Germination!

I've been growing veggies for a long time, but for some reason each year, I don't *really* believe anything is going to grow until the first round of starts germinates!  Which it of course it did right on schedule (as it does every year) ...

We have three types of lettuce up (one red, one speckled green, and one beautiful scalloped oak leaf), two cabbages up (one green savoy and one deep red), two broccoli's up (both early season, heat-tolerant cultivars), rainbow chard, 2 kale's (lacinato and red Russian), and even some herbs (perennial herbs can be a bit tricky to germinate since some of them need very specific light and temperature ranges).

As you can see in the pictures, we are starting our seeds a bit differently than normal this season, since space is at a premium right now.  We are planting initially in open flats (show in the pictures), and then transplanting to normal cell trays once the seedlings have one or two sets of true leaves.  This way takes a little bit longer, but is much more space, heat, and potting soil efficient.  Each cabbage, lettuce, and broccoli flat holds 800 plants for 2 weeks, while the herb flats have double that!

Though with the weather holding out so warm, we will be switching this week back to our more standard seed starting methods for the first rounds of CSA-bound kale and chard.  Also on the seed starting docket this week are 7 varieties of peppers!

Field planting is also on the way... tractor and tiller arrive shortly!