A Second Chance

 “For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity.”  Proverbs 24:16

I like that proverb.  It's all about not giving up.  It's about rising after you've fallen (everyone falls), dusting yourself off and moving forward, learning from your mistakes and trusting in God.  God uses imperfect instruments to accomplish His purposes.  He uses the foolish and weak so that He gets the glory and not man.

Second Chances.  I'm glad God is a God of second chances.  Many times things don't work out the way you planned, but we trust in Him that He has the best plan.  I was thinking about this today and how this plays out in nature as well as in our lives.

On January 1 of each year, I plant tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant from seed into little six pack seed pots.  I plant them into a seed starting mix that I make with equal parts topsoil, composted wood chips, and composted chicken litter.  As the seedlings grow, I water them with diluted fish emulsion.  I plant two seeds in each pot and as they grow, I separate them into individual pots prior to transplanting in the soil.

Some of the seeds don't germinate.  That is to be expected, especially when I'm using saved seed or seed that's a few years old.  I dump all the rich dirt from those pots in which the seeds didn't germinate into a bigger pot to reuse later.  In fact, here's one now:

I'll use that dirt for planting other crops in.  In six pots, I've got some herbs growing, specifically French Sorrel.  The leaves on this plant are so tasty!  This afternoon while watering the sorrel, something caught my eye.  I'm pointing at it, in case you don't see it.

It's a tomato seedling!  And it's doggone healthy.  These were seeds that were planted on January 1 and for whatever reason, didn't germinate.  But here we are almost six months later and conditions changed that allowed the seed to germinate.  And it's growing!  And here's another one:

And another!:

And two more!:

All in all there are seven tomato seedlings of unknow variety that were unsuccessful in growing the first time they had a chance.  Their peers passed them by, seasons changed, their time was up...  And yet, they got a second chance and by golly, they're growing.  A new lease on life.  There's a lesson there for us.  Maybe we're late bloomers, maybe we have failure after failure, but don't give up.  Stay rooted in the fertile soil (of God's Word) and grow!

I'm going to re-pot these tomato plants and nurture them.  It is a little early for the fall crop of tomatoes.  If nighttime temperatures are above 75 degrees, you run the risk of the pollen being sterile and the fruit won't set.  I generally plant my fall crop about a month or so later.  But these plants want to grow.  We'll use this as an experiment and see how our "Second Chance" variety of heirloom tomatoes fare.

Planting In January

"To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow."  - Audrey Hepburn

I agree with Audrey.  January is usually pretty cold.  I'm writing this as I hear winds roaring outside and temperatures are set to drop to 30 degrees Fahrenheit by 6 am tomorrow morning.  This is NOT the time to be planting seeds outside.  But it is the perfect time to be planting tomatoes, peppers and eggplant for your spring garden.

That's exactly what I did Friday afternoon.  I readied two trays chock full of seed pots and pulled all of my seeds out of cold storage (freezer).  I got a five gallon bucket of fully composted wood chips that were approximately 4 years old.  The mulch had composted into a moist decomposed planting medium that I mixed (cautiously) with composted chicken litter.

I filled each seed pot with the planting soil I made and carefully labeled each seed pot.  Here you can see that laid the seed packets of peppers I planted over the seed pots.  (Datil, Shishito, Craig's Grande Jalapeno, Anaheim, Banana, Lilac Bell, Emerald Giant, and Black Egg Eggplant.)

 I did the same with tomatoes: (Tomatillos, Spoon, Big Rainbow, Creole, Cherokee Purple, Pink Brandywine, Chadwick Cherry, Black Krim)  This is when tomatoes look their prettiest.  When you are looking at the photos on the seed packets of perfect tomatoes, you kind of forget the heat in which you pick them and the stink bugs that attack them.  But right now, your tomato garden is perfect in your imagination.

I plant two seeds to a seed pot and cover with about 1/8 inch of topsoil.  Then I use a water sprayer to liberally mist the soil with water so that the water soaks in and down to the seed.  Finally, I cover the soil with a cut plastic bag.  This ensures that the soil stays moistened so that germination is encouraged.

I brought both inside to ensure the soil stays warm and moist to encourage great germination.  We'll give progress reports several times a month until its time to transplant directly in the garden.

A New Year's Day Tradition

We were quite anxious to bid farewell to 2020.  One of the things we start thinking about on New Year's Day is an activity that we always try to do on this day or at least as close as we can to January 1st.  We plant seeds for the upcoming Spring Garden!  You may say, "But it's cold outside!"  It is chilly.  Lows in the mid 30's.  Highs in the upper 50's.  But we're not planting directly in the garden soil.  We have at least two more months of cold weather with possible freezes to come.

We're starting our seeds in seed pots.  They'll germinate and when they get their first true leaves, I'll put a grow light on top of them.  They'll grow and I'll keep them indoors until I'm quite certain that we've passed the last freeze date.  Then I'll transplant the seedlings directly into the garden.  It's labor, but it is a labor of love.  

Let's start with tomatoes.  I put some mulch in the bottom of each seed pot, topped it with seed starting mix, put two seeds in each pot and covered with 1/8 inch seed starting mix.  I was sure to label each container with the seed variety and date planted.  Very important that we don't get varieties confused.  We want that information to determine what variety does the best, which variety is susceptible to disease, and which variety we don't get good germination on.  All this is critical information for next year's crop.

We use open-pollinated heirloom seeds so that we can save the seeds year after year if we wish.  This might be a good year to save a BUNCH of seeds.  Ammunition is in short supply, but so are SEEDS.

This year these are the 8 varieties of tomato seeds we're planting:

Big Rainbow         Black Vernissage        Black Krim        Creole        Roma

Cherokee Purple    Mortgage Lifter          Pink Brandywine

Next, we plant peppers - both sweet and hot.  We also plant Eggplant on January 1st.  We prepare the seed pots the exact same way.  Again, planting 2 seeds per pot.  If the germination is bad (it usually approaches 100%), we at least have another seed in the pot.  If they BOTH come up, we'll separate them into separate pots prior to transplanting.

I pulled all of the pepper seeds out of the freezer where I have them double-bagged insulated for storage.

These are the pepper varieties for 2021:

Emerald Green Giant Sweet Bell        Horizon Orange Bell        Lilac (Purple) Bell        Banana Pepper

Lipstick Pepper        Jalapeno Grande    Hot Jalapeno    Florida Market Eggplant

Once planted, I bring inside into the foyer.  My wife isn't thrilled about this and keeps hinting for me to put them outside.  It won't work, I say.  Too cool to germinate.  I spray the soil down with water and then cover with plastic to preserve soil moisture.

We will keep our eyes on the soil, keeping it moist.  Once we see growth, we'll remove the plastic and put grow lights above.  It is always exciting, looking forward to another growing season, anticipating harvests, nutritious & delicious food, and just the exercise and satisfaction of being outside in nature.

Happy Growing!

Sowing Spring Seeds

Each year around January 1st, I plant tomato, pepper, and eggplant seeds.  They won't see outdoors for several months, but that's okay.  I'll baby them and by the time the last frost is done, they'll be in the ground.  We're hoping for a better tomato crop this year.  We experienced crop failure last year.  Hope springs eternal in gardening and we are gearing up.

This year we planted the following varieties: Roma, Creole, Black Krim, Big Rainbow, Cherokee Purple, Mortgage Lifter, Pink Brandywine, and Black Vernissage.  All but the Big Rainbow seeds came from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds - high quality open pollinated heirloom seeds that have great germination rates.

I get my seed pots ready by filling with seed starting mix.  It is a light mix that doesn't pack and is perfect for getting seeds growing.  Since I'll be bringing the seed pots inside, I line trays with newspaper to soak up any water that drips out.  I don't want that getting on the floors and making a big mess.

One very important thing is to label each seed pot with the name of the variety and the date that the seeds were planted.  I generally put 3 or 4 seeds in each pot.  If you have them labeled, you will be able to document any seeds that may have bad germination.  I plant quite a few varieties, so it is important to track which varieties do well versus those that don't.

Cherokee Purple has always been a solid producer for me.  Well, except for last year.  Nothing produced well last year.  This year will be different.

It's not only tomatoes that I plant from seed at this time.  I planted all of my peppers and eggplant seeds, too.

The early freeze in November knocked a number of my broccoli and cauliflower plants out.  I'm doing a first for me this year and I'm starting some broccoli and cauliflower seeds right now.  Normally, I just plant these crops in the fall.  This year I will try them in early spring.  I have them watered and covered with plastic to retain soil moisture.  Once they are up out of the ground, I'll remove the plastic and position a grow light right above the seedlings.  We'll keep you posted as they grow.

Starting the Garden in January

Early January is cold - even in the deep south - but it is time to get the tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant growing.  On January 3rd, I filled my little seed pots with seed starting medium and began planting.  I generally plant two seeds per compartment.  Usually, I'll have close to 100% germination and I'll simply separate the two seedlings and re-pot each individual plant into a larger cup so they don't get root-bound.

After all the seeds are planted, I cover them with about 1/8 inch of seed starting mix and use a sprayer to moisten the soil.  This will make the seeds swell and they'll begin their transformation from a dead seed into a growing plant.  As many times as I've seen it, the way the seed transforms into life is a true miracle from God to me.

Now obviously seeds don't need light until they sprout and begin getting leaves.  Until such time, I bring the containers inside and cover tightly with a plastic bag.  This keeps the soil warm, but most importantly, retains soil moisture so the seeds will swell and begin doing their thing.

In less than a week, we have seedlings springing forth!  They now want light and they jump out of the ground to get it.  You have to be careful or they'll get 'leggy.'  I take the shop light inside from where it normally hangs over my workbench and I position it above the tiny seedlings, propped up by some canned goods.  The grow light has a special fluorescent bulb for growing plants in it.  It gives off a pinkish-colored light.  My growing area is in the utility room above the cabinets.  It stays warm up there and the plants seem to like it.  I keep spraying the seedlings and keeping the soil moist so they plants are never in stress.

The seedlings all germinate at different times.  First the tomatoes, then the peppers, and then the eggplant.  I move them from where I have them sitting in the foyer to the utility room as soon as they sprout.

After about two and a half weeks, the tomatoes all have their true leaves and are growing vigorously.  I have to be real methodical in my watering as the soil dries out fast in the little seed pots.  Probably this Sunday I'll separate and re-pot them into bigger cups that will give their roots room to stretch out.

They are some healthy little plants right now.  Usually after I re-pot them, I'll water them with some diluted fish emulsion.  This gives them a little fertilizer and gives them a nice, healthy color.  We want them to be at their very best when we put them in the ground.  We still have a ways to go, though!

I almost forgot to show you.  As I said, peppers germinate a lot more slowly than tomatoes.  Here are the seed pots of pepper plants.  They are just getting started, but they look pretty good.

Unfortunately, everything doesn't look good.  These are the remaining seed pots in the foyer.  They haven't sprouted yet and if they don't soon, I'll give up on them.

As I was going through my inventory of seeds, I ran across seeds that I had saved from various open pollinated varieties back in 2012 - 2014.  Yes, they are old seed, but I wanted to see which seed I should keep and which I should remove from inventory.  Now, I know!

Even though it is too cold to do much garden prep outside, there's still some gardening to do inside.  And that is a good thing, indeed.