First Sowing of the Year

Today I started my somewhat smaller gardening year by sowing a couple of different herbs. These consist of basil, garlic chives, sage, and oregano. I am only growing 8 modules of each herb since I am sowing them so early, but I wanted to get a start as the weather here in Victoria is so unseasonably mild due to El Nino. I am using top soil mixed with vermiculite for the sowing material and the root container is currently sitting on a heat mat. Hopefully the first seedlings should start appearing within the week.

My bread adventures continue, as I am currently creating two whole wheat loaves of bread with a mixture of seeds inside the bread. As I grow in confidence it is fun to try different mixtures in order to vary the bread being created.

Seedlings are go!

The image above is of one of my onion seedlings that I planted back in January. There are two more seedlings from this batch on the way, but this one is the most advanced out of the three.

In the meantime a couple of the leeks have sprouted as well as early indications that the chamomile is going to go well. I have shifted all of my seedlings under some fluorescent lights to ensure that they get enough light in their emerging days.

First Batch of Seeds Sown

Today I filtered another one of the beds that I am creating for the vegetable garden. I am trying to create 6 raise beds and have so far managed to filter the stones out of two of them. I have a very stony garden and so this is a very necessary first step. Today I only went down approximately 6 inches, and the raised bed will add a further 12 inches, meaning that there should be a good 18 inches of relatively stone-free soil, which should be enough for most of the vegetables.

Today I sowed 9 pots of Bedfordshire Championship Onions, as I did last month. On a positive note (well not THAT positive), one of the onions that I planted last time has come through, which I was surprised about as I thought that I had soaked the seeds too much. I also planted 9 pots of Durabel leeks, 5 pots of Scotland Leeks and 9 pots of chamomile.

I am using these deep-root seed starters that I recently purchased from Lee Valley tools.

Seed Update

Well, there has been no movement with the onion seeds I planted earlier. I even used my wife's heating pad as a make-shift seed heating mat, but to no avail. I am currently blaming the peat discs and hoping that the seeds aren't too old (I only bought them last year). Never mind, I have some more planting action later on this week, and we shall see how it goes.

On the plus side, the 2009 Lee Valley Tools brochure arrived today.

2009 Planting has begun

The planting year has officially begun, albeit a little late. This year I am following the Square Foot Gardening technique. I am in the process of building the raised beds; one of the beds has been built but the soil hasn't been put in yet as the ground is still frozen from a very cold Winter and snow is still on the ground.

Anyway, as I was saying the official planting has begun. I have planted eight seeds of Bedfordshire Champion onions to start with. The seeds have been sown early, about ten weeks before the last frost date (approximately April 15th in Port Coquitlam). According to the spacing of the Square Foot technique, there should be approximately twelve onions per square-foot and I am not incredibly sure how many I am going to grow, but I will do one square foot at least. The next four seeds will be sown at a later date to ensure a staggered harvest.