Green Thumb Update

Well, it was bound to happen. We've had a few casualties. Our two broccoli plants were the first to sprout, but it's been all downhill since then for them. Last week we had to pull one out and replant a new seed in its place because it just wasn't going to make it. It's buddy is currently being supported by a toothpick, but hopefully it'll make a strong recovery. My theory is that the roots can't get deep enough for them to thrive, which is why they sprout and then die. We'll see if that holds once we're actually able to get the plants moved outside (and with overnight temperatures still flirting with freezing, it'll be a while yet before that happens). We've also starting putting a fan on them for a few hours a day hoping that the breeze will help the plants to grow sturdy stalks to they survive the move outside. We tried setting the potter outside one afternoon when it was warm and calm, and within an hour the wind (a fairly mild one--10 mph at most) had blown over every plant. The tomato plants are recovering well since we moved them inside and are standing back up, but our poor little green onion hasn't faired as well. But hopefully a few more days of good sunshine will perk him right back up!

But the best news is that we're finally starting to see progress from our pepper plants! They had us worried because they were taking so long to sprout, but when Darrell thinned out a few of the sprouts (he planted multiple seeds in one holder to start) he said that the roots had gotten pretty deep, so apparently they were working on growing down instead of up to start. Here's an updated picture so you can see our little garden for yourself!

The peppers are in the foreground; they're still pretty small yet, but five of the six are making good progress, so we're super excited about that. The tomato plants are majorly thriving, all four of the stalks are getting fairly thick, and they are starting to branch out leaves like crazy. Behind the toothpick supporting the broccoli plant is our squash plant, the other big development since I last posted. And I'm not joking when I say big. It's stalk is probably as thick as all the other plants COMBINED. It's crazy. And it's secretly my favorite. But don't tell the others. Sadly, it's buddy didn't have as much luck sprouting, so we've also replanted that pot as well.

We're also continuing to see progress out of (almost all of) the herbs. I had to get close up pictures of the pots so you could see the sprouts--these herbs are slow going! I think it's going to be quite a bit longer before I'm making delicious pesto!



We're pretty sure these are the basil plants because they look identical and sprouted at exactly the same time. Grow little buddies grow!



Darrell thinks the one on the right is Italian parsley because of the shape of the leaves, which led him to conclude that the other one is cilantro since those herbs come from similar families. These two buddies love their sun; we have to rotate them on a daily basis because the grow toward the direction of the window instead of straight up

Unfortunately, our remaining herb pot is not having any success at all. It's the one that sits right behind the bar of the window, so I'm thinking that it's not getting as much sun and warmth as the others. But we'll see. We can't replant yet because we don't know for sure which one it is, but I'm secretly hoping that it's rosemary because we just don't use that herb as much as the others.

Now we're just hoping for a few warm and dry days so we can get out and dig our garden plot, and hopefully we'll have the vegetables outside by the middle of May! Happy Gardening to everyone else testing out their green thumbs!