This is the first entry of my garden journal, why am I starting at this date? Well, this week is the earliest when I can start some seeds, so in a way this is the start of gardening season for me.
Assembled my seed starting rack
This season I bought a new shelving unit from Costco that I am planning to use as my seed starting rack. I’ll post a detailed description in a future entry when lights are installed and all looks nice and tidy.
Last spring frost
I am located in the PNW and my hardiness zone is 8b, hence this year my last spring frost is April 19. We use this date as a reference to know when to start seeds either indoors or outdoors.
First seeds are going in
Tomatoes
This year I am starting tomatoes earlier than expected, by three weeks actually according to the Farmers Almanac, but just one week early based on the seed packets so let’s see how this goes. This year’s tomatoes are:
| Name | Provider | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Matina | Uprising Seeds | First tomato I grew, I didn’t know much so I am starting this as if it was the first time growing it. |
| Green Zebra | Botanical Interests | I got this for my kids, I hope they try them because of the color. |
| Italian Roma | Botanical Interests | First time growing this but I have high hopes for it. I really want to make my own pasta salsa. |
| Martino’s Roma | Baker Creek | This is from last year, I really liked it and did well even if we went on vacations and lost most of the plants |
| Spoon | Baker Creek | This was free from Baker Creek last year, it was extremely leggy and needed a lot of support but my son really liked it, so it’s a repeat for this year. |
Peppers
I haven’t had luck with peppers in prior years, so this year I am starting them earlier and I hope the new grow lights are what I needed, these are the peppers I am planting this year:
| Name | Provider | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Hungarian Hot Wax | Baker Creek | I have high hopes for this, this is the closest to a Yucatán Xcatic, looks the same and the description sounds similar. |
| Magnum Habanero | Siskiyou Seeds | Haven’t had luck with this but I will try again with the new grow lights and starting the seeds earlier. |
Onions
I have had some success planting onions, so I will do that again this year. I am also adding shallots that I have not tried before so that’s a bit new but I will do exactly the same as I did with onions. This is the onion’s roster for the year:
| Name | Provider | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Walla Walla | Ed Hume Seeds | I tried this two years ago and they didn’t grow as much as the Walla Walla’s from the store but they we good. |
| Monastrell | Territorial Seeds | We eat a lot of red onions at home so this is a must, two years ago they did well, I didn’t put a lot of attention to them yet they did well. Flavor was good. |
| Ambition | Territorial Seeds | First time growing shallots, my plan is to start some from seed and also start some outdoors. |
This pretty much wraps up the week, I am so happy to finally start working in this season’s garden.
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