The End Is In Sight And I’m Excited

The first of May and Valborg is next week, and it is time to start hardening off the squash plants, the corn plants and the sunflower plants. The sunflower plants are a bit fed up with me since they were ready to go outside last week.

I know some say you should start your seedlings in February, but I don’t see that going over well. At least not for sunflower plants. It took them 2-3 weeks tops to get large enough to be ready for the outside world. Had I started the seeds in February… Yeah, that would’ve been a problem.

First fertilising session of the season

We were due some snow according to the weather report, but thus far we’ve only had rain. But since we’ve had a few days of rain and expect a few more, it was time to give the perennials their first fertiliser of the year. They each got a hearty dose of bokashi tea that has been fermenting since last summer.

The seedlings

This weekend I need to more or less finish the seed starting part of the season.

These are my to do’s due on the 30th:

• The chilli/pepper plants are to be separated and replanted. Same goes for the tomato plants.
• I need to choose which sunflower plants look the strongest and the rest will be eaten as micro-greens. The sunflower plants I choose to plant will be separated but they will remain in the same container.
• I may choose to transfer the bean plants to individual hydroponic systems, since they seem to be really keen on that. The two that are already growing hydroponically are doing so well.
• The flower plants are finally doing well and germinating, and the same goes for the physalis seeds. I was just about to give up on the physalis seeds, so I am glad they decided to start growing. The flower plants should be strong enough to be separated and raised in coco coir by next week. The physalis seedlings will move into the container the tomatoes are in now.
• The cucumber plants that are growing hydroponically are doing okay. There are three of them left as I decided to get rid of all of the weaker looking seedlings. I just need to monitor the remaining ones.
• I did the same thing with the corn plants, but I decided to start the remaining seeds as well, just to be on the safe side. I’ll need to watch over them carefully over the next few days.
• I need to repare the containers for the four sisters by adding a layer of cardboard in each, followed by a layer of compost and food waste, and finish off with a layer of soil and straw.
• I’ll have to get some help to move the perennials so that they assume their “in season”-positions in the garden. Right now they’re still huddled up like they’ve been all winter to prevent their roots from freezing.

By the end of the weekend or the 30th at the latest, I should have squash plants, bean plants and sunflower plants separated and ready to be planted outside the next few consistently warm and sunny days.

The tomato and chilli/pepper plants should be fine staying in their individual containers until they have a few true leaves each. It might take a week or three, but they’ll pretty much do their own thing from here on. And that should be it for my prep indoor.

The end is in sight

Right now the trays and pots cover at least half a table, and I don’t have a lot of space indoor. So no one will be happier than me to see most of the plants go outside. I’ll only need to keep a small tray for the flowers, tomatoes and chilli/pepper, and keep then along with a few hydroponic containers under the grow lights for the next few weeks. Or I’ll end up keeping all of the above on a medium tray. I think that’s more likely. Simplicity is best.

And then in about two weeks, every seedling will go outside and only the hydroponic plants will need to remain indoor under the grow lights.

I can’t wait. At that point, I will only have weekly to do’s in the garden for the rest of the season. They will involve checking for pests, watering and fertilising. And then later on, harvesting.

Alliums

The alliums shouldn’t need more than 2-3 weeks of warm weather to be ready to be harvested. They’re already quite large and it is only April. I really hope I can get close to 10 kg worth, but I’ll have to wait and see how they fare.

Mushrooms

I also hope that the mycelium decides to awaken when the warm weather and the sunshine becomes more regular. It is really difficult to find mushrooms in grocery stores right now, and it has been that way most of 2024. Even the mushroom farms are sold out of mycelium and haven’t prepared any mushroom growing kits. So I really hope my mycelium in the garden survived the winter and is just playing it safe by remaining dormant for now.

Happy growing!

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