new seedlings, more veggies

So I had been away over the weekend. Before I took off, I had started a number of seeds (on the same day that I sowed some carrot seeds). Returning home, I was so happy to find that the okra and zucchini (batch 2) seedlings have emerged.

Ready, set, TRANSPLANT!

In my last post I announced the transplant of my first seedlings (yes!). In this entry, I want to share my experience in starting the seeds and caring for the seedlings, the lessons learned, as well as hands-on tips and practical advice to guide you through transplanting the seedlings.

First Seedlings Transplanted!

This is an entry I so have been waiting to post: on the evening of July 30, and with guidance from my father, I transplanted my first seedlings! (excitement, excitement!)
Unfortunately, I don't have many decent photos to complement this post: I started work around sunset to spare the young plants, and myself, the ardor of the Cairo daytime sun; armed only with a point-and-shoot for snapshots, I needed to use the flash by the time I was done - not necessarily the best way to go when you are after nice close-ups.

The transplanted seedlings are very well settled in their new permanent home. I will be following up this entry with a post discussing my experience so far in growing the seedlings successfully, as well as some mistakes I made (I did lose a number of seedlings), and I will also detail how to correctly transplant the seedlings including all the useful tips I got from my father. Here's to a fruitful growing season!

Plant Anatomy and Functions

Nature is but an image or imitation of wisdom, the last thing of the soul; nature being a thing which doth only do, but not know.
- Plotinus

So, while I am excitedly monitoring and documenting the progress of my seedlings and preparing my container garden for the first transplants (as well as respective posts too, of course, to be published soon - I can't wait to transplant my first veggies!), I also have been working on a number of posts about houseplant care and plant nutrient needs. While at it, I realized how often plant parts and aspects of their life cycle are referenced; and I thought, at this point, it would be useful to post an entry just about that.

In the process, the glossary has been extensively updated, so I will take the chance to highlight that feature of the blog - check it out. The post includes a simple factsheet embedded below and which you can also directly view and download here.

This entry focuses on flowering plants, and it is pretty elementary. But it never hurts to revisit the fundamentals, and it does make for better plant care and gardening to know your botany - well, the bare bones of it.

Spearmint dies in freak accident, and other news.

The cut spearmint stems are no more: A little over a month ago I had posted about how well the cut spearmint stems were doing.
Up to the time of their death, they had occupied a glass jar that adorned a glass shelf positioned above my cactus arrangement, where the cut stems were thriving and shooting beautiful healthy roots. On July 17, the neighbors' kid's football hit the glass shelf, which gave way under the sudden blow, dropping the glass jar. The spearmint stems met their premature demise on the thorny surface of the barrel cactus (Echinocactus grusonii).

Chili, Chili

This entry is about chili (or hot peppers), one of the crops I have always been so excited about planting; and not that I am such a big fan of sharp food, but I think I like the idea of an ordinary perennial, that is fairly commonly kept as an ornamental house plant, producing as an offspring a spicy, and therefore, I guess, interesting, fruit.

And so, I am excited about the seedlings and this entry. In the post, I am embedding the by now habitual factsheet following the same template of the previously posted ones. Like aubergines, chili is well suited as a container or house plant, especially in our climate. With an optimum growth temperature ranging between 24 and 32 deg C, now is practically an ideal time to easily start the seeds succefully in Cairo. So if you are interested in growing your own, check this entry.

Aubergine, Aubergine

So, as I excitedly posted earlier: more planted seeds germinated. I was waiting for chili to germinate before announcing that the eggplants seedlings had emerged because, for some reason, I am more excited about growing chili.
This post is about starting the eggplants, they being the first to germinate and all.

Now is a good time to start aubergines, a crop that grows well in containers and that, in warm conditions like Egypt's, will also grow as a perennial - so, I guess if they fail to produce fruit, mine can always function as ornamental plants, provided they make it successfully to the transplant stage. Here I share how they are faring so far; you will also find a factsheet in the same format as the previous one.

New Seedlings: Presenting the Solanaceae Family

On June 15, the first eggplant seedlings emerged. Big news in this blog's world.
Only my excitement was damped a little by the fact that my chili seeds (sown on the same day and under the same conditions as the eggplants) had not germinated yet. I had somehow always known eggplants and peppers to be related (they are in fact from the same family) and therefore wrongly assumed that they take the same germination period.

I was relieved to learn that chili, peppers in general, does have a longer germination period than eggplants. However, I still wouldn't post an announcement until the eggplant seedlings were joined by chili. And today I am happy to announce that this morning I spotted a couple of emerging chili seedlings, eleven days after their planting.

Coming up are posts about starting chili and eggplant seeds that will contain factsheets in the same format as the previous ones. Eggplants and chili grow well in containers, so if you are looking to grow your own container vegetable garden, here's a crop to start.

Propagation for Fun - Growing Ananas

Growing your own ananas is easy as one, two, three. Quite literally too. Check out the post for the three simple steps to starting an ananas, or pineapple, plant and a couple of photos as well.

Courgette, Courgette

So, as per my last notification, my zucchini seedlings emerged on June 12, four days after planting. I can happily state that, so far, all seeds sown are progressing exactly as they should be; I don't know if this is because starting these seeds is a foolproof business, or because I am doing it right. For the case it is the latter, here is a post about my experiences starting zucchini from seed so far.

In this post, you will find a factsheet in the same format as the previous one. In addition to the details about starting the seeds and their progress, the post also includes photos of the seedlings and some observations about zucchini as a container garden crop.

Zucchini, the New Kid on the Block

I want to announce that on June 12 I first spotted the zucchini seedling above ground. These seedlings grow big! An entry with photos detailing their progress so far and a downloadable factsheet to help you start your own will be posted soon.

Herb Garden, Interrupted - A Revisit

It has been well over a couple of weeks since I started my container herb garden, and I had been so looking forward to following up on that first post with updates of my then-presumed would-be-lush garden.
Regrettably, this is not the case - it is a bumpy road to herbal abundance: the spearmint seems infested with one or likely more diseases and/or pests, and I (gasp) caused the thyme to dry out for fear of overwatering it.
Nonetheless, I am hoping the garden and I will rebound soon from our loss.
In this post I describe the problems I faced (introducing a couple of new plant pests), my recovery efforts so far (introducing a propagation technique), and also update on aspects that are pleasantly going on track.

Cantaloupe Germination: Emergence of a Seedling

It's the emergence of many actually, just thought the singular made for a better title. I am so excited. As I last posted, barely three days after I had started the seeds, the cantaloupe seedlings were already emerging from the soil. Cantaloupe is cited in many sources as being a seed that readily germinates; but I was still surprised by that rate. I also placed some seeds between two damp towels in a sealed bag in the fridge, as I had learned this can be done to accelerate germination - I am not sure how much speeding up I can add to an already pretty fast rate. Nonetheless, I do intend on planting the cooled seeds after a week or so and comparing the germination time in both cases. In this post, I try and summarize all the relevant information I came across about starting and growing cantaloupes, you can also view the factsheet here (embedded below).

Starting Seeds - An Introduction

Starting plants from seed is an exciting pursuit for any aspiring gardener. Whether you choose to grow food crops as a healthy supplement to your kitchen, or ornamental varieties to compliment your display, that - usually quite impatient - wait that starts the moment you bury the seed will more often than not be rewarded by the magic of a seedling emerging from soil.
This week, I have started a number of seeds.

In this entry, I write a general introduction about what you need to consider when starting your own seeds. I will be following up with detailed posts and factsheets about each of the crops and varieties I have started. Currently, the focus of these posts will be on container gardening.

Starting a(n) Herb Garden

One of my food-growing plans has always been starting a small herb garden that would provide a zesty fresh supply for my culinary needs; but I mostly craved it for the scented display of these fragrant plants. The endeavor is also exciting because of the various possiblities it allows: the size and shape of the container, and the number and types of herbs planted are all variables that offer endless combinations.

Setting up a small container garden of herbs is easy and pretty straight forward. In this post I describe how I started mine.