#pre-germination

(Waiting patiently on a shelf in the warm bathroom).

Dug around in the fava bean pots that hadn't produced seedlings and two of the pots had rotted seeds and two of the pots had seeds sending out roots. So I removed the two duds and put the rest out in the cold frame to harden off. Going to try transplanting them out early next week under a row cover.

I also dug into the cells of spinach and didn't find any seeds so I assume they rotted. Added fresh seed and put them out in the cold frame to germinate just in case it was too hot for them indoors. The fall-sown Double Choice Hybrid spinach is due for another harvest as you can see. I've got lettuce so it will probably end up in a salad.

Took the three bok choy that germinated in the same cell and separated and repotted them. I dug in the cells with the cabbage and found intact seed, so I moved the pack to the cold frame and will wait a bit longer for germination (I already reseeded last week).

Beet snail moved to cold frame to harden off. Also hope to get these transplanted with the favas. Parsnip snail total failure—can't find evidence of the seeds. Reseeded and covered with fresh soil. I have never gotten parsnips to germinate, but I'll keep trying. Maybe it was too warm...

I did also move the snails with my singular leek and singular shallot to the cold frame as well. I don't have enough new seed to resow them so we'll just have to see if anything else shows up or not without further interference.

Lettuce seedlings are starting to pop up. I'll wait until the favas and beets are in the ground then move this pack to the cold frame. I think the lavender seed is starting to sprout but what's coming up looks so much like the random tiny plants that's sprouting from the non-sterile potting soil I'm using that I'm going to have to wait and see.

And now all the eggplant and peppers fit. (btw I keep the temperature probe for the rheostat clipped to a cup of water instead of in one of the cells because I move things around a lot and don't want the probe jostling delicate roots)

So today's plan was getting the pepper seed into the germinating bags. I've had them take up to 3 weeks to put out a radicule so this way not only should I have transplants to set out by May, but also some padding if things molder and I need to restart one variety or another.

Ten varieties this year, mostly sweets/milds. I also discovered that I have completely misplaced my big envelope of Shishito seed that I'd seed-saved. Luckily, I still had some in the original packet I purchased, but it's still going to bother me until I figure out where it got misfiled.

On the other hand, while I was looking for it, I rediscovered the coffee can full of flower seed packets that I got from someone's garage cleanout this fall. And part of it were three packets of lavender seed from 2022:

Which all conveniently need to be started 8-10 weeks before the last frost date...so...now. I love lavender and my 20 year old plant did not make it through the winter last year. I was able to get a cutting rooted from a neighbor's plant late last summer but I don't know yet if it survived this winter. Goal is to have a mum and lavender hedge lining the sidewalk in the in-ground bed, so it would be quite the leg up if I can get this seed to sprout. I planted an 8 pack of each variety with a good pinch in each cell (using up all the seed), so hopefully I get at least one plant per cell.

Since I was already sowing seeds for transplants, I went ahead and did two varieties of lettuce—Parris Island Cos and Truchas, an 8 pack of each. I'll wait two weeks then do two more varieties and so on every two weeks. This is the last of the pelleted Truchas seed so I need to let a few plants bolt this year to replenish my seed.

I had to move my seed snails off the heating mat to accommodate these extra packs. I'll set them up with their own spot growlights before bed. We've still got snow in the forecast this weekend, but I'm hoping to move the lettuce and spinach packs out to a cold frame after it warms back to above freezing to make some room—I have to start some tomatoes soon plus there are all those eggplant and pepper seed in waiting.

Bonus emerging bulb pic:

I sowed roughly three sprouted seeds per pot, eight pots total so unless we have a spidermite issue like with last year's transplants, I should have enough seedlings for this year even if the other three laggard varieties don't germinate. Just kidding, these germinated surprisingly early—sometimes it take three weeks which is why I prefer to do it in baggie "greenhouses" so I can see when it happens and am not just left wondering if I sowed duds or the seed rotted or something.

Also got one sage sprout. I think I might start a few more pots of this to put here and there in the garden to try and find a favorite spot. I sure would like to raise one big enough so it can overwinter outdoors, but the only ones I've seen that accomplished that were huge.

The first shallot in the seed snail. Flirted with the idea of doing a second snail of shallots, but I started far too late in the first place (should have sowed them at the beginning of January), so I've decided to keep back my remaining seed for next year.