In the zone

Apparently, we're in Zone 5a. Good to know. See here for more.

Les Oignons

(click for big)

These are my Red Globe Onions from Greta. If you look closely you'll see that there are about 50 little onion plants there out of a approximately 70 seeds planted. There are more popping up every day, so I'd say the germination rate is very good. I planted them on March 2, and they have been up for about 4 days. I simply stuck them in some potting soil that I had crumbled finely and moistened and placed in a danish package from the grocery store. Not a bad little greenhouse when stuck on the fridge. The key now is to strengthen them up. I'm not sure how to do this, but this blog (seems to be a Canadian from Brantford!) says that you can trim them back to 4-5'' to prevent them from getting too leggy. As you'll note from the pic, that's a concern. I'll wait a few days before taking the snips to them. G&E take note, we sent some of these your way! Get them started ASAP.

Red Globe Onions

Planted March 2, 2009

Germination rate: approx. 67%

Time to germinate: approx. 4-7 days

Concerns: leggy plants

Update (March 15, 2009): There are 48 viable seedlings. They are very thin and fragile after two weeks. Research suggests that I should keep them trimmed to 3'' to thicken the stems.

Update (April 5, 2009): Nicole accidentally killed all my onions by placing the germination tray on the top of the stove while the oven was on. Needless to say, the tender little shoots wilted beyond recognition. I replanted and now they are back at the same stage as the picture above. We might not get good bulbs this year what with being a month behind schedule. But, we'll see. Germination for second round of seeds was over 80% though.

2009 Indoor Planting Schedule

March

Red Globe Onion - March 2

April

Thai hot peppers - April 1
Black Cherry Tomato - April 1
Manitoba Tomato - April 1
Orange Strawberry Tomato - April 1
Mid-east Prolific Cucumbers - April 28
Black Zucchini - April 28

Garden Budget - 2009

Following J.D. Roth over at Get Rich Slowly, Nicole and I are keeping track of our expenses/gains for our garden this year. We're not too concerned about spending a bit more money than we would otherwise for fruit and veg, as we do it mainly for the taste and enjoyment, but it's a good practice in any case. Budgeting: always good, never bad.

So, thus far, we've bought all of our seeds for this year's garden, courtesy of Greta's organic seeds. (There really is a Greta, by the way, and she's just as you imagine her: long grey pony tail, plaid shirt and with a hint of an accent. I think she's Danish) Last year we used old seeds and the germination was terrible. We think they got a bit moist in the move. Thus, we decided to spend a bit more up front and invest in some heirlooms, from which we can save the seeds and use them again and again. We could even barter them, I suppose, if we get good at it.

So, we bought all of the seeds listed in the previous post and a few others for our friends who wanted some. We're splitting the cost three ways, so that saves a bit of money. We also bought a bag of potting soil for starting the seeds.

February
Seeds: -$25.00
Starting soil: -$3.19
Total Expenditures for February: -$28.19
Total Gains: $0.00

I'll be starting my onions today. I've never planted onions from seed before, so we'll see how that goes. We've been saving plastic containers with lids as mini-greenhouse starters; I just need to do a bit of research on how to do it properly.