Starting Heirloom Tomatoes / Bird Photos

Welcome back.  After the mild winter we had with almost no snow, the weather turned sharply colder and snowy in early April.  During the first weekend in April, we had about 8 inches of snow and strong winds, the worst storm of the winter.

Although it just doesn't seem like seed starting time, the calendar says it's time.  In my last post on 3/21/16, I talked about starting onions and leeks from seeds, as well as an update on my Winter Sowing project.  Those plants are progressing nicely, however, it has been difficult to get them outside in my greenhouse because of the winter conditions.  Hopefully this week the weather will break, and they can once again go outside at least during the day.

On April 2, I started heirloom tomato seeds.  Again this year, I used a seed blend from Park Seeds, Rainbow Heirloom Blend. There are an endless number of heirloom tomatoes to try, so I would encourage you to experiment and try new varieties.  However, this blend is a good starting point.

I also planted an heirloom paste tomato, San Marzano.

Rainbow Heirloom Blend (Park Seeds)

This blend contains Aunt Ruby's German Green, Dixie Golden Giant, Black From Tula, Brandywine Red, Big Rainbow, and Cherokee Purple.

Again this year, I used peat pellets to start the seeds:

First, soak the peat pellets.  This will take about 10 minutes for the pellets to fully expand.

Soaking the Peat Pellets

Evenly space the seeds, usually 4 to 5 seeds per pellet.

Tomato Seeds

Finally, cover the seeds with about one quarter inch of potting soil, compact lightly, and moisten using a spray bottle.

Humidity Dome In Place

Place the container in a warm place to enhance germination.  It does not need to be in sunlight for the seeds to germinate.  A consistently warm location is ideal, as opposed to an area such as a windowsill which gets cold at night.

Speaking of cold, a photo of the winter conditions as i was planting the seeds:

Finally, a few more bird photos taken during the last few weeks of Project FeederWatch, which officially ended on April 7th.  I enjoyed participating again this year, as I submitted counts every week except for the last two weeks of the season.

If you are not familiar with Project FeederWatch I have posted many times about this very worthwhile project, including on November 4, 2015.  I would encourage you to participate next season.

Dark-Eyed Junco

Common Grackle

Thanks for reading.  Stayed tuned for the progress of my vegetable plant seedlings and much more.