New seedlings with chubby cotyledons fill me with joy ! I sowed Parsley, several kinds of Kale, and Rainbow Chard under grow-lights in my Light Garden, and to my delight, they have begun germinating. I am hoping for fresh new veggies in time for Thanksgiving.
Beets and Radishes are quicker to germinate. I direct-seeded three kinds of Beets and red globe Radishes out in the garden, then watered-in thoroughly. I covered the bed with a single layer of soaked, heavy brown paper bags for 4 days (and kept them wetted down) to keep the soil moist surrounding the seeds and to help them to germinate. In the next day or two, I will peek under the brown paper to check to see if their chubby cotyledons have appeared. I’m betting the Radishes will be first!
Parsley takes quite a while to sprout; the legend is that it must travel to the Devil and back 9 times before it can germinate. What do you think?
Overall, I am a bit late sowing my cool-season crops for USDA Climate Zone 8A #Atlanta due to the 67th annual Garden Writers Association Symposium that was held here in Atlanta for the first time Sept. 16-20, 2016. I had two wonderful houseguests for the Symposium, though. Better late than never!
The best time to plant cool season crops was a couple of weeks ago. (The best time to plant trees is 20 years ago.) The second best time is today!
I delayed planting a bit because my summer tomatoes were still bearing, and I had to pull them out in order to rotate the garden beds to veggies that grow best during the cool seasons of fall and winter. Despite hard frost or frozen soils, the cool season veggies continue to thrive, since Atlanta cools down and warms up regularly during winter, plus our soils rarely freeze more than a couple of inches deep for a few days.
Hope to post some mature harvest photos in a couple of months!