The Modern Victory Garden

Popped out to the shop this evening after dinner and checked in on the Chinese cabbages and kale plants I repotted last Saturday morning, and the seed trays I started Sunday of pac choi, lettuces, and onions.   I took the humidity dome cover off of the seedling trays and raised up the bank of lights, so that I could take this picture of the first seedlings to emerge for 2010.  The pac choi and lettuces are sprouting fast.                                    

There are a few onions germinated as well, but they are just barely getting started with emergence.   I popped the cover back on and will leave it there through tomorrow - probably remove it on Friday if enough seedlings have emerged.   Leaving the plastic tray covers on too long is a common and often fatal mistake.   The high humidity and heat retention created by the dome really helps with speedy germination, but is a breeding ground for fungus and disease.   I try to remove the cover as soon as the majority of the seedlings are emerged to get them into good air circulation quickly.         

The seedlings I started in mid December of kale and Chinese cabbages were four weeks old this past weekend and really needed to be repotted into larger containers.   When I popped them out of the starter cell pots to repot them, the roots were definitely looking crowded.   Typically when you repot seedlings they will suffer a little from transplant shock and languish a few days before getting on with their growing process.  But not these plants!   I was pleasantly surprised at how much they had grown in just the past few days - despite the indignities of having their roots messed with.   The kale looks quite happy…          

 …and the Chinese cabbage is down right giddy with new growth already! 

They obviously needed the fresh soil and additional root room.   These should be ready about mid February for planting up in the containers in the greenhouse.  

Healthy young plants and emerging seedlings always lift my spirits up.   There is nothing quite like a splash of verdant new growth to brighten up a dark winter evening.