Congratulations to all gardeners and vegetable growers on the start of the planting season!
The sun has warmed up, time to sow seeds for seedlings and prepare the beds. Every year I plan to reduce my plantings, but I still sow. And now, I couldn't resist planting a few tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants.
It's often easier to buy vegetables at the market these days, so we try to focus our gardening on fruit and vegetables for the table. That is, only what can be brought straight from the garden in the summer and used in a salad or fresh for the table.
It's easier for us to buy potatoes in a sack in the fall, and then buy more when we run out, since we don't have a heated barn yet and there's nowhere to store potatoes and other root vegetables for the winter. We're planting a few early potato plants, some carrots and beets, not for storage. A bed of tomatoes, a few pepper plants, and a few eggplants. And some greens: onions, garlic, and parsley.
This time, I sprouted peppers and eggplants from seeds so I could see the germination rate before planting them in the ground. I had some packets left over from previous seasons and wanted to see if the seeds were still viable. I did this in regular plastic containers, stacking them inside each other to save space.
I spread a paper napkin in a cup, moistened it with water with a drop of epin (to stimulate growth), and poured in the seeds,
And, covering it with a second napkin, I moistened it again. I ended up with several such containers.
I stacked them one inside the other, wrapped them in a bag with holes cut in it and placed them near a warm radiator.
I periodically opened the door to air it out. After a few days, I saw the results.
When preparing seeds simultaneously, it is clear how different the germination rate and viability of the seeds are.
Although I love experiments, this season I tried to limit myself to proven varieties.
Pepper: Moldova's gift, an orange miracle
Eggplant: Diamond, Black Prince, and an unknown variety (a couple of seasons ago, I collected seeds from an eggplant I liked, but forgot to label the variety so that the seeds wouldn't go to waste. I decided to sow them and see what would grow).
I placed the sprouted seeds in cups filled with soil. I used store-bought soil, as my own from the garden was too heavy for the delicate sprouts. I use cups with removable bottoms. These make it easy to remove the grown seedlings without damaging the root ball.
I simply transferred the barely hatched seeds into a cup. And when they were well-sprouted, with their cotyledon leaves, I carefully pulled them out along with the napkin, so as not to damage the roots.
I usually sow 2-3 seeds per cup.
This is the tray I ended up with. I labeled the cups by type with a permanent marker on paper tape, but it turned out that the tape peeled off over time, so I duplicated the labels on the cups themselves.
Then I placed these cups in a large bag for a couple more days.
When the sprouts appeared above the ground, I put them on the windowsill, in the sun.
These are tomatoes, green sprouts have also already appeared above the ground.
This year, I chose to plant the Pink Bush and Bull's Heart varieties (four colors: red, yellow, cream, and chocolate). These are mostly salad varieties, as we've almost stopped pickling tomatoes in recent years. Later, I plan to buy more seeds and plant one or two varieties for canning.
In the garden, taking advantage of the warm day, I started tidying up the vegetable garden. I pruned the peach and apricot trees.
I'm not an expert in pruning fruit trees, but I still try to keep the tall ones in check and shape them into something resembling a bowl. If there are any pruning experts out there, maybe you could offer some advice or criticism on how to properly shape the crown.
A stock of scrap metal got into the frame; we'll remove it a little later, and in the foreground are branches of a felt cherry tree, the buds already swelling.
I carried out the first treatment of fruit trees: I sprayed all the trees and shrubs with "Preparation 30+" against wintering pests.
I pruned the roses. I hadn't touched them since autumn, but now I trimmed all the branches that were frozen or dried out, as well as those that were crowding the bush or were too long.
The first spring flowers—crocuses, snowdrops, and hellebore—are already blooming. Tulips and daffodils have peeked their leaves out of the ground.
The chickens are cleaning the flowers of pests and fertilizing the soil, and on the other side of the net our dog is also asking to join us.
The dog is a good boy, he doesn't chase the chickens, but rather herds them, and is friends with our cats.
I haven't gotten around to these flowers yet, but the cold wave will pass and I'll get to work on them - I need to trim off the old leaves, clean and loosen the soil around the flowers.
Indoor flowers also felt the approach of spring, hippeastrums released buds
This one even has two buds:
And the zephyranthes (upstart) blossomed just on March 8th.
The garlic planted in the fall is already sprouting in the garden, and now I have sown radishes between the rows.
The honeysuckle has also put out its first leaves; the blue one is just waking up. And the red one is already in full growth and getting ready to bloom. This is our first spring berry.
I'm really looking forward to getting busy with the land, planting, and tidying up the property, but a cold cyclone has just arrived with subzero temperatures and strong winds. A sharp warming is predicted for next week, so there's still plenty of gardening work planned. The season is about to begin!
We have huge snowdrifts at our dacha, and I really want to dig in the soil. I'm really interested in the red honeysuckle; I didn't even know there was a variety with red berries.
Yes! )) It's delicious, not bitter, but quite small. It has heart-shaped berries. The very first berry in the garden—the kids pick them like birds. )). I'll take a photo sometime and write about it.