2009-01-08:  started 26 pansies indoors in handmade newspaper pots, to set out in March / April, depending. Pansies laugh at frost - some of my fall pansies are still blooming in January.

13 Pansy Antique Shades - Burpee. Said to start 12 weeks before setting out.

13 Pansy Flambe Terracotta Shades - Park. Said to start 8-10 weeks before setting out, but last year's from Park said the same, and underestimated, I think.

2009-01-17: Only 3 pansies have germinated so far - those three pots removed to my window for some light,  the rest remain lidded in the dark. That's perfectly normal germination speed for pansies. But I'm not very happy with the newspaper pots - they seem to be getting moldy. There's a lot to be said for plastic's bleachability. So much for virtuous recycling - can recycle plastic, too...

(Later) Now have 5 germinated pansies, and they're installed under my new seed-starting lights. Out in the garage, where it's hovering around 50 degrees. Well, pansies like it... Painted the outside of all the newspaper pots with H₂O₂ and poured a little mixed with water in the trays... Hopefully that'll cut down on the mold or whatever-it-is.

2009-01-20: 17 of 26 pansy pots already germinated and out under seedling lights, happy. Continuing de-molding... Pansies germinate slow - packet said 12-20 days, so most of these were actually a bit early.

Planted my Feb 1 stuff a bit early, because the snapdragon/coleus garden needs renewal:

7 terracotta snapdragon, 8 wizard mix coleus, and 2 carmen pepper for the kozy coats experiment (due outside ~April 1). I have a good supply of cloneable coleus, but I still want the other patterns...

 2009-01-31: Seedling projects coming along. Tossed the last 3 newspaper pansy pots that hadn't germinated. Bought some new plastic tray inserts and transplanted the moldier half of the pansies into them last night - enough with the newspaper pots. No fatalities, so I'll do the rest today. I rigged a little plastic-wrap greenhouse over half the Park Starts block, thinking the snapdragons wouldn't like it that warm. But the two snaps inside the greenhouse germinated much faster, so now everything's inside. But the snaps and peppers will need to move to more light soon. I seem to get consistently better results by germinating seeds 10° warmer than Park Seeds tells me to...

2009-02-01: Finished transferring pansies, snapdragons, peppers to pots to grow. One coleus testing the temperature in the garage for a week or so, the rest still hanging out by the pro100. Five snapdragons out in the garage, one moved to ornamental mini. Almost 2 weeks since planted in Park Starts block.

2009-02-08: February thaw arrived yesterday, but was preceded by arctic cold. Added plastic domes where I could and brought seedlings inside during the dark cycle to warm up, but... Not a lot of growth. Broke down and ordered a seedling heat mat (had $25 Amazon coupon, so only $4.50...) Will arrive during February thaw, when not needed, of course. But the pansies especially seem pretty far behind where I'd like them to be by now. They need to grow up and go outside in about a month. A few of my outdoor pansies are still blooming despite an unusually cold winter.

2009-02-14: Planted seeds :

6 Sweet Pea Streamers mix - used bean innoculant - that's very cool, nitrogen-fixing bacteria in a can. I think that was my problem with beans last year - the ones grown in potting mix didn't have the necessary bacterial symbiotes.

1 Early Girl indeterminate tomato (for the kozy koats experiment - target outdoors April 1)

3 baby leaf spinach & 3 little Caesar romaine lettuce for early greens

Progress on older seedlings: they're doing fine.

2009-02-28: Pro100 converted to seed-starting pageant use.

Planted 1 bambino eggplant (Burpee), 1 eggplant twinkle (Park Seed), another early girl tomato (Park Seed), and 4 coleus cuttings.

And in seedling mix, 18 petunia dolcissima flambe and 18 shady lady impatiens cancun mix (both Park Seed).

2009-03-06: Started hardening pansies outdoors in the suddenly-balmy 42-degree weather...

2009-03-18: First night outside for pansies, lettuce, spinach. Decided sweet pea flat was a lost cause & tossed it.

Planted 2 peat pots of Burpee Sweet&Early cantaloupe, 1 pt of Park Cucumber Pearl. Still waffling on which goes into the kozy coats early planting experiment. Also started Buck's County Hybrid tomato (Burpee) in Pro100. Amazing - that tomato says 74 days to maturity from seed, not from transplant. Probably just a typo. Wouldn't it be nice, though...

2009-03-22: Based on kozy coats / aqua-shield test, decided it was time to plant -

1 Supertasty tomato (Burpee - I grew these last year from Burpee-grown transplants, prolific semi-determinates)

1 each mariachi and banana peppers

1 Japanese cuke

6 French marigolds (for their insecticidal properties)

11 caladiums

2009-03-28: planted

1 more Mariachi pepper, to replace a pro100 pod failure

2 more cantaloupes, 1 pearl cuke, 1 Japanese cuke, in diff potting mix - first seeding in MG Organic only netted 1 melon seedling in a week

1 more Buck's County tomato, direct in potting mix. Pro100 start not very healthy.

2 bush beans on daughter's windowsill, in their target pots 

2009-04-11: planted

backup tomatoes : 2 Bucks county, 1 supertasty. The last backup Bucks county seeds failed.

1 kibits tomato, with the last of my kibits seeds

1 backup carmen pepper

3 sweet basil, 3 fernleaf dill

18 more marigolds and 6 nasturtiums for a condo association project

2009-04-19: planted

2 oregano

4 jewel mix nasturtiums (Burpee)

3 empress of india nasturtiums (Burpee)

The nasturtiums are supposed to be good insecticidal companion plants for cucumbers and cabbages.

2009-04-25: planted (in Dixie cups)

1 Magda squash (Lebanese zucchini)
1 tendergreen cucumber
1 sweeter yet cucumber
1 backup cantaloupe
1 backup Japanese cucumber
1 backup cucumber Pearl

2009-05-17: Sowed one more cantaloupe and a cape gooseberry. (It's very late for the gooseberry, but I'm curious.)