Growing Carrots

On my last trip to Ahmed Maher Street, I got some more crop seeds to start. This post is about carrots and starting them. Carrots can be started about any time of the year, but early spring and early summer, yielding summer and fall crop respectively, are the most important planting times as they give the most flavorful carrots.

Carrots are not a fruit in that they are a root crop: the edible part is the taproot (although the greens are sometimes eaten too). They are biennial, completing their life cycle in two years; during the first one, the vegetative state, the leaves, stems, and taproot (which we harvest) grow to store the necessary sugars and nutrients for the flowering in the second year (for more details about plant anatomy and their life cycle you can check out this post).

Being that August has already started, now is not necessarily the time to grow the most delicious of carrots, but they are among the most adaptable crops that are tolerant of mismanagement - so I am eager at trying my hands at growing them in a container. In this post I detail how and include a factsheet containing key information you will need to start yours.

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.

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.

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.

Mixing Potting Soil - The Basics

In previous posts, I talked about mixing my potting soil. In general, plants you purchase from typical roadside and riverside nurseries in Cairo will be potted in the dark rich clay soil. Clay soil possesses some properties that make it a superior farming medium: it is highly fertile and is more resistant to erosion than sand and silt soils.

However, clay soil also also possesses other properties that make it less suitable or desirable as a container plant growing medium: it is considerably heavy, and will become too firm when dry (the timeless image of Egypt's unchanging farmer ever plowing the dark land comes to mind). In this post, I describe the basic ingredients to mixing potting soil and their function in the mixture.

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.