Growing in da greenhouse

When we last left our squash flat, we only had one little sprout. But now looky here:

The bottom left square was the first one to burst through, but now everyone else in the flat is getting in on the action. We've got cotyledons in every square!

Good job, team!

Spiky and special

Our spiky little friend, the 'choke is staying pretty strong.

Wait. Do you see something there?

O.M.G. Is that a...? Is it blooming?

LITTLE ARTICHOKE!!! GAHHHH!!!! This is officially the coolest thing to happen in Plot 24 so far.

Pak Choi Check-in

Let's take a look at our little friend pak choi!

My, my, don't you look healthy?! There are lots of new leaves coming out on all of these plants, and there are some sections of the white stalks that are turning a light purple. Is that good or bad? Meh as long as it's growing. Here is what they looked like the day they were planted:

Keep up the good work, pak choi. I'm a little unclear on when I'm supposed to eat you, but we'll see...

A welcome intruder...

Over in a location in the plot where I don't have anything planted right now, there was a little green bit springing up. But it didn't look like just another weed. I let it go for a few days, and now what it is is unmistakable:

Cilantro! I'm guessing there was some growing in the plot back when it was a weed patch. I'm glad it stuck around. Ever since I noticed what it was, I've been watering it. I haven't planted those coriander seeds in flats yet, but hopefully they'll grow into nice little seedlings like this too. My grandmother would call this "volunteer" cilantro. She always tells us when a random sunflower comes up "volunteer" in her yard.

Hooray for garden volunteerism!

Can we have a salad yet?

The romaine loved all this rain- these little guys are going nuts. When I bought the plants and planted them, they were a little weak looking. Now they are crushing it. Check out this homie:

I very much wanted to rotate that picture, but apparently between iphoto and blogger, rotating this picture is impossible. This next picture is from when they were first planted. I'm not sure that these are the same exact plant, but they are all growing at a similar pace.

We did lose one of the romaine plants- no idea what happened. One day it was perky, and the next? Completely flattened and all yellowy. I know some cats wander this garden, so let's just blame them...

Arugula still rocking

The same day that the squash decided to bust a move, the arugula was still looking fierce. I will definitely have to thin out these plants once they get a little bit bigger.

Meanwhile, in the seed flat next door, the eggplant seeds have not yet shown themselves. Here's a boring picture of nothingness:

 

I have been watering all the seed flats the same amount, most every day (at least 5 times a week). Now that I'm seeing movement in these flats, I'm getting a little antsy! 

Squash joins in

Sorry, folks. Long time no write. Sometimes, life happens in between gardening and blog posts. Who could imagine?

I skipped a day seeing the garden, and when I finally made it there, what did I find in the greenhouse?

Eep! That's the yellow squash sprouting! Giant cotyledons out of nowhere. (Ok it came from just below the soil.)

Check out the exxxxtreme closeup:

This is possibly the most exciting thing to happen so far. Glad to know these seeds aren't duds.

We have achieved cotyledons!

OMG, you guys! It had been roughly a week, and already I have little green sprouts popping up in the arugula seed flat! It's not like we have full plants already, but those first two little cotyledons (remember from freshman year Biology in high school?) are busting a move.

Pretty cool, huh? I did put several arugula seeds in each well, and you can see that there are some growing pretty close together. I'll have to separate them out as they get bigger. All I did was water them every day, and here we are! After the cotyledons come the "true leaves", and then I'll get mega excited.

XTREEEEEME CLOSE UP:

You're impressed, right? I can tell you're impressed.

Could it be? Is it so?

Not to be a big tease, (I'm being a big tease) BUT we may or may not have things sprouting from one of the seed flats...

STAY TUNED...

Plot 24 at dusk...

I usually go to my plot right after at work. The garden is officially supposed to be off limits a half hour after sunset. Thankfully our days are getting longer, so I always make it there before dark now. 

This is the latest and greatest photo of the plot. I got it at a pretty good angle, but it definitely needed the flash:

We can see (in order from left to right) the black kale, romaine, white onion, pak choi, sugar snap pea, broccoli, and in the top of the photo, artichoke. That bag next to the 'choke is a bag of compost I bought last weekend. When I planted the 3 new rows I put a little compost in the trenches first and also sprinkled some around the already planted dudes. I have tons of compost left but I plan to incorporate it into the rest of the plot so that soil can be nutrient rich by the time I start planting more goodies.

Speaking of the good old artichoke, look how fabulous he looks! (With comparison shot from his first day in the ground.)

Quite the improvement if you ask me...nice and spiky!