I sense another "year of the eggplant" coming on
Alright, so we’ve had two-in-a-row 60 degree sunny days here in Knoxville this past week. Last night, I couldn’t take it any more! On the 5th, I had planted a flat full of seeds and placed them under my trusty grow lamp ($1 at Habitat). However, only the eggplant were responding to my lovin’.
Last night, I sat down at the dining room table with my 3 little metal lunch boxes full of seeds, a toothpick, and a Sharpie pen (all the best gardening tools) to see what was going on. I suspect I’ve been robbed of the joy of seeing the other seeds leap forth from the soil by a little pesky thing called damping off, because I see no evidence of seedlings below the surface of the soil. Damping off is a fungus that can sometimes kill a seed before it germinates. I’m not positive, though, because some of the seeds I planted were quite old and of questionable origin. I stuck a few varieties of trustworthy peppers in their place and we’ll see what happens. If they won’t grow, I’ll try a trick I was reading about where you treat the soil with chamomile tea to kill the fungus.
Damping off or no damping off, I love growing vegetables from seed. There is nothing like the hope of a colorful and abundant garden when the snow is blowing and the ground is rock-hard under your feet in January.
