Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Broccoli and Brussels Sprouts

Planted some Broccoli (De Cicco) and Brussels Sprouts (Long Island Improved) seeds today (from Sand Hill Preservation Center. According to the U of M extension, early varieties shouldn't be planted nearly this early; they should be transplanted outside at 25-35 days old, and "Early varieties should be transplanted no later than 28 days after seeding."

I'm not sure what they consider an "early" variety though; I thought De Cicco WAS an early variety, until I saw the Tendergreen type in Fedco's catalog, which matures 30 days earlier than De Cicco!!

So I decided to start two pots each this early, and then start some more along with Tendergreen Broccoli and my Snowball Cauliflower on March 13, when the U recommends they be started.

Sheila helped me roll 6 newspaper pots (so I could try to start Monstorpolgi Celeriac seeds again; I still haven't replanted it since Xander helped me dump the entire seed tray on the floor...) She got bored and wandered back to her room before we started putting dirt in, though, so Xander helped by watching me put dirt in (and continuously pointing out the ones that still needed dirt), and by picking the seeds out of the palm of my hand and putting them into the dirt for me. He was excited about that part, since I wouldn't let him help with the lettuce seeds (they were too small for his dexterity level). He did get mixed up a lot and some pots ended up with 10 or 15 seeds instead of the 4 I was intending to plant... but I have lots of seeds, so I don't think I'll miss an extra dozen or so!

Unfortunately, he did manage to dump one of the broccoli pots upside-down off the shelf before we even got water in them, but I guess I'll try to remember which one it was and add seeds tomorrow...

We went to Menard's for some sump-pump parts and found their woven-metal outdoor baskets (lined with coir) on sale for $4 each! So I grabbed four of those (they were $12 at Home Depot last week); they're probably too small for tomatoes (they'll dry out too fast) but I'll try anyway, or maybe just plant flowers. They also had 4" coir pots on sale, so I picked up about 30 of those - I'll use them for the peppers and tomatoes in a few weeks. I was going to roll newspaper pots, but after discovering how long it took to get just 4 of them done with Xander and Sheila helping, I think this year rolling my own is a luxury...

Poopy diaper meltdown behind me, guess it's time to finish up this post!

1 comment:

  1. I just had to tell you that my partner & I took your suggestion- hand-pollinating the apricot, & there are lots of little apricots! First time in 12 or 13 years! Thanks so much! Now we'll pray for no frosts.

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