Early Stuff
The first things I started were Kale and Radicchio. They were good, I guess, and they definitely need to be started early. I started them at the end of January and the Radicchio grew along quite well inside. I wasn't able to transplant them until much later than I thought, because the soil was frozen. I guess I would do the same thing again. The Radicchio grow fine, but I really want them to be full sized heads to harvest, not just leaves. One of them is starting to get to that point now, but I don't think it's likely they will get far enough along soon. I'm going to try to keep them going through the summer.
I also started Coleus in January, and that was great. I only wish I had started more. Not that I really needed more, but I could have potentially filled that bed entirely with Coleus and it would look great. And I would think I could give those away. They of course had to be in larger containers for a lot of the time under lights, but they did great.
I also started a lot of Creeping Thyme, and none of that was successful. So I will not be trying that again, ever.
I started Bok Choy pretty early, but I think I had a full grown plant sitting on the shelf way too early. There's nothing really wrong with that... and one of them I liked and one I did not. I might try growing some full sized Bok Choy.
I started Peas directly in the containers, which was fine. They sprouted, and they grew. But by mid-May, they had not really gotten far enough along and there was no way I was going to get any peas. So I don't think I will bother with those again. I do have all the seeds, so I could try again, maybe in the raised bed. No Sweet Peas either, I don't think they do anything useful.
Same with Radishes- I don't know why these are such a failure! They should have grown just fine in containers, but they just did not grow. I have no idea what went wrong.
I started Cilantro pretty early, and they quickly got too much root at the bottom, so I moved them to the plastic water bottles. I like this idea, and I'll do it again.
I can't tell exactly when I started the Romaine, but I think it was early March. They grew really nicely and I just loved them, they looked great and they were great to eat and it was absolutely worth starting them way early.
Things to do again:
- Start Kale and Radicchio very early.
- Start lots of Coleus very early, like the end of January.
- Get some Bok Choy going pretty early, like February or maybe March.
- Plant some cilantro in the water bottles, maybe even bigger ones. (I just love growing in clear containers so you can see the root growth, it's so exciting!!!)
Things to not do again:
- Creeping Thyme
- Radishes
- Peas or Sweet Peas
I wish I had...:
- Started more Coleus at the beginning. You can't have too much Coleus!
- Started more leaf lettuce for the Gutter Garden.
- Started more Bok Choy! I need like, 3 at least for a meal.
I ended up with like, 12 heads of Romaine, 9 Kales, 12 Bok Choy, 6 Radicchio, maybe 12 Coleus. I should plan to fill the raised bed with as much of this stuff as I can. I like the way I arranged it, with the fastest stuff on the right and the longer stuff, like Radicchio, on the left.
Mid-Spring Stuff
I started some Zinnias around March 15th. I was gone for a while and one of those 6-packs died, but the other one came back and grew beautifully. Eventually I had to transplant them to a full sized container until I could put them outside. March 15th might be a little early.
I started Basil around the same time, and I think that was good. I think there's a lot of benefit to letting them get pretty big before transplanting.
In early April I started some Sunflowers in the water bottles. I've been told that you can't transplant Sunflowers because their roots don't like it, but I think this worked out great. As usual, I just wish I'd done more. Although only half of them grew.
I started Swiss Chard in April, which I really thought was a good plan, but the fuckers didn't grow! I don't know what the deal is. I started the new seeds and they're doing great.
Things to do again:
- Start lots of Zinnias inside. I did direct sow a lot of them, and I'm sure they will be fine, but I got several of the original ones in there now and they've got flowers. If I had put in like, 12, I would have 12 flowering plants right now.
- Start Sunflowers early, like in April. The faster they get going, the sooner I get flowers.
- Start my own Basil. I previously thought I just needed one Basil plant so why bother with the seeds, but I want like, 10. And it wasn't hard to give them away, everyone grows basil. The only problem was that I was giving them away last week, and most people had already bought their basil.
Things not to do:
- Maybe the Swiss Chard seeds were just no good? I don't think I should have to start with brand new seeds every year.
I wish I had...
- More Zinnias! Oh my god, why don't I have a field of Zinnias?
- More Sunflowers! I should have had enough to pack that window box full!
So let's make a schedule for next year!
January
- Kale- 3 six-packs
- Radicchio- 3 six-packs
- Coleus- at least 3 six-packs, maybe 4
- So that's all 10 six-packs, which is fine. Of course, that does mean I would need... oh fuck 60 containers for transplanting. That's only if everything does well. And while I have time on my side, I might as well try to get as many things going as I can. I might end up needed another grow light...
February
- Transplant some of the stuff if it's ready
- Start cilantro, in the water bottles
- If this goes well, I could get all the first run transplanted into larger containers, and free up the six-packs for the next stuff.
March
- Romaine. I had 12 last year and I think that was a good number, so let's do 3 six-packs.
- Leaf Lettuce. I guess 2 six packs.
- Bok Choy. I think I want a lot of these, too. So, 3 six-packs
- Basil. I wish I'd started this a little earlier, and I'm happy to have a ton of Basil. We'll start with 2 six-packs
April
- Zinnias! Lots of them! At least 6 six-packs.
- Sunflowers. These I will start entirely in the water bottles.
- By now, the stuff I started in March (the greens) should all go outside, and the Basil will be transplanted still inside.
- It wasn't until early April that I was able to transplant the cool spring stuff this year, so by April I should definitely have the Kale, Radicchio, Romaine, Lettuce, Bok Choy and Cilantro out of the house. I'll still have Basil, Coleus, and the flowers.
- Swiss Chard. I probably could start this even earlier, but that might not work until I get some stuff moved out.
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