Things are getting awfully exciting around here with the world around us rubbing sleepiness from it's eyes and awakening to spring.
I can hardly keep up! I've been too busy enjoying it all to write about enjoying it!
It seems everything around us is bursting into bloom and the world is greener every day!
Missouri is a feast for the senses!
The air is rich with moist humidity that has such a wondrously earthy scent to it.
On Day 5 after planting our pepper seeds we were on the lookout for the possibility of a seed or two peeking up out of the soil and we were finally rewarded!
We noticed two sprouts emerging and then by the end of the day, two more had begun to unfurl. Oh joy!
I had grand ideas that I was going to keep track with both a written record and a photographic record of the adventure of starting peppers by seed for the very first time, but, alas, as most of my brilliant plans of what I'd like to do...it has fallen by the wayside to make way for the more important things of life, that being, taking care of my family.
I have thoroughly enjoyed watching them grow and will have to be content with the pictures I have been able to snap here and there and the stolen moments of just gazing at them in awe of the miracle of life.
I did keep a written record for the first few days just to help myself be encouraged next time and to know when to stop wondering if more will emerge or not.
Day 5
1 Lipstick seedling
2 Black Hungarians
and by the close of the day 1 Jalepeno
There were seedlings sprouting in three of the four trays so we took the dome lid off of the fourth tray also. This was the Anaheim tray.
Day 6
1 Lipstick
3 Black Hungarians
3 Jalepenos
1 Golden Marconi
Day 7
1 Lipstick
3 Black Hungarians
9 Jalepenos
1 Golden Marconi
2 King of the North
Day 8
2 Lipstick
3 Black Hungarians
9 Jalepenos
2 Golden Marconi
2 King of the North
1 Anaheim
10 Orange Peppers
1 Banana Pepper
2 Corbaci
Day 9
2 Lipstick
4 Black Hungarians
10 Jalepenos
3 Golden Marconi
2 King of the North
2 Anaheim
10 Orange Peppers
1 Banana Pepper
2 Corbaci
Day 10
3 more Ananheims
1 more Orange pepper
2 more Banana peppers
1 more Golden Marconi
1 Red Cherry
Day 11
another Anaheim
another Banana pepper
another Red Cherry
After this there were no more new seedlings emerging. We mourned for a bit that there were so few of the Anaheims that germinated. I wonder if I removed the humidity dome too soon. :(
Also, none of the Red Cheese Peppers germinated. And they sounded so delicious!
I have had tremendous amounts of sheer delight watching the peppers emerge and grow and seeing how they actually germinate and develop.
.JPG)
I never knew that the seedling sends down roots into the soil, and then grows up from there.
The first set of leaves, called cotyledon leaves, develope inside the pepper seed and eventually break free from the seed, with the now empty pod of a seed falling to the soil spent.
Some of the seeds did not fall off and I couldn't resist "helping" the seed to come off. A couple of the leaves broke their ends off when I did this. Some of the seeds never did come off and the leaves did not develop. I found this curious. Also, a few of them had twisted leaves and just overall looked odd.
It was a happy day when the first set of true leaves developed on this Black Hungarian.
When the wee little pepper plants have developed their second set of true leaves then we will transplant them into larger pots. Here is that same pepper plant just a few days later with it's second set of true leaves growing nice and healthy. Beautiful!
Some of the jalepeno plants seem lanky to me. I think my lighting system was not close enough for them to develop properly and they extended themselves in an effort to reach the light.
Also, our lighting system needs improved. The plants on the outer ends leeeeeeaned in towards the lights and are not growing straight and true, poor things.
Other things I did wrong of note so that I can avoid repeating it in the future...I couldn't figure out how to drain off the excess water from beneath the trays so I kept spritzing them from above. This did not adequately water the soil enough and several of those poor little plantlings suffered an untimely death due to my not keeping a close enough eye on them. I removed one of the trays in each corner so that I could better see how much water was in the bottom of the tray and then began watering them by pouring water into the bottom of the tray and adding just enough to cover the ridges in the bottom and that worked just fine after that. When all of the tray inserts were in place the water did not evaporate quickly enough and several inserts developed mossiness and, sadly, I lost a few more seedlings to that.
We have had great fun so far playing with our food and hopefully I won't kill anymore of them off before we can reap some of the harvest and actually eat something from them someday! Still, it has been a learning experience and I can't help but be encouraged that it hasn't been a complete flop. Maybe I inherited some of Grandma James' green thumb afterall!
One can hope! :)
I had grand ideas that I was going to keep track with both a written record and a photographic record of the adventure of starting peppers by seed for the very first time, but, alas, as most of my brilliant plans of what I'd like to do...it has fallen by the wayside to make way for the more important things of life, that being, taking care of my family.
I have thoroughly enjoyed watching them grow and will have to be content with the pictures I have been able to snap here and there and the stolen moments of just gazing at them in awe of the miracle of life.
I did keep a written record for the first few days just to help myself be encouraged next time and to know when to stop wondering if more will emerge or not.
Day 5
1 Lipstick seedling
2 Black Hungarians
and by the close of the day 1 Jalepeno
There were seedlings sprouting in three of the four trays so we took the dome lid off of the fourth tray also. This was the Anaheim tray.
Day 6
1 Lipstick
3 Black Hungarians
3 Jalepenos
1 Golden Marconi
Day 7
1 Lipstick
3 Black Hungarians
9 Jalepenos
1 Golden Marconi
2 King of the North
Day 8
2 Lipstick
3 Black Hungarians
9 Jalepenos
2 Golden Marconi
2 King of the North
1 Anaheim
10 Orange Peppers
1 Banana Pepper
2 Corbaci
Day 9
2 Lipstick
4 Black Hungarians
10 Jalepenos
3 Golden Marconi
2 King of the North
2 Anaheim
10 Orange Peppers
1 Banana Pepper
2 Corbaci
Day 10
3 more Ananheims
1 more Orange pepper
2 more Banana peppers
1 more Golden Marconi
1 Red Cherry
Day 11
another Anaheim
another Banana pepper
another Red Cherry
After this there were no more new seedlings emerging. We mourned for a bit that there were so few of the Anaheims that germinated. I wonder if I removed the humidity dome too soon. :(
Also, none of the Red Cheese Peppers germinated. And they sounded so delicious!
I have had tremendous amounts of sheer delight watching the peppers emerge and grow and seeing how they actually germinate and develop.
.JPG)
The first set of leaves, called cotyledon leaves, develope inside the pepper seed and eventually break free from the seed, with the now empty pod of a seed falling to the soil spent.
Some of the seeds did not fall off and I couldn't resist "helping" the seed to come off. A couple of the leaves broke their ends off when I did this. Some of the seeds never did come off and the leaves did not develop. I found this curious. Also, a few of them had twisted leaves and just overall looked odd.
It was a happy day when the first set of true leaves developed on this Black Hungarian.
When the wee little pepper plants have developed their second set of true leaves then we will transplant them into larger pots. Here is that same pepper plant just a few days later with it's second set of true leaves growing nice and healthy. Beautiful!
Some of the jalepeno plants seem lanky to me. I think my lighting system was not close enough for them to develop properly and they extended themselves in an effort to reach the light.
Also, our lighting system needs improved. The plants on the outer ends leeeeeeaned in towards the lights and are not growing straight and true, poor things.
Other things I did wrong of note so that I can avoid repeating it in the future...I couldn't figure out how to drain off the excess water from beneath the trays so I kept spritzing them from above. This did not adequately water the soil enough and several of those poor little plantlings suffered an untimely death due to my not keeping a close enough eye on them. I removed one of the trays in each corner so that I could better see how much water was in the bottom of the tray and then began watering them by pouring water into the bottom of the tray and adding just enough to cover the ridges in the bottom and that worked just fine after that. When all of the tray inserts were in place the water did not evaporate quickly enough and several inserts developed mossiness and, sadly, I lost a few more seedlings to that.
We have had great fun so far playing with our food and hopefully I won't kill anymore of them off before we can reap some of the harvest and actually eat something from them someday! Still, it has been a learning experience and I can't help but be encouraged that it hasn't been a complete flop. Maybe I inherited some of Grandma James' green thumb afterall!
One can hope! :)
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