Broccoli (top of fridge vs. mini greenhouse) and other Plant Updates

Every time I start a seed now, I try to experiment with what works best.  I planted two types of broccoli on 3/8/13.  I placed one plant on top of the fridge and one in the mini greenhouse.  The picture to the left are the seedlings I started in the mini greenhouse along with all my other growing seedlings- uncovered.   The one on the right in the plastic pot (6 for $1.00 at Dollar Tree) was left to germinate on top of the refrigerator.  For the fridge seedlings, I covered the pot with one of those overhead projector plastic sheets.  The fridge one definitely grew taller but doesn't seem as strong.  The mini greenhouse grew more slowly.  The seeds were also for different types of broccoli- the left one in the greenhouse is a more expensive seed from Ferry Morse- Broccoli De Cicco and the plant on the right left to germinate on top of the fridge was a much cheaper seed called Broccoli Calabrese Heirloom (19 cents a pack) from Valley Green.  What a difference huh?  I don't know what to make of this little experiment.  The refrigerator seed definitely germinated faster but I wonder if when sown, each plant will grow the same or different and how much each plant will yield in produce.  Keep posted for that information!

Left: Broccoli De Cicco (germinated in mini greenhouse) and
Right: Broccoli Calabrese Heirloom (germinated on top of refrigerator)

Here is a picture of my cilantro now- kinda overgrown but still growing.  Remember when I thought it was dying?  Well, it seems like it is actually coming back alive since it's been in my mini greenhouse.

Cilantro- started 2/13/13

This Pea Alaska plant is the tallest in my mini greenhouse right now.  I had to stake it with my bamboo skewers.  In case you're wondering, I placed decorative paper cranes at the tip of the bamboo skewer.  The pea tips are growing taller than it's stakes so I will have to find longer stakes soon.

Pea Alaska

I am loving my plants.  Everyday, I open the curtains and unzip the plastic door of my mini greenhouse to let the seedlings catch sun and get warm.  Every night, I close the curtains to keep out drafty cold air and I zip up the greenhouse doors.  Every night, I also turn each plant so that in the morning, the plants have to reach back the other way to get sun.  This way, they have to exercise and hopefully, don't get too spindly.

On a side note, my two dogs have been great with my plants.  I sometimes spray them with the plant's water bottle and they run from me.  They probably think I am weird because I speak to my plants and encourage them to grow strong.  I tell my plants I am proud of them and lightly place my hand over them.  Here are my two dogs who love me despite my craziness.  Happy planting in grow zone 5a!

Fur Babies

My Garden Adventure

Hello!  Welcome to Grow Zone 5a.  What is a "grow zone" you ask?  North America is divided into 11 separate grow zones.  Grow zones help gardeners know what their garden climate is so they know when to grow which plant and which plants will tolerate their climate.  Madison, WI falls in grow zone 5a- meaning that plants grown in my zone can tolerate a minimum temperature of -29.  Thus the name of my blog.  So scientific right?

I  have always enjoyed gardening.  As a child, I often picked vegetables at my parent's little farm. They were Hmong immigrants and had rented a few acres of land from local farmers. We grew vegetables and flowers and made the farmer's market circuit throughout the Greater Sacramento area. Now that I have my own home with a good size yard, I've decided to start my own garden.

My backyard is all grass, trees and nothing else.  There are some very big and old tress to the right so I plan to start my garden to the left there- behind the garage next to the fence.

Backyard, March 7, 2013

We just had a big snow storm here in Zone 5a so it's definitely not ready to grow anything outdoors yet. But I was so anxious to see green that I started some seedlings in mid-February in my basement. I was fully aware that these seedlings would likely not survive until sowing season but so far, they're all doing good. This is mostly because I kept them warm under fluorescent lights in my basement and now, they are in my dining room in a mini greenhouse.




For my birthday, I received this awesome 4-tier greenhouse from Menards.  It has four metal shelves and a plastic covering with front zippers that covers the whole thing.  It took me only 30 minutes to put together and no tools were required.   I looked at the Menard's price online and it is $24.98.   Such a super cool little thing.

4 Tier Greenhouse from Menard's

Here's my greenhouse during the day.  It's zipped up and you can see the moisture inside keeping my plants very warm.  I don't have a thermostat inside it so I don't know how warm it is.  This picture window in my dining room gets so much sun so I hope it doesn't get too warm inside the greenhouse.  But I have the back of the greenhouse in front of a vent so it gets a little air flow also.

Greenhouse zipped up

Below is a picture of some of the seedlings on the top shelf of my mini greenhouse.  That plant in the top left corner is one of my first seedlings that I started on 2/13/13- cilantro.  It sorta collapsed - probably due to that darn dampening off disease.  It's a condition where your seedling die before or after germination due to cool or too moist situations.  I also think because I left it out in front of my window one weekend, the plant reached too much for the sun and also got spindly so it was more susceptible to dampening off.  Anyhow, I tasted a leaf last night and it tasted like cilantro.  I am trying to revive it but it probably won't survive.  No worry- I've learned my lesson and have already researched how to grow my next batch of cilantro.

Seedlings in my greenhouse

In this blog, I hope to give you a weekly/monthly update on my gardening from seed to produce. I am also a huge nerd so I am always researching better and smarter ways to garden. I will definitely be posting information on my chosen method of gardening- lasagna gardening and just provide tips on what's worked for me. Seeing my seeds sprout into strong little plants is so magical. Even if they don't produce, just seeing them come up from a tiny seed is so satisfying. I hope you'll continue to read this blog and join me in my gardening adventure!