Gardening Mistakes

Assumptions are indeed the mother of all F ups ...
                              I planted all my seedlings this year in the little black cells, but didn't label the individual seedlings because I made a an exact replica of where everything was at on paper....BIG MISTAKE....after having to switch and rotate my seedlings (because I only have two grow lights, and am too cheap to buy more) and having to transplant some of the seedlings that outgrew the cells. I have now completely confused myself as to the original placement of everything.
                               It was obvious which herbs were which and what not...but where i'm totally stumped is the peppers....I had cayenne, shishito, fatali, serrano, jalapeno, thai, and bell.....and can't seem to distinguish them. My other problem was the tomatoes...but was able to more or less figure it all out..
                                  Normally I would just take this and stride with it, plant it and be surprised, but because my intention was to sell/ give some of these away...I pretty much just shot myself in the foot...
                  Lesson learned here: ALWAYS LABEL YOUR SEEDLINGS

Seedlings!!!!!

One of my favorite things about gardening has arrived!! The time to start your seedlings! This for me is more than anything a sigh of relief, a way that I know spring is not too far behind. There's something about planting seeds and watching them grow that just makes me feel great! However, there is some ground that needs to be covered before putting a seed into the dirt.

• The temperature (depending on the plant of course) needs to be between 60-70 degrees with a             preferable 10 degree drop. This helps speed the germination process.
• Lighting, Florescent lightbulbs that are made to replicate sunlight. 
• Space, a nice space for your seedlings where humidity isn't a problem. 
• Some method of airflow, this allows the seedlings to build strong stems, as well as it helps to prevent damping off.

The Fun Part:

Planting the seeds!!

 Follow the directions on the back of the seed packet ( Very Important!..unfortunately  I didn't do this for my parsnips, and assumed the directions would be the same as carrots. As it turns out the Parsnips need a longer cold period, and I might not be able to grow them to their full potential now.)

Watch them grow...and good luck!!

Dealing with Winter

On these days when Winter begins to tease us and Seed Catalogs start showing up at our doors, getting us ready for Spring. I begin to feel like a little kid again, anxiously awaiting the dreadfully long car ride, to get to the park and just run and play and eat Elote's and Poncho's Paletas. Getting dirty but not ever really caring.

(this pic was found on 24Gotham's flickr, thank you for the wonderful pic)

The worst part about getting to the park was indeed the car ride (a.k.a. winter now a days) , because it always felt like it took forever! 

As winter takes its corse and it's time doing so, I'm very tempted to start seeds.. but I made that mistake last year and ended up praying for the time when I could start to gradually take everything outdoors because I didn't have space indoors anymore.

This year in the mean time, i've been working on plotting everything out as well as making educated decisions on when to start everything. I've also been doing a lot of reading as well. So hopefully this year will provide greater success as well as failures to learn from.