Aero pepper

I finally have a fruit on my Aero Garden jalapeno pepper plant!  I was beginning to worry that it wouldn't happen.  I still probably won't do vegetables on this garden again.  The idea of fresh tomatoes and peppers in the winter was exciting to me, but it hasn't really panned out.  I suppose if I learn to can this year, I can have canned peppers and tomatoes all winter!  When these plants are done, I want to try a salad mix in the Aero Garden.  One of my new dreams is to eat a fresh-picked salad every day.

An update on the seedlings in the closet: as of this afternoon, all 12 of the chia sages and all 12 of the cherry tomatoes have sprouted.  The slicing tomatoes are starting to break through and the second chamomile has come up.  There are several marigolds, but still no parsley, cumin or peppers.

Ch-ch-ch-chia!

It's kind of hard to see, but some of my indoor seeds started sprouting last night.  This is one of the chia sages, eight of which have sprouted.  This morning, when this was taken, a chamomile had also started.  Since then, some tomatoes and marigold have come up.

Bok choy flower

It turns out bok choy flowers look a lot like mustard flowers.  That's actually how I knew the other one was a mustard.  It had been part of a "salad mix" seed packet and I wasn't sure what it was until both plants started to flower and looked so similar doing it.  I knew that they were in the same family (brassica) and that nothing else in that mix was.

Arugula?

The first of the seeds I planted last month have started to come up.

Indoor seedlings started

Yesterday, I finally got around to starting my seedlings inside.  I usually end up buying some seedlings from the nursery and there are a lot of vegetables that I direct sow later in the spring, but I like to get some things going inside to plant out after the last frost.  This is probably the most I've ever tried.  I had actually hoped to plant more, but I ran out of space in my closet.  In the egg cartons I planted 18 marigolds, 6 parsley and 12 cumin.  I've never grown cumin before, so I don't know how it will turn out.  I actually just planted some seeds from the spice drawer in the kitchen.  They may not even germinate.  In the cups, I have planted 6 jalapeno peppers, 6 piri piri peppers (a frutescens from east Africa), 12 chia sages, 12 slicing tomatoes and 12 cherry tomatoes.  I had wanted to start more tomatoes, some jalapenos that may have cross-pollinated with an ornamental pepper and a lot of cayenne, but I'm going to have to find somewhere else to put them.

Winter clones

These are the last two clones that I've tried to keep indoors during the winter.  Last winter, I was able to keep a few tomatoes alive, but none of my basil survived.  This year, all of the tomato clones I took died early in the winter.  One basil, on the left, has survived and so has one of the pineapple sage clones.  Hopefully, they can make it another 6 to 8 weeks so I can put them outside in the sun.

Aero Garden

During the winter, I had to satisfy my desire to garden with the indoor Aero Garden.  In the past, I've grown various herbs in it, with varying success.  With a variety of herbs, the taller ones would shade the smaller ones and starve them of light.  Also, you don't use every herb an equal amount.  This is the first time I've tried vegetables and I'm probably not going to do it again.  The main two problems are size and pollination.  In the picture above, the light is at maximum extension and there's not a lot of room left for growth.  The tomatoes are spreading off of the garden base, but the pepper in the middle threatens to reach the light.  The main problem is that there are no bees or wind to pollinate this garden indoors.  I've tried to compensate by shaking it and blowing on it, but it's just not the same thing.  The tomato on the right has a lot of fruit (and one that's almost ripe), but the one on the left has only 3 fruits.  The pepper plant has flowered repeatedly, so far without producing fruit.  After these plants are done, I'm probably going to try some salad greens.  The idea of picking a fresh salad without leaving the kitchen really appeals to me.