March 22, 2010

    Went to Portland Nursery and picked up some early planting seeds.  I got ‘Sparkler White Tip’ radishes, some ‘Bright Lights’ Swiss chard, and four packs of seeds for plants I have never grown before:  ‘Sugar Baby’ watermelon, ‘Honey Rock’ cantaloupe, spaghetti squash, and birdhouse gourds.    I’m going to plant the gourds tomorrow, and maybe a row of radishes and a row of Swiss chard, but the melons and squash will wait for a couple of weeks. 
    The gourd seeds need to be soaked in lukewarm water for 24 hours after having the seedcases scuffed or nicked.  This help the seeds to germinate.  So I did that, and left them soaking on the counter top overnight.
    I also bought and planted some ‘Candy Stripe’ cosmos seeds.  I used a weasel tool to rough up the soil then added some of the fine grade soil from the side vegetable garden and mixed that in.  I spread out the seeds and messed up the dirt some more with the weasel trying to get the seeds planted at ¼ inch deep.  Then I watered the patch.  After they sprout, I’ll thin them to six inches apart.  The flowers will be white with red edges.