Mystery Seedlings

[surviort_wwdnet]

I brought my seed starters inside last night as a freeze was forecast. The round black pot has many sprouts...of something. Somewhere along the line, I lost the marker, and the sprouts are too small for me to tell what they are! Unless I pull out the seed packets and do process-of-elimination, I will be growing some mystery vegetables.

I have three of six 3x4' containers topped off with soil, in addition to two 3x6' new containers that are empty. Method to the madness is that I can move the empty containers to get to the second row to top off the soil. There's enough room between containers for weeding, removing suckers, etc. but not enough for the garden cart full of soil. I put in four 40-lb. bags of soil today and will be off to Lowes tomorrow to get another six or eight bags so I can finish up the 3x4' containers, and maybe have a bit to start filling the 3x6' containers. I'm guessing I need up to 25 more bags of soil...it's pricey but I had excellent results with the 3x4' containers since last spring.

[surviort_wwdnet]

I am up to 8 raised bed containers (2 new ones assembled this year). I've been buying raised bed soil 6 bags/trip and so far have put in 22 bags, still have 6 bags in the car, and will need at least 6 more. The first few bags were used to top off "old" containers, and now I'm filling the two new containers that need almost 8 bags each. Still, I love these containers because weed infiltration is almost nothing and everything I've planted (beginning last spring) grows like weeds.

My seedlings are growing like weeds and they need to get planted ASAP!! I'll post pictures as soon as I get them in the ground.

Update: I am, thankfully, done shoveling dirt and tomorrow I'll plant!

[surviort_wwdnet]

Mystery solved. The unknown seedlings are tomatoes - a lot of them (14 I think)! What was I thinking starting that many tomatoes when I already have 10 tomato plants in the ground? I may have to expand beyond my existing containers, but for now these little babies need to be transplanted into individual peat pots. Almost all of my seedlings are now in the containers with the exception of a few turnips and some beets. My spaghetti squash didn't germinate, so I'll reseed them.

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

Nice surprise....

[surviort_wwdnet]

Nice surprise....

I may have to gift a few of these to my neighbors or.....rethink my flower beds!

[surviort_wwdnet]

Finally repotted the mystery seedlings; I ran out of pots so I stuck a couple of leftovers in the tomato containers. I still don't know where I'll plant these but thinking about grow bags. Any thoughts about using grow bags?

The snap and green peas are climbing the trellis I built, lima beans are growing fast, the corn looks great, turnips, carrots, and parsnips are small but healthy looking, cauliflower is almost at end-of-life, and everything else is coming along. I have to remind myself that it's only the end of March!

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

I have looked at the grow bags and watched vids on them. It is something I am thinking of ordering and trying as they can be reused...

[surviort_wwdnet]

I have looked at the grow bags and watched vids on them. It is something I am thinking of ordering and trying as they can be reused...

I could just put the grow bags along the fence without having to dig up the ground and amend the soil. I could just buy garden soil and dump it in the bags, which is why I'm seriously considering the grow bags. This overabundance of tomato plants is (hopefully) a one-off event that I only need to deal with this year! I still don't know why I started so many seeds????

Just checked my lettuce container and little baby lettuce plants are sprouting Got my new watering can today (the old one got a hole in the bottom), so now I can spot water as needed.

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

what kind of watering can did you get?

I am mostly a container gardening guy this year with one 4'x4' raised garden I am trying. I have tried so many in ground gardens in the past years and had more trouble then produce delivered. Decided to do containers this year and the one 4'x4' raised bed. We will see how this experiment goes...I am retired now so that may help....

[surviort_wwdnet]

what kind of watering can did you get?

I am mostly a container gardening guy this year with one 4'x4' raised garden I am trying. I have tried so many in ground gardens in the past years and had more trouble then produce delivered. Decided to do containers this year and the one 4'x4' raised bed. We will see how this experiment goes...I am retired now so that may help....

I just got a polymer 2-gallon can with a sprinkler spout so I don't crush my seedlings when I water them.

I'm up to 8 raised bed containers and ordered 10 grow bags to see how they'll work. They'll go along 2 parts of the fence line where they won't be in the way and will cut down on my husband's weed whacking. If I like them I'll get 10 more and a boatload of potting soil. We have a LOT of fence line. I'm in the process of starting a lot more seeds in peat pots to fill in some available spaces in the containers. I planted a parsnip seed inside a toilet tissue roll inside a peat pot surrounded by potting soil. Supposed to help the parsnips grow straigher. I put in my potato eyes today, along with some herbs, to fill the container that was previously cauliflower (the last head is almost ready to pull).

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

planted 10 sweet potato slips in two large containers...will see how that goes...

[surviort_wwdnet]

I planted 3 sweet potato slips in one container and the vines were out of control. Next time I'll plant just one. I hope you have a huge container!! With that many slips, you could let each vine set a few "roots", then clip off most of the additional growth unless you have a lot of room and don't mind letting the escapees do their own thing outside the container.

Today's new starts:


I put down seeds for more radishes, turnips, carrots, Lima beans, cukes, watermelon, zucchini, yellow squash, and eggplant. Radishes, turnips, limas will be ongoing plantings every couple of weeks.

[surviort_wwdnet]

I was rummaging around in my garden shed for some self-watering trays for my peat pots and...I found a package of trellis net I'd forgotten about! This will be a timesaver for the cucumbers, or something else. I was so excited

Because my spaghetti squash hadn't sprouted, I planted a second one. Lo and behold - now I have 2 spaghetti squash sprouted! I'm really happy about that because spaghetti squash is one of my staples. More good news: my husband wanted to let me know that cukes weren't the most nutrient-dense food I planted. I've got him thinking! Anyway, I'm going to make pickles, which is another of my staples.

"Nutrients. Cucumbers are packed with them. In just a single cup of cucumber slices, you'll get 14% to 19% of the vitamin K you need for the day. You'll also get vitamins B and C along with minerals like copper, phosphorus, potassium, and magnesium." webmd

Take that, husband!

[surviort_wwdnet]

I have looked at the grow bags and watched vids on them. It is something I am thinking of ordering and trying as they can be reused...

I got my grow bags today (5-gallon bags, 15 pcs). Each one will hold about 12-13 qts of potting soil, so tomorrow I'm off to get 7 25-qt bags of potting soil. I already used half a bag to see how much one grow bag would hold. The bags are definitely sturdy but each one will be good for only 1 tomato plant. I still need bags for turnips, radishes, squash (zucchini and yellow), watermelon, etc. I may order a 10-gallon bag for my eggplant, which grew into a small tree last year. I'm going to have a lot of trellises to set up and a lot more tomato cages than what I have on hand.

I ordered some connectors for my garden stakes/poles to I can set up trellises all the way down a row of bags. This will be for squash, melons, and more beans - speaking of which, I missed a black bean when I was vacuum sealing my purchase from the other day, so I wrapped it in a damp paper towel and it sprouted! Now I need a pot to grow black beans. I'm going to try it with dry black soybeans, my favorite beans. Both kinds of black beans are so versatile that they will make a great addition to my storage.

I've also been dehydrating vegetables from my freezer, where they are in danger of getting frosted, and leftover fresh produce from the fridge. It's an easy way to store them for soups and stews without taking up valuable freezer space.

[Patriotic Sheepdog]

I got my grow bags today (5-gallon bags, 15 pcs). Each one will hold about 12-13 qts of potting soil, so tomorrow I'm off to get 7 25-qt bags of potting soil. I already used half a bag to see how much one grow bag would hold. The bags are definitely sturdy but each one will be good for only 1 tomato plant. I still need bags for turnips, radishes, squash (zucchini and yellow), watermelon, etc. I may order a 10-gallon bag for my eggplant, which grew into a small tree last year. I'm going to have a lot of trellises to set up and a lot more tomato cages than what I have on hand.

I ordered some connectors for my garden stakes/poles to I can set up trellises all the way down a row of bags. This will be for squash, melons, and more beans - speaking of which, I missed a black bean when I was vacuum sealing my purchase from the other day, so I wrapped it in a damp paper towel and it sprouted! Now I need a pot to grow black beans. I'm going to try it with dry black soybeans, my favorite beans. Both kinds of black beans are so versatile that they will make a great addition to my storage.

I've also been dehydrating vegetables from my freezer, where they are in danger of getting frosted, and leftover fresh produce from the fridge. It's an easy way to store them for soups and stews without taking up valuable freezer space.

Where did you get your grow bags? I have looked at many of x-gallon sizes and many reviews say its not x-size more like a smaller size. Are your 5 gallon size more like a 4 gallon?