My Seed Progress

Here are a few pictures of our seed progress so far:

I planted plenty of basil this year. Last year I did too much waiting around to harvest again for pesto. This basil is 'lettuce leaf' basil. Just look at those huge floppy baby leaves!

Well, as you can see, I solved my dwarf tomato problem from last year.

It was simply too cold downstairs in my basement for them to grow well.

This year I have a small ceramic space heater that you can set at a certain temperature.

They are going nuts and I'm going to have bushes before May comes! Eeek!

These are my Chamomile seedlings. Aren't they cute?

The seeds are practically microscopic. You have to plant them by getting the seeds to stick to your finger -- then touch the soil and hope they all scrape off into the damp soil.

Pinching them with tweezers (like I use for some small seeds) is out of the question. 

They are just too small!

Just for the heck of it I planted some of the seeds I'd sown directly into the ground last year, to give them a head start. Here are a few beet seedlings.

Broccoli and Cauliflower

My pepper seedlings - and plenty of them.

The seeds I had on hand from last year I tried to use a lot of simply because I wasn't sure that they'd last through another year before planting (that would be three years old). 

Does anyone know the answer to this? I know onion and leek seeds only last one year.

More pepper seedlings.

My onions are all gangly -- does anyone know why?

My leeks are standing right up on end -- but not my onions. 

Hmmmmm.

P.S. - Like him or not, I was happy to hear that the President will be planting a vegetable garden at the White House. I know that Michael Pollan and Alice Waters have been pushing for this. I just hope it's more than four raised beds.