After Challenge Update: The Seed List

It was a fun 30 days, but I have to admit I am relieved it’s over. My backyard is becoming a bit overgrown and my attention needed to be out there with all the currently growing plants. However, I have quite a lot coming on indoors which tickles me to see. I’m so glad we planted for a solid 30 days!

So here’s the breakdown of what we planted this month….

Cilantro 
For these seeds, we actually used three different sources. The first  was an older packet and they were planted in the north kitchen window. The next was also planted in the north kitchen window, but the seeds used were directly off a flower that had finished blooming. Both of these are growing a bit slow, due to low light conditions. The final seeds were from a free packet we received from Baker Creek Seeds, sown upstairs under grow lights with quite a few other plants. This one is strongest of the bunch, fully caught up and grown taller than the others.

Cilantro sprouts

Catgrass
Over the month I gave a few updates on the cat grass. It’s still growing fine, but may need replanted again soon. The cats are chowing it down at a fairly fast rate. We used the same seeds through the entire challenge and I do highly recommend them. They were from Amazon, specifically Renee’s Garden Cat Grass Mix.

Cat Grass

Forget-Me-Nots
These aren’t doing the greatest in pots. The flowers in the fairy garden were doing better than the ones in an individual pot, until the cats thought the fairy garden was a bed for them. I’ll have to do a bit of work on our fairy garden and hopefully the Forget-Me-Nots will survive. I don’t blame the seeds or the seller, just myself for improper care of seedlings. If you are interested in trying them out, they were Cape Forget-Me-Not (Anchusa capensis) Seeds by Seed Needs

Garlic Bulbs
I have a hell of a time keeping garlic alive, and this one was no different. For this experiment I did not use seeds, but rather scraps that we had from a store-bought garlic clove. It was sprouting just fine when I planted it, but I believe the soil was far too rich and moist to keep it going. I started over with new scraps since I am determined to grow garlic correctly.

Lettuce
I’m happy to report the lettuce is doing just fine in the big indoor box in our south window. The seeds we planted this month are still little sproutlings, yet the lettuce that went in a month ahead is nearly ready to harvest. It’s hard to find the little guys right now, but I assure you there are there and growing. I’m sure they will grow a little better once the big guys are out of the way. If you do purchase Butterhead Buttercrunch Lettuce Seeds from Botanical Interest on Amazon, make sure the seller is No Thyme Productions as we have had no issues with their seeds.

Butterhead Lettuce

Salad Mix
Growing beautifully with a random amaranth under grow lights, the salad mix is getting close to harvest. I can’t wait to mix this with the buttercrunch lettuce! These seeds were purchased last year at Target, so obviously they were Burpee brand.

Catnip
These seeds don’t have the best germination rate (and honestly, I doesn’t matter where you purchase them – catnip just IS hard to germinate from seed), yet we’ve got a few just beginning to sprout.  I see no problems with this plant as the hardest part is over. Now it’s just a matter of keeping it properly watered and growing along side the other two plants.  If you are interested in growing catnip from seed, I highly recommended Organic Catnip Seeds from Ohio Heirloom Seeds on Amazon.

Oregano
Also just beginning to sprout and going strong. The other oregano growing in the house is also doing well, even when I don’t get them watered right away. The oregano actually prefers not to be overwatered. Organic Oregano by All Good Things Organic can be found on Amazon.

Dill
Sprouting like mad, although not nearly fast enough to keep up with the amount of cucumbers we’ve harvested. I had to break down and purchase dill seeds to make pickles. Hopefully we can keep a better stock of both dill and dill seeds in the future. There was enough in the packet we purchased (Botanical Interests Bouquet Dill Seeds) and they germinated perfectly, we just haven’t planted enough. Really these should have gone outside earlier this spring, but too late now. We just have to make due with them indoors.

Dill sprouts

Potatoes
The original bucket of potatoes is still growing strong, with the newer ones just starting to sprout. So far the weather outside has cooperated and given us plenty of rain. When it starts to cool off this fall, both buckets will have a home inside to finish flowering. Thankfully the spot is all set up and currently growing carrots and peas.

Bucket Potatoes

Rosemary
These herb sprouts aren’t getting a whole lot of sun right now and are a bit blocked out by the rest of the plants growing in the big south window tub. It’s fine they take their time grown, as I really only planted them as a companion herb for the rest. I don’t cook with it often, so don’t have a clue what to use it for when it matures. Thankfully I still have time to figure it out.

Peas
Since they are just starting to pop out of the dirt, there isn’t much to report on how these are doing inside or how they’ll do this fall when I go to transplant them. I am pleased to see them sprouting inside the big bucket though, as I’m anxious to see if they produce well.

Snow Pea Sprout

Ground Cherries
I couldn’t believe how fast these guys sprouted as they were toward the end of the challenge. Yet there they are, every seed planted is coming up. They’ll be transplanted to the big bin upstairs with the peas as soon as they are big enough.

Onion
Apparently much easier to keep alive than garlic, the onion is sprouting and growing in a bucket outside without trouble. We’ve had some big storms roll through as well that didn’t seem to bother them in the least. In fact, they grew extremely fast and furious in the short time they’ve been sitting in a bucket outside.

Onion Sprouts

Carrots
I was afraid there would be enough light for the Atomic Red Carrots to sprout, but I’m please to see they are sprouting beautifully. It only took them about a week to pop out of the dirt.

Morning Glories
We’ve had a special set of issues with the morning glories. A few nasty storms knocked over the fence and I’m honestly not sure how many are going to survive. Lesson learned – wood posts don’t necessarily stay put in rich soil, especially when massive amounts of vines are weighing them down. We plan to replace the wood posts next year with metal, or at least set up a more sturdy structure for them to climb on.

 

So far, that’s all we’ve got growing. Some of the other seeds will take a good month to even sprout, and some I gave up on completely (like the Lemon Balm – I have been offered cuttings from established plants, so will go that route since the seeds gave me such trouble). All in all though, we’ve added a lot indoors and out, so the challenge was well worth it. 🙂

 

 

Challenge Day 30: Onion Scraps & Wrap Up

Here it is! Day 30! I had a few minor bumps and a handful of repeats, but overall, I MADE IT! Super proud of what I accomplished in the garden and around the house and even more excited to reap the benefits. For the last day of the challenge I pulled an onion scrap out of the fridge to plant.

Onion scraps – 10 days in fridge

I haven’t had the best of luck with bulb scrap starts, but I’m trying again anyway. The scraps we are using came from small organic onions and have been in the fridge for 10 days. I believe a gallon bucket might hold the contents alright. I probably should have used a larger bucket, but we have none left. It’s been a busy month! The upside here is that if this experiment fails we won’t be out anything, since we used scraps and not a purchased bulb.

Here within the  next few days I’ll have a complete list of everything we planted along with pictures and updates on growth. I’ll also make a list of recommended seeds and companies we’ve had good results with. Happy growing!

Challenge Day 29: Snow Peas

Even though we are flooded with cucumbers and I see a hoard of green tomatoes ready to be ripe, I can’t help but feel sad that the snow peas are over with for the season. Every time I’m in the backyard I look at the browning peas with pity, as if somehow I’ve done them wrong by letting them die in the midsummer heat. I know this happens every year, and I know they are cool weather crops that die off when the temps start climbing above 80* everyday. Yet still, I long for a longer harvest and those sweet little treats year round.

Snow peas from the garden in June.

Snow peas aren’t generally something grown inside, although neither is a lot of the odd seeds I try growing indoors. After growing them outside for two years now, I have a handle on how fast they grow and how much space they take up. I also doubled checked to make sure they will self-pollinate, which they do, so no problems there. I see no reason snow peas couldn’t be grown indoors if given proper space and trellis, so we are giving it a go. Since there won’t be any ground cherries or echinacea growing in the big tub we put upstairs any time soon (still waiting for cherries to sprout and echinacea seeds to germinate), I planted a few snow pea seeds in there. When they start to sprout, I’ll put the trellis in place.

Just in case it doesn’t work out indoors, I have a backup plan in place. This plan might be a bit more tricky, as it’s not something I’ve ever attempted before. I’ve heard of fall gardens and planting for fall harvests, but our weather is a gamble. Here in Iowa, we never know when frost is going to hit. It could be as early as September or as late as December. That doesn’t leave us a whole lot of wiggle room for harvesting. Nevertheless, I’m actually attempting it this year with the snow peas. I plan to start them indoors and transplant them outside once our temps drop to a more bearable temperature. I’m hoping by late August or early September it will be below 80 on average and no lower than 30s at night. Snow peas can handle some frost or cold temperatures, but not a lot.

I believe between the two methods (indoors and fall planting) we should have at least a few pea plants that thrive. What do you plant outdoors in the fall? Do you have a longer growing season that allows you to plant more fall crops?

Challenge Day 27 & 28: Wild Fennel & Atomic Red Carrots

I’m doubling up today as it’s been an extremely busy week. I spent Saturday filling containers with dirt, adjusting the upstairs set up to expand to the floor, and catching up on my challenge. Whew! So today’s double planting: Wild Italian Fennel and Atomic Red Carrots.

First we’ll start with the Wild Italian Fennel Herb Seeds. The seeds were purchased on Amazon from Ohio Heirloom Seeds. This was a tricky one, as I’m going to have to be careful what fennel is growing near. Also, it’s far too late in the season to just plant it outside, so I had to get a bit creative. Ultimately here’s what I did: I decided I was going to attempt a miniature version of this in container and start it inside, but hopefully take it outside when it starts to form blooms. I would just set the container outside and be done, but from what I’ve read, it needs to be a bit cooler to germinate.

Next, the Atomic Red Carrot Seeds. These I knew would need a bigger bucket if I was going to attempt them indoors. From what I gather, taper roots can grow up to 10 inches long. So I used a 5 gallon bucket, same as the ones used for the potatoes, and sprinkled a few seeds in.

Both of these buckets are now sitting in our new area upstairs. I’m anxious to see how they do and if there is enough light where they are sitting. If either struggle to grow, I’ll most likely add another light somehow.

The fennel has me a bit nervous, but the carrots I’m super excited for. Have you tried growing something odd indoors? How did it go?

Challenge Day 26: Rosemary

As much as we have planted in the big south window bin, there’s still a little bit of space for a few new herb sprouts. Today we planted a few extra rosemary in the bare spaces with seeds my daughter had purchased a few months back.

I absolutely love the set up in the bay window. Less than 2 months ago we transplanted a few plants into a big tub and have been periodically adding to it ever since. It’s a huge water hog, though, as we also have a small fan pointed toward the window that tends to dry it out faster. So far, we’ve mostly used rain water and some “gray” water (water I used to give canning jars a water bath, to be specific).

Big Bin in South Window – Jalapeno, Buttercrunch Lettuce, Tomato, Cucumber, and Rosemary

I usually have to water it at least twice a week with nearly a gallon of water. For this reason, I want to make sure we’ve used all of the space wisely and to its full potential. Even though it doesn’t look as if there is any more room and I may even have a few too many plants in there, I still think there’s room for small herbs. Since we still had Rosemary seeds, I figured this was a good place to stick a few, even though some are already coming up. That’s the great thing about herbs – what you don’t use right away you can dry for later.

Full view of tomatoes in window garden.

You can see the tomato plant has really taken off now that I put him in a bigger space and trimmed it. That small tomato he’s got now was already there when I transplanted it from a small gallon bucket. The tomato plant was actually a surprise last summer when a seed hitched a ride in with the dirt and grew in the same bucket as the jalapeno plant on his left. I didn’t have the heart to just rip it out and I’m glad I didn’t. Even when he was stuck in a small container we had small tomatoes for salads just like the one you see in the picture.

I probably could have picked a better herb than Rosemary, but it was a bit tricky making sure nothing crossed badly with anything else already growing here and Rosemary was one of those few that didn’t have undesired side effects. (If you are interest, this is the Companion Planting chart I reference occasionally – although I always double check across other websites and gardening articles). And while I don’t worry as much about attracting certain bugs indoors, I still keep my eyes open for unwanted guests.

What do you plant together inside?

Challenge Day 25: Scallions

I admit, I broke down and ordered seeds the other day. My supply was getting thin and I was running out of varieties for the challenge. However, I am starting to get a little low on indoor space. Today’s new seed – White Bunching Southport Scallions – are being placed outside for the time being.

I might be cutting it close for harvest season, as I have no idea what our fall will look like. It may be freezing by September, or 80s until December. You never know in Iowa. So I may be planning on leaving them outside all summer long, but I’ll be ready to bring them in for the winter if need be.

Scallions shouldn’t need a whole lot of room, so I put a few seeds into a recycled ice cream bucket with holes drilled on the bottom. I pushed the seeds in the dirt about ¼ inch, then set the bucket on the garden bench. Lucky for us, there’s a lot of rain hitting us right now, so no need to water it.

If you do order these seeds from Amazon, make sure you chose Ohio Heirloom Seeds as the seller. We’ve had good luck with this seller before and items are shipped fast. Even some of their seeds are listed as being sold by others, so be sure you are selecting them as both manufacturer AND seller. Don’t be tempted to take the cheaper option, as these generally come from overseas sellers selling seeds illegally.

Where do you generally purchase seeds? Do you like to try new sellers or stick with tried and true?

Challenge Day 24: Bucket Potatoes

Ever since we grew potatoes last year from scraps I’ve been anxious to repeat the experiment inside. We’ve already started a few potato plants in a bucket that is currently sitting outside, but we are ready to start more!

Potatoes growing in a bucket

The bucket started today still went outside for the time being, as we are still working to get a larger area set up under grow lights.  The others planted a few weeks ago were started late in the season as well, and all will end up being brought in this fall. However, I would like to start a rotation of sorts, because we can always use potatoes in our family meals.

These buckets are not a hard garden feat to accomplish. I did have my other half drill the holes in the 5 gallon buckets for me, as I tend to stay clear of power tools. We tossed dirt from the backyard in a bucket, added a few potatoes, and then more dirt. Ta da! That’s really all there is to it. If you want to read more about the technique or if you need to amend soil (our rich Midwest soil will grow just about anything), I recommend checking out growing potatoes by Homestead On Main Street.

Potatoes really are an easy crop to grow and will grow anywhere. Currently there are even a few sprouted in the compost. I’ll still have to keep a slightly closer eye on these, as I believe our rainy period to be over and it may need some extra watering to get growing. Overall, though, I don’t foresee any issues and believe we’ll have some tasty potato treats late this fall!

Challenge Day 23: Ground Cherries

One of the exciting new seeds I picked up from Baker Creek isn’t something you see often. Cherries in general are pretty popular, but have you ever heard of ground cherries? These guys are not really a cherry at all, but rather a type of tomato. I have never even tried one, but excited to try something different!

We purchased Aunt Molly’s Ground Cherries from Baker Creek Seeds on a whim while shopping for stevia seeds. To be honest, I hadn’t even heard of ground cherries before, but I’m always on the lookout for interesting things to grow. Since we’ve been trying to find some fruits to grow indoors, this seemed like a fun choice.

To start, I put two seeds each into two recycled yogurt containers with holes in the bottom. Following directions on the packet, I sprinkled a small amount of dirt over top and watered. When they are big enough, we’ll transplant them into this big bin…

Rocks in the bottom to drain

It will be a few weeks before the ground cherries are ready to be transplanted. In the mean time, we’ll be prepping the upstairs grow light area to hold this bucket, plus a few smaller 5 gallon buckets of potatoes that will need to be brought in before winter hits. This bucket will probably be where the Echinacea will be planted as well.

What new seeds or plants have you tried growing? Do you mostly grow indoors or out?

Challenge Day 22: Green Peppers Round Two

After using our last green pepper last night and assessing the previous bunny damage, I decided we still needed more green pepper plants. It’s another duplicate, but I remember myself this is what this challenge is about – making sure what we need is planted and growing, with ample supply waiting in the wings.

Green Pepper

The green pepper seeds we planted a few weeks ago have yet to sprout. I’m not exactly concerned because it may take up to a month for these guys to germinate. I am, however, slightly concerned that our saved seeds aren’t viable. So in addition to the saved seeds, I added a few fresh seeds from the pepper we used for supper. Usually it’s recommended seeds be saved from dried peppers, although we’ve had a bit of success in the past with the “toss and wait” method. Last year we had a small array of multiple pepper sprout from store-bought seeds simply tossed in a container that yielded us some interesting hybrids and cross breeds. I figured tossing in a few fresh with our dried wouldn’t hurt.

I probably planted way too many seeds, although I can always thin out later. The container I selected was slightly larger this time, so there is room for a few plants to be established. I’ll most likely still need to transplant into a bigger pot as green peppers can get quite large. We managed to keep several indoors over the winter inside recycled ice cream buckets (1 gallon with holes in the bottom for proper drainage), but the peppers were a little stunted. Still, it was a nice treat to even have a small pepper in the dead of winter. Just so unfortunate that the bunnies even ate the fully grown, fully mature, and fruit-producing plants. Can you tell I’m still in shock?

This will be the last of the repeats this month as I believe we now have a steady supply coming of our most used produce. I’m also hoping the seeds I ordered today will be here before the end of the challenge.

What seeds to you plant on a regular basis?

Challenge Day 20: Update

Today I planted the last round of cilantro for the month, but wanted to give a few update. There are all kinds of fun sprouts popping up from all the seeds and bulbs I’ve planted thus far.

 

Cilantro

If you’ve been following along, you’ll know I’ve planted different cilantro seeds twice before today. The first ones in the window are sprouting, but slower than the planter upstairs under florescent lights. I don’t believe the kitchen window gets nearly enough sun to get herbs started properly, but it’s an alright spot after they are established.

Cilantro Sprouts (grown under florescent lights) 

Catgrass

Have I mentioned how easy it is to grow grass for the cats? Even the seeds I planted a few days ago are sprouting already!

Cat grass is growing beautifully!

 

Forget-Me-Nots

I wasn’t sure how these were going to get along inside, but so far they are looking pretty good. Both containers we planted these seeds in are sprouting. Really can’t wait to see how these flowers look in the fairy garden.

Forget-Me-Not sprouts

 

Garlic Bulb

We planted this guy 2 weeks ago and he’s still going strong. I honestly think I should have used a slightly better draining and lighter soil, although I have resisted the urge to over water it. My other attempts at growing garlic outside have not worked out well, I suspect due to our backyard soil being too heavy and rich.

Garlic Bulb Sprouting

Salad Mix

Another set of easy growing seeds that have exploded in sprouts. SUPER excited about this one, since these little salad sprouts are right on track with the lettuce planted a month ahead. They should all be ready to eat at the same time.

Mesclun Salad Mix

 

 

Lettuce

The seeds that were planted this month probably won’t go with the salad mix, but are sprouting just the same. They should be starting to mature after the first round of lettuce is done. We’ll be sure to plant the salad mix again soon to go with this batch.

Little Lettuce Sprouts

 

 

Tiny Sprouts

Oregano, roman chamomile, and catnip have all just barely come up. The oregano and catnip  sprouted just fine under florescent lights (daylight spectrum bulbs, not generic fluorescent bulbs). The roman chamomile, which I was most concerned with in the fairy garden, is just barely peeking out through the soil.

Some of the trickier seeds haven’t come up, although I didn’t fully expect them to just yet. Some will take nearly a month to sprout and some haven’t even finished the stratification process. When they do, I’ll be sure to post updates of them as well!