Monthly Avatar Theme April 2013: Seedlings!

I call them my green babies. The romas are in the front left doing very well. Front right cherokee purple tomatoes. Broccoli in the back right and either my big boy or sweet 100s in the back left.

Brassicas


Chives (with a stray grass seed, got a bag of terrible potting soil!)


Herbs


Tomato close-up


I've lots more seedlings, so many I'm struggling to get them all enough light, I sure hope it warms up soon so I can get more outside.

Nice pics Kate! What are you shooting with?

camprn wrote:Nice pics Kate! What are you shooting with?

Thanks, camprn. I have a Canon Rebel xsi. Photography has been a hobby of mine for several years, now gardening is, too. Nice when one can combine hobbies. :-)

Finally got my seedlings through yesterday morning but so tiny that I couldn't use my camera to take pictures as I had to use a x10 magnifying glass to see them .

A new picture will be in place tomorrow night .. they are in a heated bed at 75 oF at present .
Tomorrow afternoon some will be a couple of inches long and get a nasty suprise when I set them on trays in the cooler glasshouse.
Still once they have germinated and a tiny bit of green is seen that's all I really need the smaller heated bed in the dark office for , they will continue to grow in the glass house quite happily .

Note for anyone interested ..... The celery seeds were thinly sprinkled on some moist seed compost and sprayed with water to make surface contact , then they were covered in an opaque plastic lid .
They were set inplace on the 75 o F bed and illuminated 24/7 by a big full spectrum LED grow bulb ... most of the seeds have germinated and produced 1/16 long seedlings in nine days which is quite an achievement for me as it used to take three weeks or more.

...for the prettiest of my seedlings, as I transplanted them. But here is a pick of what I still have in the 1020 trays, followed by my boxes... Lots of spaces still open on them, but they are all spoken for.

Click on any image (not on the full size text) to see the high-res photo... Sorry, but I'm super busy and didn't have time to spend on closeups, or editing, or anything else. Working on getting the weather station website setup.

Seedlings still in the trays in the garage grow station:



Box #1



Box #2



Box #3



Box #4



Every plant but the 4 tomatoes and 4 peppers in Box #1 are less than 1 month old.

Due to the unidentified disease on my loan pumpkin plant, I went nuclear on the grow station, so I am posting my current seedling picture and changing my avatar.

From right to left, the remaining 18 seedlings are:
1) Amish Paste Tomato
2) Genovese Basil
3) Mule Team Tomato
4) Louisiana Short Pod Okra (late germination and malformed due to seed pod adhesion)
5) Cilantro
6) Mixed: Bottom to top--> Eagle Pass Okra and 2 Bell Peppers

[url=link]http://www.montac.com/gardening/04072013/3x6_seedlings.jpg[/url]


63 of 64 available squares are populated, but I still need to get some additional edamame and purple hull peas started... Not sure if I'll try direct sowing again or start them on the right side of the grow station. Need to figure out why I'm having such bad luck with germination percentages on beans/peas.

I've finally got a day light picture of the first set of tubed seedlings now on a shelf in the glasshouse in daylight .
They have grown noticeably overnight .

If you enlarge the piccy you should see broad beans from home grown seed 2012 .
sugarsnap peas from home grown seed 2012
Runner beans super chaps home grown seed 2012
Parsley home grown seed 2012

In the foreground at the bottom some sweet peas from home grown seed 2012

To the middle in a small potted meat tub are purchased celery seed sown 17 march by sprinkling seed on some very wet diluted MM covered in fine horticultural vermiculite They were then covered with an opaque plastic lid over a square of white paper ..
When I watered them with the mini watering can last night I flooded the top and it has mixed the vermiculite into the MM . Prior to that you could see the seedlings poking out through 1/6 " layer of the fine vermiculite.

What's the avatar for May? Kitty is getting tired hanging out up there in the corner of my posts...

CC

I love kitties so much, now just tell her to be patient. Rooster is thinking of May's avatar I'm sure.
Suggestion...Maybe May's avatar can be--- Anything Goes!

Garlic ! ....Yeah ..... needs more Garlic ! .......May's avatar could be ......Cabbage plants

I don't have any cabbage plants.

camprn wrote:I don't have any cabbage plants.

How about pest prevention methods? Seems like that is the majority of questions and issues everyone is facing while trying to protect those seedlings.

How about favorite garden tool (Not tulle).

camprn wrote:How about favorite garden tool (Not tulle).

You want us to post picture of our hands???

Lemonie wrote:

camprn wrote:How about favorite garden tool (Not tulle).

You want us to post picture of our hands???

If that is you favorite tool. Yes. For me, I hold a tool in my hands.