“If organic farming is the natural way, shouldn’t organic produce just be called “produce” and make the pesticide-laden stuff take the burden of an adjective?” (Ymber Delecto)
Today marks one week since the indoor garden seeds were planted. Perfectly timed, it’s also the day the “White Egg” eggplant sprouts appeared. With the exception of a few mixed heirloom bell peppers, everything is up and growing and a few things are ready for transplanting.
"White Egg" eggplant sprouting
When starting seedlings it’s important to check out what’s going on UNDER the pot as well as in it. This means looking for roots. Young seedlings grow quickly and the appearance of roots outside of the plug signals the time to transplant into a larger pot. It’s also time to add compost to the potting mix for nutrients.
Mesclun roots.
A quick check under the okra and mesclun showed small roots starting to emerge through the newsplug bottom, so I gathered a few pots and some compost and got to work. If I was growing the seedlings for planting outside in the garden, this would be the last step before setting the plants in the cold-frame for hardening off. In my eagerness to play in the dirt once again, I neglected to lay down newspaper and thus had an opportunity to vacuum when I was finished. I suggest using newspaper.
After half-an-hour (vacuuming not included) I finished and the okra seedlings, 4 in all, are content in their new pots. The mesclun, spinach and lettuce seedlings are sharing a large plastic tub salvaged from an old toy organizer. There’s plenty of room and the square boxes work well space-wise. So well, in fact, I filled a second box with soil and plant more mesclun and lettuce seeds in it!
Mesclun, lettuce, spinach ready to transplant.
