Our first-ever pumpkin sprout: the Butternut pumpkin!
I’ve been a little lax about sowing new seeds over the last couple of months. I guess it’s because it finally occurred to me that late December to late February is not the most ideal time to have young, vulnerable plants around. During that time, the dry monsoons suck the moisture out of the air and ground, and I had quite a few plant losses that discouraged me from starting anything new.
Thankfully, the rainy weather appears to be back, and although it’s rather humid on some days, the temperatures have been delightfully cool overnight. It seemed appropriate to start growing new plants again.
Besides that, I’ve been looking through the seeds that I’ve exchanged with a couple of my gardening buddies, and I think it’s time to get some new plants growing in our garden.
Beet sprouts - I love the colour contrast between the vibrant stem and muted green leaves!
Don’t even consider that I love to watch how seeds germinate and start growing. It’s such a lovely affirmation of the cycle of life to see how a tiny, dormant thing like a seed gets into action and grows into an incredible fruit- or flower-bearing plant.
So, while I haven’t sown all the new seeds, several have been buried in germinating pots, and have started to say hello to the world.
My buddy The Weed generously shared seeds for beets, white radish, Simba beans, pumpkins and Mammoth sunflowers. So far, only the pumpkin hasn’t started growing yet.
I’ve finally (not sure why I delayed so long) sowed Hami melon and butternut pumpkin seeds that I got from Novice Gardener. To my surprise, both of them have one sprout each! I don’t know why, but I keep thinking that fruit vegetables like pumpkins and melons can only grow overseas, so this will be interesting for me. It’s part of my Doubting Thomas mentality rearing its head – I won’t believe it until I harvest the fruits in our garden!
Following the examples from Weed and Novice Gardener, I've planted my white radish seedlings in converted PET bottles that are cut closer to the top so the plants have more depth to grow in.
From my own stock of seeds, I’ve decided to attempt growing sweet peas again. The weather seems more friendly towards sweet peas, I think, so let’s hope for more than a single, hardly-formed bean this time!
I also started a new set of kangkong plants from seeds that I harvested from our plants last June. They’re still very viable, and I hope we’ll get to eat more than we use for mulch this time…
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I like the new look, cleaner, easier to read! Good luck with the radish – it is a slow grower in our climate. The Weed’s beets are awfully spindly still. I have been given the task of carrying it under shelter when it rains heavily…. now you know why I keep my day job!
Is the radish slower than sweet potato and culinary ginger? I’ve got plants about 2 years old that I haven’t harvested anything from yet. I’m quite good at leaving plants to do what they need to!
Speaking of, I also had to dash out to bring in the transplanted radish plants when it started raining earlier. If the rain is heavy enough, it’ll flatten the young plants and splatter the potting mix.
And thanks, I like the new look too. You have to do some spring cleaning every once in a while!
Gee I hope the radish won’t take 2 years! Novice Gardener told the Weed that the radish should be ready in 2 months. He took this to heart, and exactly 2 months after sowing, insisted on “harvesting” the radish, despite my protests that I didn’t think it looked anything close to ready.
Well, he cheerfully yanked out a beansprout sized radish, then not so cheerfully stuffed it back into the PET bottle and dumped some Tref on top… it did not survive the molestation, sad to say.
Hm, if it’s a beansprout in 2 months then it sounds like it will take about 6 to 12 months to be anywhere substantial. I’ll follow your lead since you guys planted yours before mine.