Thinning Out Tomato Seedlings

Even though winter won't completely loosen its grip on us in the Midwest, Spring is in the air!  I have somewhat of a schedule that I follow every year when it comes to starting my seeds, and this year has been a little different. Sprouting seeds requires a little warmer temperature then I am able to provide out in my greenhouse, so I typically start them off inside in a mini greenhouse setup that I have by a south facing window.  Once the seeds have germinated, I usually wait until the seedlings get their second set of leaves before moving them out into the greenhouse.  This year however has been a little challenging.  The lack of sunlight inside has been causing some of my plants to become leggy.  Fortunately it is very difficult to kill a tomato plant so I have been putting my seedlings out in the greenhouse under the grow lights a little sooner than I normally would and they have been doing fine.    The joys of gardening... 

I decided to snap a few pictures as I relocated one of the tomato flats and my thinning process in hopes it may help someone out.

Tomato seedlings that need to be separated. 

With a bbq skewer, lightly lift up from the bottom to loosen the cell a little. 

Make a new hole for you relocated tomato seedling.

When handling tomato seedlings, do so by the first set of leaves to grow.
The plant will eventually lose these anyways. 

Place tomato seedling into its own cell. 

Lightly fill in the hole with your mix. 

Water in the tomato seedlings to ensure the growing mix fills in around
the roots.

Do not let your tomato plants get to large of a root ball.  Try to be a step
ahead and replant into larger containers or outside before
they completely fill out the containers they are in.

Let me know how your seedling are doing this year or if you had to make any changes due to the weather.  If you have any questions, feel free to also post those below in the comment section and someone will help you out.

Cheers! ~ Kevin

Whats "growing on" during the last week of May....

We began this week remembering those who had lost their lives fighting for our freedoms.  Emily and I both, come from families that have had many fighting men and women who have served in various branches of the armed forces and we are very grateful for them......  

Author Kevin McGrath circa:1997

I myself "did a little time" as a Marine and can relate to how much sacrifice is necessary to keep our beloved country free.  As a matter of fact, on this date (June 2nd) almost 20 years ago, I placed my feet on the ground where so many have before me and swore an oath and committed to those sacrifices. 

Most of us know of, or have had someone close to them who have lost their life in battle.  

As the saying goes about all service men and women: 

"All gave some - but some gave all".

Some of the brave men I had the privilege of knowing.

Most families and friends spent this past week barbecuing, partying or just enjoying the time off of work. Memorial Day does "earmark" the beginning of summer. I can only hope you have, as my family has, taken the time to remember those who have been lost and reflected a little bit on your own life and the privileges you have. 

Emily & Beckman 

(left to right) Autumn, Devin & Me

One of the greatest privileges I have, is being with my family and having the time to garden.  See for me being in the garden is more than just growing beautiful flowers or the biggest of vegetables.  It is more like therapy and a place where I can escape to and leave all my worries behind.  

Autumn Grace

There is nothing I enjoy more than to walk our very small piece of earth and witness the beauty of the plants we have growing.  This is my time to reflect on life and the decisions I have made.  

I hope you enjoy our walk... 

Sage

Coreopsis

5 color swiss chard

"Autumn Joy" sedum

Burning bush

Celery

Raspberry bushes

Potted tea rose

Iris

Tomato plants

Raspberry blossoms

Pansies in window box

Pansy and coleus flowers in window box

Herb Sage flowers in bloom

Zebra ornamental grass

Our Front Porch

                         

storm clouds

Beckman enjoying his bubbles.

Cheers ~ Kevin

 

A little variety of Microgreens!

I shared this first picture of our family's micro green garden on Facebook and some of our readers were wondering what micro greens were in the picture. So as promised, all the varieties we currently have growing are pictured.  We find great fun in trying all of the types available and have learned some do grow and taste better than others.  Microgreen or (micro green) gardening is very easy to do and in most cases, you will be harvesting your crops in as little as 10 days.

Microgreen Garden

Sunflower Microgreens

Tokyo Bekana Microgreens 

Basic salad mix Microgreens

Chia Microgreens

Buckwheat Microgreens

Cilantro Microgreens

Celery Microgreens 

Kale Microgreens

Kohlrabi Microgreens

Basil Microgreens

Rainbow beets Microgreens

Microgreens are great tasting when eaten alone or can also be used to add a little flavor to a snack!

If you'd like to learn more about this fun and exciting form of gardening, please feel free to comment below!

If you need seeds, the best place we have found to deal with is Growing Microgreens.com

Their seeds have the best germination rate we had tried.

Cheers  ~ Kevin

Garden "Seeds of the Month Club" from Mike The Gardener

This year started out to be a busy one and already I have fallen way behind on my posts, but ya gotta start somewhere. Recently OLC partnered with a new sponsor, and let me just say Christmas came...well.. again! I want to throw a special shout out and thank you to Mike The Gardener Enterprises for sending me an envelope containing a wide variety of vegetable seeds to try. Awesome!

Mike The Gardener has organized a simple and easy to use "Seed of the Month Club" and quite frankly, if you buy seeds at the store, YOU ARE MISSING OUT!

$3.09 a month gets you:

-8 packs of quality non GMO seeds the first month
-4 packs each additional month which includes shipping
-online support
-25% discount and free shipping on items in the online store
-and you get to support a company right here in the USA!

A surprise package of seeds every month is awesome.

Seriously this is a lot of gardening fun. I received some seeds I would have probably never bought myself in the store but now will give them a go just for fun. This club is like a surprise in your mail box every month.

Very informative seed packs. 

I especially love how informative most of the seed packages are themselves. Yeah they include germination times, zone planting dates but what I find the coolest and haven't really seen on different brands of seeds are the notes including caring for the plant, "how" to harvest and probably most important, the Health notes. Have you ever picked up a pack of seeds and thought "hmm wonder what this will provide me?". Ok. Im a little weird but its still cool. Unfortunately not all of the vegetable seed packs include all of these notes, but hopefully they will make that standard print in the future!?

Go get those seeds started!!

Cheers ~ Kevin

For more information or to join the Seed of the Month club click HERE

What's Blooming?