Shule's 2024 grow log

[Shule]

Well, I've been having a harder time getting my seeds started this year, for some reason. I've been feeling too tired to do it, and stuff. So, I've decided to try a different approach, this year. It's kind of late to start seeds the way I usually do it anyway.

So, I plan to direct-seed all my tomatoes, this year (sans volunteers). I figure they'll probably sprout when they're ready to grow, as long as I loosen the soil and keep it moist. Incidentally, there are no freezes on the radar for at least the next month. So, it seems like a great time to direct seed.

I plan to plant mustards while I'm at it.

I may try direct-seeding peppers, too.

Anyway, I figure it'll be nice to skip having to start the seeds in containers, transplant them, and then keep track of what I put where. I can record what seeds I put where more easily if I direct-seed, since I can put the seeds down and write them down before I bury them.

Lest some of the tomatoes don't sprout, I'm considering putting multiple varieties in the same spot (in some spots, anyway), and selecting for whatever sprouts/thrives the best.

For this project, the varieties I have the most seeds for are Cilantrovaya-B and Brandywine Pink. They're both great varieties (but I plan to plant numerous others, too).

To prevent Galapagos Island volunteers from getting mixed up with anything I direct-seed, I plan to plant potato-leaf varieties where that might be an issue (since Galapagos Island is RL).

I hope to plant winter watermelons later when it gets warmer. I kind of want to grow them in containers.

[pepperhead212]

A lady I see on another forum direct seeds all of her tomatoes (I think in WI, similar zone to yours), but under a milk jug for a mini greenhouse, with the bottom cut off. I think she starts them much earlier, though you should still have luck with some of them. Even under the jugs, she hasn't had much luck with peppers, some of the only things she starts inside - they just need much warmer soil to germinate.

Good luck, however you try them, and whatever seeds you try!

[Shule]

Okay, I planted and watered the peppers: two rows of them. I overseeded 14 holes. We'll see if they grow, and when; as long as they sprout by the middle of May, and don't get stunted, they should be good to get a decent harvest. Except for one planting spot, they're all a mixture of seeds from a particularly large yellow bell pepper, miscellaneous big yellow bell peppers, and Blot peppers. In the second row (the southern of the two), four spots from west to east, I planted seeds of both Jimmy Nardello Italian and Orange Mini Bell. All the big yellow bell peppers are from seeds I saved last year (so, they're probably Canary Bell, but possibly Golden California Wonder, or possibly a cross between either of those and/or Blot). The Blot pepper seeds are from saved seeds (so, likely cross-pollinated with Canary Bell).

I prepared ground to plant some tomatoes next week. Brandywine-types seem to have great cold-tolerance for germination; so, I'll probably plant the Brandywine types first.

Ooh. One nice thing about this is I shouldn't have to worry about damping off disease and indoor mites.

If the peppers don't sprout, I can plant watermelons, corn, beans or something there instead, since by the time I'll need them to have sprouted, that's near the time when I should plant watermelons.

I did prefertilize the soil for all the ground I've prepared so far, but not with as much as I added last year.

[Shule]

On Tuesday, I overseeded 5 holes with Brandywine Pink, and 4 with Cilantrovaya-B (and watered them, of course).

[MissS]

@Shule, many years ago more than half of my tomatoes were direct seeded into the garden. They did great and caught up with their indoor raised siblings quite fast. Production was only about a week later.

Your post here makes me wonder why I quit doing this because it worked so well for me. I guess that once I got on the internet that I had to do it the same way as everyone else.

I don't know anything about the peppers but you will be quite pleased with your tomatoes.

[Shule]

Some tomatoes are sprouting. I'm not sure which ones aren't volunteers, yet (but when I can see the leaf type, that will make it more apparent).

Today, I went outside and looked at the planting holes where I had planted the peppers. They're in an area with black plastic covering it. Anyway, I saw a small part of a cat hanging out from underneath one of the holes. There was a cat underneath the black plastic, just warming itself or something. I nudged the cat with my foot to see if it was alive, and it came out, and ran to the other side of the yard. I started laughing. By the cat's expression, it seemed to think it was funny, too.

[Shule]

I gave my neighbor kitty-corner from me some Cilantrovaya-B seeds, since she wanted a yellow or orange cherry tomato. I shortened the name to Caya, since Cilantrovaya-B takes a lot of space to write down. I'm excited to see what she thinks.

So, if the seeds make the rounds, this is what the parent plant was like (in 2023):

- Early
- Potato leaf
- Large round cherry
- Yellow fruit (not orange)
- It has a sweet substance on its outer skin (it's a unique trait that I like a lot); I don't know what makes the skin sweet, but you can taste it by licking the fruit without puncturing it
- Sweet fruit (but it wasn't just sweet; it had other flavor and was quite good)
- Indeterminate, but the plant was fairly compact (the grandparent plant was fairly large, though)
- Fruits all season
- Prolific
- It doesn't have any relation to cilantro, except for the name and how one of it's ancestors had a cilantro aftertaste in one to a few of its first fruits (that's another reason I shortened the name; Cilantro's pretty controversial).
- A number of people who tasted it were very impressed with the flavor.

[Shule]

It's raining, and I saw two toads out in the garden, this evening.

[Shule]

Two direct-seeded pepper seedlings have sprouted, so far. So, it looks like it can work. Hopefully the others all sprout.

Some of the tomatoes have sprouted (and I can tell that at least one of them is potato leaf—so, it's probably one I planted).