Seeds plants and labels everywhere

We got a nursery license a few months back so while I am starting seeds for our own garden, I have also been starting enough for your garden too. Plant sales have not been as robust as I hoped so far but I think as the season progresses and people get used to the idea of being able to get seedlings started from organic seed at Gidget's Garden this will pick up. We did sell 4 tomatoes and a couple zucchini plants last week so that helped clear out enough room to start a second cycle of seedlings in our little greenhouse.

The last of the seedlings that sprouted in this tray before being transplanted to larger containers.

My peppers did not sprout up as well as I had hoped but I know this is because it is still a little too cool and because the seeds I used were from 2 years ago, I just couldn't bring myself to throw them away so I decided to see how many I could get to germinate while I waited for my fresh seed order.

Transplanting seedlings to get them ready to plant and sell.

The peppers have a couple weeks before they'll be ready to sell or plant which is just as well because it's still theoretically too cool to put them out in the garden. I had a little bit of trouble seeing what I planted because I used a sharpie to write on the label and sharpie fades in the sun. One of the most common tips a more experienced gardener will give about seedlings and your garden plants in general is to label them well and these more experienced gardeners are absolutely correct. I've learned no matter how well I think I'll recall what I put where, without a label, I'll be scratching my head in wonder a few weeks down the road.

Sharpies fade but these painter pens do not. 

A pack of these pens will set you back about $10 and I used them up in 1 year but I feel like it was a worthy investment because proper labeling is absolutely essential in our garden due to the need for inspections and being able to accurately tell people what we're selling, both in vegetables and plants. The darker colors are great for writing on white tags and the lighter colors show up well on the dark pots. 

Here's a peek inside our little greenhouse after the revamp.

Many of the plants in front are ready to go and I hope to sell them in my driveway tomorrow as we will not be able to attend the market this week. Farmer D has another engagement and I was hoping to have a yard sale including plants over the weekend but it's going to rain so I am planning to try a Friday sale instead. 

I started a whole tray of new tomato plants which I am hoping will be popular at the market in about a month. We should also have lots of eggplant and zucchini at that time too. 

New tomato tray

The new varieties I have going are:

• Wapsinicon Peach - this is a small, fuzzy skinned, blush colored sweet, heirloom variety. Indeterminate.
• Indigo Rose - a small, almost black colored great flavored variety that is disease resistant. Indeterminate.
• Arbason - A hybrid that produces early beefsteak tomatoes that are medium large. Ranked high in trials for productivity and flavor. Indeterminate.
• Mountain Princess - An heirloom that produces sweet and delicious 3" tomatoes with a slightly orange color. Determinate. 
• Medford - Produces very large, perfectly round tomatoes with a rich flavor. Good disease resistance. Determinate.
• Copia - A gorgeous yellow/orange with red pin stripes. Mild and juicy with very large tomatoes. Indeterminate.
• Brandywine - An heirloom with superb flavor. Commonly weighing in at over 1 lb. Reddish pink color and slightly ribbed. Indeterminate.
• Toronjina - A medium sized orange cherry tomato. Sweet and juicy. Indeterminate. 
• Matt's Wild Cherry - Heavily-vining "wild" plants produce a multitude of incredibly sweet and flavorful small fruit. Works great in hanging baskets. Indeterminate. 
• Rose de Berne - An heirloom with a dark rose pink hue, not too tart or sweet. Soft skinned but not fragile. Indeterminate. 

Gidget says, "You seem to be wasting a lot of time on tomatoes. Cats don't eat tomatoes." 

Gidget's mouth may not be watering but mine sure is. I can't wait for the first of the tomatoes.

Here's a peek at some of the other things we have growing on. 

We hope to have beautiful bunches of pretty carrots in a few months for the market

As most people who buy produce from us already know, we won't have these in very large quantity but we do always strive for the very best quality and I am super excited about these new carrots. We also have a white variety to go with them.

I planted some around a tomato plant that I just put in on the roof.  There are also two cucumbers toward the back on the sides with radishes planted in between as a trap plant for pests.

"I understand the carrots to attract rabbits but I still don't see how the rabbits will get on the roof!"