As the spring has begun over here in the Netherlands and everything is starting to grow, it also is time to take a look at what the garden has cooking already.
Okay, I say garden..... but the reality here in the Netherlands is that not a lot is winter proof to grow and that means that you need to start stuff inside the house. Decent temperatures, maybe add some additional lighting. That is the way to start stuff over here and making sure it has a decent chance to actually survive and thrive
Just look at this one being strong and just as it is supposed to be!
One of the things I have had a ot of fun with growing over the last couple of years is growing peppers, chillies, hot stuff or whatever you want to call it.
The downside of this is that the climate over here isn't really the perfect one for that. Luckily there are some decent measures to take to still get stuff really going!
The peppers I loved growing the most over the last years was for sure the 'Chinese 5 color pepper' which has a friendly 30.000 to 50.000 SHU or Scoville Heat Units in there. That to me is the perfect enhancement of just tossing 1 pepper into every dish to get the right heat in there, as it is like 10 times more hot than a standard Jalapeno pepper.
Apart from that the heat is perfect on this pepper, the plant is also just super fun. The plant is exactly as the name tells you what it is, the peppers have multiple colors in the growing proces. Because of this the plant is also just a beautiful little tree and it would also be perfect to keep inside the house.
In another year I bought a little seedling somewhere which was either $3 or $5 bucks, I am not really sure about that.
This year I bought me a bag of seeds, and started growing more from seed and that bag cost me $3, which I can already see the profit coming in there ;)
Starting plants from scratch isn't always that easy and it also needs a lot of attention honestly. In the case of these seeds the will start to sprout in 20 days after planting and they need a steady temperature of 25 degrees Celsius to even make that happen.
Well, I can tell you in the Netherlands in winter time? Forget it. So I had the little containers on every heater in the house while I was just heating the house in a normal kind of way. No additional energy, because it was already turned on.
After those 20 days when the seeds were starting to sprout it was time to get the into the light. A couple of years back I had bought one of these growing lights where it also has a water container on the bottom where the seedlings soak up the water from. Nothing special, but it really works properly.
These guys needs tons of light when they are above ground, 16 hours is you have the chance. Now I don't like looking into bright artificial light the whole day, I put it on an hour before sunrise and an hour after sunset. This worked out quite well.
By now the sun is out by itself for 12 hours per day so now I have the plants by the window side where it is also nice and warm. And since the seedlings have been there they have been growing like crazy!
The time to put them outside with be half of May, so tons of time here inside to gain more growth and get stronger. It is looking good!
Apart from the peppers there is also some recycling growing going on as always. I love using plants a couple of times with no effort in there.
This first one here is Pak Soi or Bok Choi. Just use the bottom part that you cut off and stick it in water. Roots with start to develop on the bottom side and little leaves will start to form on the tip side again.
After there are some decent roots and weather is good, they can move outside when they are ready. Lazy gardening over here!
The next one that is recycling itself which I wasn't aware off are the Marigold flowers which are the favorite of all pollinators.
Last year I had one in the there and I guess it has dropped a lot of seeds because I didn't plant anything in the allotment here, but there was a lot of growth going on already. Fair enough, they were everywhere but I pulled a lot of them to keep it manageable for a bit. As you notice I haven't really cleaned out the soil from the top layer. I leave a lot on there especially leaves fallen from the trees that protect the soil from the sun like this. Yeah, it does look messy indeed, that is true.
No intentional planting, but all of a sudden they were there
A friend of mine was also starting a lot of seedlings but a lot of different ones as that I was having. So I guess we can make some decent trades here as for instance these Marigolds only need 1 or 2 plants for this area as they grow really fast and she can use the rest.
Maybe that is the fun stuff about this. Trading and letting it grow for a bit? And when those peppers take off, I am sure that it won't hurt to give away a little bush.
I'm looking forward to this seasoning of gardening again, bring out the sunshine!
