelves at the local community greenhouse. They all flowered and set fruit well before I set them out in real sun and real air in late May and early June last year.

In an effort to get the aforementioned blog done and the peppers planted before months' end, I've begun thinking about locating my seed binders and worrying over which seeds I'm low on. Rather than actually looking for my binders, I went out and bought four new types of pepper seeds and a handful of soil (not near enough to accommodate the number of new pepper seeds, let alone the old seeds, I now have but some just in case and nonetheless ... emergency dirt). I then went immediately online and ordered (more than) a few packets of seeds as well.

I now await a huge shipment from Quebec soon to arrive with instructions 100% in French, a language I've been meaning to start learning.