We are walking through everything using our new garden tracking system, checking bloom dates, comparing directly sown seeds to transplants and we found something really exciting in the compost bin today!
Our New Garden Tracking System
We want to start by sharing something that has been really helpful for keeping up with everything. We started out tracking things in a notebook and drawing lines each time which got old quickly. So we made a tracking sheet in Canva and we are loving it! It has columns for germination time and we are realizing we also need to add a bloom time column so we can reference expected bloom dates all in one place. We also have a growing notes page for each variety. If this is something you are interested in it is available on our Etsy under Country Cafe Co!
One thing we want to note is that bloom dates from packaging are just estimates. We have to be mindful of our zone, our frost dates and weather fluctuations because all of those things can affect the actual timeline. But it is still really helpful to have that information handy. We also used ChatGPT to help calculate the latest expected bloom dates based on the packaging information.
Flower Tester Bed — Directly Sown Seeds
These seeds were directly sown on April 17th. Here is what our tracking is showing for expected bloom dates:
🌻 Sunflowers — bloom expected around July 16th 🌸 Zinnias — bloom expected by May 22nd (that is next week!) 🌺 Cosmos — bloom expected by June 21st
Everything is looking good out there right now and we will be doing a zinnia check in very soon!
Directly Sown vs Transplanted Comparison
We also have zinnias, cosmos and sunflowers that were started indoors on April 10th and transplanted out on April 25th.
Right now the ones that were directly sown seem to be doing just a little bit better than the ones that were transplanted. But we are going to give it a couple more weeks before drawing any conclusions.
We are also noticing that our sunflowers in both areas are leaning. We may need to look into using a net to support them — more research needed on that one!
Watermelon, Honeydew Melon & Cantaloupe
These seedlings were started from seed on April 10th and transplanted out on April 30th. We also directly sowed scarlet runner beans and lettuce alongside them as companion plants on the same day.
Scarlet runner beans are heavy nitrogen fixers and watermelon are heavy nitrogen feeders so we are hoping that combination works out well together! We may have also sprinkled some marigold seeds in there — honestly we cannot remember for sure. 😄
Watermelon seedlings
Last growing season we tried to grow watermelon on a ladder mesh trellis and it did not work out. This season we are growing them vertically on a trellis we already had from Lowe’s. We unattached two connected trellises to make two separate ones — one for the watermelon and one for the honeydew melon and cantaloupe.
The larger circular containers came from Aldi for $9.99 a piece. Based on our tracking we should not expect to see much from these until June or July but we are keeping a close eye on everything.
Tomato Update — We Have Some Ready to Harvest!
Our tomatoes were started from seed on February 13th. We have three varieties — Sungold cherry tomatoes, mortgage lifter and Roma. The Roma was actually started because my grandmother wanted to grow them since they are her favorite and we had some extra seedlings so we got them in the ground too.
Here are the expected bloom dates from our tracking:
🍅 Sungold cherry tomatoes — April 11th
🍅 Mortgage lifter — May 14th
🍅 Roma — May 29th
We went out to check on the Sungold cherry tomatoes and some are actually ready to harvest! They are the right color and looking great.h.
Last growing season our indeterminate tomatoes grew upwards of eight feet tall. This season our plan is to train them along the ladder mesh trellis instead of letting them grow straight up and just hang over. We are also not using the twine method we tried before because that was not working well. We are going to let them grow and train them to go over the trellis and see how that goes.
The mortgage lifter and Roma are growing really well but we are not quite at harvest stage yet. That is okay — we are learning as we grow!
Scarlet Runner Bean Comparison
One thing we wanted to highlight is the difference between the scarlet runner bean that was started on the inside versus the ones that were directly sown. The one started inside began really healthy but the leaves are not as vibrant as the ones that were directly sown.
We are going to keep monitoring that and see what happens.
Surprise Find in the Compost Bin!
This was honestly the highlight of the day.
When seedlings did not germinate we had been adding that soil to the compost bin. Well today we went out and noticed what looks like tomato seedlings growing right out of it — three of them! There may even be a sweet pea in there too.
We compared them to our other tomato plants and they look exactly the same. That just tickled us! We are not sure yet if that is a good or bad thing but it was such a fun find. We will keep monitoring to confirm.
Everything Else
Our ranunculus are looking okay but we think we may have started them a little too late this season based on what we have researched. The sweet peas have stalled and we are still learning with those. We are going to keep watching and see what happens.
As always we are learning as we grow. Some things take time and that is okay. Packaging gives us estimates but our zone, our frost dates and the weather all play a role in how things actually develop. We will keep tracking and keep sharing the journey.
Chat soon! 🌱