Tag Archives: seeds

Seedlings April 2020

It’s amazing what stay-in-place means for my gardening hobby. I actually get to garden!

Of course, strange days also brings strange weather. I can’t recall the last time I saw April temps dip down into the 30s, but here we are mid-April with overnight temps reminiscent of winter.

It’s a much welcome change from the 100 degree plus Aprils I’ve seen in years past.

But back to the topic of seedlings. I started some seed on 3/31 and here we are about 2 weeks later. Thanks to IG gardenspo, I had to have me some Fish Pepper seeds, which led me to Baker Creek Heirloom Seed, where I bought more than I planned. I never imagined myself growing tomatillos, but I read somewhere that it (along with radishes) would make great pest-attractors and ward pests from companion crops. So into the basket went Purple Tomatillos and Japanese Wasabi Radishes, along with Thai Long Green (Green Elephant Tusk) Eggplant, Jigsaw Pepper, Lemon Bee Balm, Korean Hyssop, and Sirius Blue Sage. Baker Creek also dropped a couple of free seed packets, which I’m still debating on planting.

Wasabi radish seedlings
Wasabi radish seedlings
Free Seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom seeds
Free Seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom seeds

I was also able to source Strawberry Fields gomphrena…which I’m happy to report, have germinated as well. In fact, all of the seed I sourced from Baker Creek have germinated successfully under grow lights, compared to some older seed that either struggled or haven’t come up at all. The radish germinated in as little as 3 days, which provided near-instant gratification.

Seedling flat
Seedling flat

I direct sowed the Baker Creek lemon bee balm into the garden bed, along with some Outside Pride Mexican Sunflower seeds (sourced from Amazon in 2017) earlier in the month. Nothing has come up as of yet, but I made sure to mark the spot with a pot of wild bee balm purchased from Painted Flower Farm on 4/7.

Anywho, with this cold snap, I’d better go water the plants! More field notes coming soon!

The bug 2008

Once again the seed and plant catalogs are piling high in the mailbox. I’m inevitably reminded by the mild weather and the bare flower beds that it will soon be time for spring sowing and gardening. I plan to take off a week from work either in February or March to devote to the yards. I’m trying to look up weather reports to help me with planning this week off. I did check out the Texas Almanac website to learn about the last freeze dates. Average last freeze dates for Dallas/Collin counties is March 16. I’ve also scanned the Weather.com site to retrieve average monthly temperatures for my area.