2023 Field Notes

 
 
 

Sown 4/8
Germination 4/12 (4 days)

Germination counts
4/12, 7am: 7
4/12, 3pm: 37
4/12, 6pm: 47
4/13, 7am: 84
4/14, 7pm: 110
4/14, 7am: 121
4/14, 6pm: 124
4/21, 10am: 129
Final Count After Thinning: 70

4/9 -- Sown into a 72 cell tray, using potting mix, even though the instructions from Johnny's say to use a 128. I don't have any 128s! I had to order a high seed quantity (250) so I did end up doing two seeds per cell, 1/4" deep, using potting mix. Pretty standard fare. I'm out of room on the table over the heat, but that should be OK with these, as the germination temp is 65-75 and the greenhouse is being kept at 70 right now.

4/11 -- No activity yet that I can see with these.

4/14 -- Germinating extremely well, up over 100 germinated and still going.

4/23 -- Stock rocks! These look great, germinated very well (129/144 for a shade under 90%) and the seedlings look fabulous. No complaints here whatsoever, other than the fact that I now have to heavily thin them! :(

4/24 -- Thinned these today, unfortunately heavily since they germinated so well. Pulled out 56 of these (booooo), leaving 70 in the 72. Seriously strong group here, no stunted seedlings in this set.

4/30 -- I'm having to be careful with these - they're pretty top heavy and two of them have already snapped from the weight of their substantial leaves. Keeping a close eye on them - wondering if some kind of support might be needed? Not a totally unfamiliar situation, I've had to prop up seedlings before, but hoping to avoid that - every touch is a chance to do more harm than good.

5/25 -- 32 of these transplanted into a 4x8 bed. Moving these went pretty well - had to poke most of these out from the bottom of the tray, and some of them didn't stay together despite that, but overall was able to get 32 of these mostly intact and into the bed. Some of them are a bit...leany as well, but no major concerns there. Biggest concern is that these are a Brassica...and last year my edible Brassica (aka Broccoli) was groundhog food. We'll see what happens with these! They'll get horizontal support at some point over the next week. Watered them in using the phosphorus-rich fertilizer.

6/13 -- These look fine. Many of them are a bit floppy, so I've gotten the horizontal support ready for them, even though they're probably not quite tall enough to reach it just yet. I've also lost two of them over the last few days, both from the exact same spot in the bed, which is interesting. Similar to other damage, the plant wasn't taken away, just chomped at the base, indicating to me (hopefully) that whatever chomped it decided it didn't taste very good.

6/25 -- Those of these that haven't been nibbled look quite good, but a few more of them have been nibbled over the past couple of weeks. I wonder if the brassica-ness of them is catching up to me. We'll see!

7/2 -- Seeing flowers now, which is good! These are mixed bag at best though - seem to be an animal target, and they also grow oddly - out, then up, which makes the bed look disorganized. The trellis is helping though.

7/8 -- A few more flowers, but honestly, these just probably aren't worth the space. You don't pinch them, and they only make one flowering stalk, some of which are out now (and, to be fair, quite nice). I've started to re-use the space - the right side of the bed is now home to 10 extra Strawflower. The other side may end up with a carrot or salad greens succession, or a few stragglers I still have from the greenhouse plants.

8/5 -- Nothing new to report here. These definitely underperformed, will likely be pulling the plants completely shortly.

8/25 -- I've left these in the ground, for now, and they're still producing flowers, but nothing special.