Its been AWHILE!

Sorry for not posting in a longgg time.  Summer is always really busy for me, but I have managed to have a small vegetable garden.  I took some pictures of it this morning.  This is the first year I've tried the raised bed concept.  So far, I really like it....seems like it simplifies the whole vegetable gardening thing! lol  Plus you choose the soil that you plant in!  That's a biggy!  I'll try to post a little more often.  Here are some pics.  Enjoy!

Hypocotyl

The hypocotyl has somewhat broke through the soil on my tomato seeds.   Hypocotyl is a botanical term for a part of a germinating seedling of a seed plant. As the plant embryo grows at germination, it sends out a shoot called a radicle that becomes the primary root and penetrates down into the soil. After emergence of the radicle, the hypocotyl emerges and lifts the growing tip (usually including the seed coat) above the ground, bearing the embryonic leaves (called cotyledons) and the plumule that gives rise to the first true leaves. The hypocotyle is the primary organ of extension of the young plant and develops into the stem.  I got this useful info off of Wikipedia.  It explains the process very well.  I should be able to see emergance really well in a day or two.  I always enjoy watching the tomatoes starting to grow.....It just means that spring is right around the corner.  Forgot to mention, about a week ago I tore the top two leaves off of one of my jade plants and stuck the leaves into the soil.  Its only been about 7 days and one of the leaves have already started to grow roots!

Germinating seeds!

Well I couldn't wait any long....I dug up some of my tomato seeds to see how well they were germinating in the biodome with the peat moss mix I used.  Just taking a quick glance, I counted 9 out of 10 seeds that has germinated!  That's exciting!  I figure that they will be breaking through the soil in a day or two!  Can't wait!  On another note, me and the wife went to local nurseries today.  We were just looking at landscaping ideas and materials for our new house.  This is another big project that I will be posting about.  I'm excited about starting the landscaping.  We got prices on flat rock and compost mix.  We decided to use rock to border our flower beds and make some walk ways in the backyard.  I also want to make a circle patio with the rock and have some type of fire pit in the middle. I know....this is all going to be a lot of work, but I enjoy it.  This will be a summer long project.  I'll just be working on it on my free time, which is hard to come by when I'm a crop consultant!  Hurry up Spring TIME! 

Started the first seeds of 2010!

Sunday afternoon (Feb. 21st) I planted around twelve Big Zac tomato seeds in the parks biodome!  I'm planning on planting the rest of the Big Zac seed in about 2 weeks when the first round gets to growing pretty good.  Then i'll probably pick out the best looking 8-12 plants to plant in my garden.  I'll give the rest away to my neighbors.  I didn't buy the biosponges for the biodome this time.  I used a peat moss mix.  We'll see if this method works well.  I didn't want to have to buy anymore of those expensive sponges!  First, I mixed water with my peat moss mixin a bucket, then spread the peat moss into the styrofoam tray.  I added some more water in the bottom of the biodome, to make sure that the peat doesn't dry out before the tomato seeds germinate.  Sure hope this method works out.  It's a lot cheaper! : )  More pictures to come!

A little inside gardening!

Well there is still a lot of snow on the ground.  We recieved between 6-8 inches of snow on January 29th.  That is the most snow that has fallen since the 80's.  It was fun to play in...but I'm ready for it to melt away!  It looks so nice when it falls that first day, but then it gets all dirty and I get tired of driving around in it.  I would never make it up north.  I'd rather endure the hot Arkansas summers then have harsh winters like up north.  On a better note, me and the wife did a little gardening inside.  I propagated a leaf off of a jade plant my senior year in college (about three years ago).  We just now had time to repot the two plants.  They haven't done very well at my parents house because they have been in very small pots in a window seal and they have been kind of mistreated.  But it was a fun small project that my wife seemed to have enjoyed.  We are both ready for spring time!

SEEDS!

I recieved some seed today from parkseed and totally tomatoes!  The list includes:

1.  tomatoes - Big Zac Hybrid (1 pack)

                    - (free pack) Red Alert

2.  peppers - (free pack) NuMex

3.  cucumber - Diva (4 packs)

4.  zucchini - Raven Hybrid (2 packs)

5.  squash -                 Park's Crookneck Improved
                   Hybrid (2 packs)

                - Sunburst Hybrid (4 packs)

                - Papya Pear Hybrid (1 pack)

I'll purchase the rest of my seeds at a local feed store closer to planting time. 

Sunshine and Warmer Weather!

Lately it has been unseasonably cold!  We've had several cloudy days.  These type of days seem to drag out FOREVER!  Just kinda makes you blue and don't want to do anything at all, but today was different.  The sun actually came out and it got up to 55 degrees!  I could walk around outside without a jacket on.  Seems like the small heat wave is going to stick around for a little bit longer too.  I just looked at the 10 day forecast and we are suppose to have highs in the upper 40s to mid 50s!  Along with some pretty good chances of rain too.  I could do with out the rain.  I didn't get to work on the raised beds today, which kinda sucked because it was a beautiful day and all.  I was stuck in meetings all day long, but I will try to work on them tomorrow!  If it doesn't rain....think there is a 50% chance of rain tomorrow?!?! : (  This warmer weather is teasing me a bit!  I'm just about ready for spring time!