New Beginnings for 2012!

The new year is here and I've been thinking about what 2012 has in store for me. I've never really been one to make resolutions, although I think I might try a few this year. I always end up breaking them so I gave up a long time ago.

Although November was very cold in Arizona (about 45-50 degrees during the day), December has been the opposite. The beginning of December was about 60 degrees every day and I figured it was the perfect time and temperature to try and grow some lettuce again. I planted some about a week ago, but since then the temperature has gone up more- to about 75 degrees during the day now. I'm not sure what the weather change will do to them and I'm also not sure if the we will have another cold snap.

To protect the seedlings, I thought I would try planting them in my Jiffy seedling tray, and I figured at the time since it was colder, that they would enjoy the warmth of the tray. However, now I think it might be too hot for them after all, because only one has sprouted. I also planted some in regular trays and left them outside. Those have been doing much better and nearly all of them have sprouted.

The Jiffy Seedling Tray. I have some metal stakes holding the lid on.   

Only one little sprout in the Jiffy Tray. It has become way too hot inside for them!

Meanwhile, the 'outside' lettuces have begun to sprout and appear to be doing well.

I'm really excited that the lettuce has sprouted in only a week! (And that it even sprouted at all). As soon as I saw the sprouts I became very excited and began to plant a bunch more seeds. Some of these seeds I acquired from my moms collection when I went home last year. I'm very excited about them. (Can you tell I'm excited yet?)

Yay for new seeds!

Now I have a whole bunch outside. Currently planted:

• Various colors of zinnias. I obtained the seeds from my mom.
• Marigolds - from mom.
• Lettuce, as I have mentioned. I planted "Caesar's Favorite," "Red and Green Romaine Blend," and "Mesclun- Gourmet Greens Mixture."
• Attempted some Lavender seeds again.
• 2 Mammoth Russian sunflower seeds (these are the kind I grew last year) as well as 2 Giant Gray Striped Sunflowers (from mom's garden).
• 2 Crimson Sweet Watermelons
• 2 white pumpkins for fun. (I think I'm actually supposed to plant them for fall, but oh well! =)
• zucchini (oh no!! not again!! but I have to plant zucchini just because its so simple to grow!)
• yellow (summer) squash. I tried to buy and grow yellow squash last year, but in both cases the plant died. I may as well try again, though.
• Large Fruited Cherry tomatoes- the kind that grew super-duper tall last year.
  
  Last but not least, I have planted 4 new seedlings. These seeds are very special. Why you may ask? Well because they are Blue Tomatoes!! Actually, I prefer to call them purple because they look more purple than blue. But apparently these special tomatoes were developed at Oregon State University, and it was only 2.99 for a pack and so I had to get some! One blogger says this:
  
  "This experimental blue tomato (sometimes going by the name P20) is being produced by Oregon State University in an attempt to create an uber-healthy tomato with a high level anthocyanin, the powerful antioxidant found in blueberries."

As you can see in this picture, I received the pack of seeds from Solana Seed Company, as well as a baggie of homegrown popping corn from mom. I've popped some of the corn already and it is terrific! (LOL, I almost typed pooped instead of popped!)



THIS IS NOT MY PICTURE, but the Blue Tomatoes should look something like this when they are full grown.



I'm not sure what they will taste like. Others have said they are pretty good. But I don't care much. I just want blue tomatoes, baby!

Also, while cleaning out the fridge, I found several cloves of garlic that were sprouting. I figured I might as well try and grow them instead of just throwing them away, so I planted one in my old marigold pot and a bunch of others in the regular sandy/clay soil ground. The one in the pot is doing the best so far.

I don't know anything about growing Garlic, so this should be interesting.

The garden, aka grave is being prepped!

Things I've been thinking about: I've been thinking about where I will plant things this season, and I think I'm going to move things around a bit. I learned my lesson last time about planting my zucchini in my garden. It immediately crowded out the eggplants. This time I think I'll plant the zucchini away from the garden and actually near the patio. That way the zucchini will have plenty of space to grow, full sun and plus when we look outside we will see some greenery and not just dirt.

• I think I might try to grow a few herbs- but I'll probably buy them from Lowe's.
• I'm not going to grow eggplants again, because I just don't know what to do with them!
• I'm going to try and figure out a good way to water my plants easily. Yes, I do have the drip/spray hoses, but my plants did so much better when I watered them by hand, especially the tomatoes. Time is a huge factor, since I know I'll be busy with classes. but I think that I will try to water everything by hand as much as possible. So maybe I should dig some kind of water trench or something.
• I don't know if I should grow a lot of sunflowers or just a few. After all, some of them didn't even grow that tall...so maybe I'll grow a lot and plant them elsewhere? Who knows.
• I'm nervous about the watermelons and pumpkins. Those will be entirely new to me.
• I'm hoping that my seeds have been started early enough. Last time I planted in February I think. If the seeds will grow earlier, I think I can avoid the pests that I encountered late in the season last year. (like squash bugs)

Well thats all for now. Later!