I have never had problems starting seedlings for the vegetable garden - until now anyway. I planted seeds and placed them in the greenhouse the first weekend in April. Most of the onions, leeks and watermelons are up, which is all to the good. Out of 72 plugs planted with tomatoes, only one has begun to sprout (just showed its head Wednesday). None of the peppers have started yet. What is up with that?
Everything was planted using the same bag of seed-starting soil - my favorite, never-let-me-down, Pro-Mix. Every single flower seed sprouted weeks ago, as did the lettuce, spinach and chard. The tomato and pepper seeds were bought this year, unlike the rest which were bought up to 7 years ago. I just don't understand what has happened to the tomatoes and peppers.
After just checking in the greenhouse (about 30 seconds ago), I think I know the problem. The tomatoes and peppers knew that their life was doomed. There is not a single melon or onion left (although the flowers are fine). It seems I must have a mouse in the greenhouse and he couldn't resist the greens and roots I so thoughtfully provided. Even though the peppers and tomatoes are still under a plastic top, so the mouse can't get to them yet, they must have decided to give up even trying to grow instead of being ignobely chomped down by a rodent!
This is all Tory's fault. If he wasn't still gimping about (we are still working on that problem), he would be out there catching the mice before they ever thought about getting close to the house or greenhouse. As Dax would say - Just Damn!
Bogie, I wonder if the problem lies in the fact that both tomatoes and melons are really warm season crops. Is your greenhouse warm enough to make them think the season for sprouting has come, or could it be a little on the chilly side still?
Posted by: buffy | April 30, 2004 at 10:46 PM
If you need another cat, I'm sure that HH would donate CC.
Posted by: Cop Car | May 01, 2004 at 10:00 AM
Buffy - the melons came up just fine (until of course the mouse attacked) and they are in the same environment as the tomatoes and peppers. It's actually been pretty warm in the greenhouse, although I must admit that I never put heat mats under the trays - so that could be the problem.
Cop Car - just what we need is another cat! I figure if our 3, the neighbor's 2 (who come over on a regular basis) and Fuzzy can't keep the mouse population down, we probably are having a banner crop of mouslets this year.
Posted by: bogie | May 03, 2004 at 08:30 AM