More Chard!

For a number of days, I was wondering if I was only going to have the two swiss chard plants appear. Boy, was I wrong. I had three more spring up in one day! Maybe they're coming in waves, and I'll see a few more pop out over the weekend. I took pictures over the course of a couple of days, so you can see how rapidly they are growing. Nothing I grow seems to grow as quickly as all the plants at the greenhouse, but then again, they use liquid fertilizer daily. I use a slow-release fertilizer. Maybe I should get on that...

Two of the newbies seem to have emerged from the same seed. Here they are when I first saw them, on Tuesday.

And this is what they looked like the next day. Pretty big difference, huh? Right now they're as tall as the first two are below.

This next seedling is the newest of the bunch. It's all by itself. I know you can barely see it in this picture; that small banana-looking object is its pair of cotyledons.

This picture is better, since the little tyke was standing up straighter on Wednesday.

These pictures are an update of what the first two seedlings are up to. If you were wondering, they're busy growing taller all the time. This was taken Tuesday...

...And this was taken Wednesday! Their little leaves look so happy. As you can see, all of my chard appears to have fuschia stems except for one that's whitish or yellowish. That's fine with me. I can deal with hot-pink vegetables this summer.

A couple of other bits of news: my zucchini is saying goodbye tomorrow and going to its new home. I'll miss it, but hopefully it can be outside and flourish in its new environment.

Also, I'm leaving for spring break, so I have to pack up all my plants. Normally, transporting plants is a stressful experience for the transporter and the plants, but I'm looking on the bright side: Scott lent me some boxes so I don't get dirt all over my car, and my house has a southern exposure. This means my plants are basically getting the equivalent of a tropical vacation.

While I'm home, I'll introduce Basil, my basil plant, to the blog. Basil is staying at my house for its better light, but I'm getting it back come summer. Which is exciting.

Next post: Winter in Retrospect.