What new plants are going in my garden this year?

Sage is the newest member of my garden. Last fall I called my husband's grandmother to get her recipe for Thanksgiving dressing (bread crumbs, sage, milk, celery, onion, salt). It was delicious and I knew I could make a gluten free, dairy free version. I loved the sage so much that I decided to try growing some this year.

Other herbs and spices I've grown in the past are Garlic, Oregano, Thyme,  Cilantro, and Basil. I always get excited about new stuff. And of course today I will be planting basil. The Thyme and Oregano are perennials and pop up each year without any effort.

I'm also adding a photo of the celery I have going. The seeds are amazingly small and so are the tiny little plants that first pop up.  Looking forward to a Thanksgiving feast for straight out of the garden this year.

Utah Celery transplants - what a difference the right pot makes

So maybe you remember this post from a few weeks ago. That was March 3rd and if that wasn't enough to convince you then I hope that this will.

The stalks of the celery in the peat disc are so much smaller that those in the 3" pots.

And even the color is different. I stuck the small one in next to the larger dark green leaves so you could see the difference up close.  The leaves are much larger and darker green in the 3" pot.

It's almost unbelievable.  And of course, just a reminder - I purchased the seeds at Anderson's Seed and Garden.

And as you can see, my transplants are starting to really fill in.  This is the time to make sure you are using a fan to prevent mold and damping off.  Pretty soon the snow will be gone here and I can start to harden the cabbage, kale, broccoli, and onions that need to be transplanted to the garden.  This is when the super duper tough tubs come in handy.  They are sturdy enough to handle the trip upstairs every day and sit out in the sun for a few hours until they can handle being outside all day.

What size pot should I choose when sprouting my own seeds?

Here are three pots in which to start your seeds.  The tiny one on the left needs to be watered first.  It will grow to about 4 times the size.  The middle one is a 3" peat pot.  Fill it with the seed starting mix of your choice.  The one on the right is a 5" peat pot.  All three are from Jiffy.  

So here are celery sprouts.  I planted both on the same day. I need to thin the larger pot down to just one plant.  When there are a few more leaves I'll take the scissors to it.

As you can see, the plants in the 3" peat pot are doing quite well while the plant in the tiny pot is well, tiny. The soil is different. That could be a small factor.  I'm not too fond of the Jiffy seed starting mix.  It's really dry here and I prefer something that holds water like the Miracle Grow potting soil that is made for dry climates. But I've found out that I cannot start things like tomatoes and peppers in the tiny pots.  Cabbage does okay. It takes many many seeds and still only about half of the pots had plants.  Starting peppers in the 3" pots means I get an abundance of plants that actually need thinning.

You can see in this close up that the leaves of the celery in the 3" peat pots are also larger.  But don't take my word for it.  Try it out yourself.  

And by the way, those cute little toilet paper roll starting cups don't work. They fall all apart and uncurl.  Notice how they are not even wet in the photo.  Don't believe me? Just throw a toilet paper roll in a sink full of water and wait.  

Egg carton seed cups work but for most things they just aren't deep enough. Just don't use the plastic or foam type. The water cannot drain from them and the plant will eventually die.

Want more proof on how the size of the container affects the size of the plant go to this post from last year and read about the spinach.

And this one from the month before that. You'll see the cabbage did well but only 2 of the 12 spinach plants even sprouted.  Of course, spinach has a large tap root.

Learn more about celery and see our new parrot!

Meet Mambo! She is our new Green Cheek Conure.  She is just a little different from Kiwi. She has no yellow under her wings and she is heavier.  She is a sweetheart and in just a few days she has decided she likes us.  Last night she surprised me when she jumped off her perch and ran across the top of her cage and was half way onto my finger before I had finished the words, "Step up".  I didn't even have a treat.   Wow! Green cheeks are fast learners and sweet.  She loves a head scratch.

Now more on the garden. 

More savings:

In the garden things are needing to be thinned.  Too many plants in one pot can cause damping off.  I prefer the $3 it cost me to start all of the plants inside verses the $4/plant it would cost me if I bought them as transplants at the garden center. That's major savings.  

Less work:

And because I use peat pots and fill the totes with water instead of watering the plants themselves, I water less.  Maybe once every 5 or 6 days.  

Less Waste:

When I thin the plants I don't just toss the sprouts. They become fresh treats for Kiwi and Mambo.  Well, at least Kiwi.  We are slowly getting Mambo used to fresh veggies and sprouts. She seems to love the BirdTricks diet  but is a little wary of the sprouts.

The celery is sprouting well. I am experimenting with it a little this year.  I have 12 in these little peat starters and a bunch in 3" peat pots.  I want to see what the roots do exactly and what that will do to the full size plants.   

Here's the celery in the 3" peat pots.  I will eventually thin them down to 1 plant. Last year I had great success with celery in my square foot garden. Here's a little info about Utah Celery 52-70 from Andersons Seed and Garden:

Celery requires 10-20 days at a temperature of 65 degrees Fahrenheit to germinate. Seed should be covered and kept moist. If soil dries out, it will delay germination. Keep celery well watered while growing and spray with a good fungicide once a week and fertilize every 2 to 3 weeks. Vigorous sturdy plant produces smooth, thick, long stalks that are often 9-11" to the first joint.  Should be blanched.  120 days to harvest.

And this photo of harvested celery is from their site as well:

The green onions are looking better every day.  These are from seeds that I collected from a plant that just pops up every year and goes to seed.  

You can see from this photo how colorful Kiwi is. He's been breaking off the feathers on his shoulders.  I have some calming drops for him and I have a humidifier on.  He started it when we left him alone on Christmas day.

You can see that Mambo has a little bit of breakage as well.  Hopefully after a visit to the vet for both parrots and the spring molt, they'll both be in tip top shape!