Seed Starting

[TooCheep]

Yup. I've discovered a couple of keepers that way. I love Mexico Midget tomatoes. Much smaller than cherry tomatoes and very nice for snacking while I'm working in the garden, so I grow one plant each year. I also give the chickens 1/2 each. They love 'em as well.

This will be the third year I'm growing Tromboncino squash- a real home run. I've given up on zucchinis and yellow squash due to disease and vine borer problems. Tromboncino is very resistant to both problems, can be eaten younger as a summer squash or grown to full size/ripeness as a winter squash which store on a shelf for months. I still have one left from last year. It is a vining plant, so I grow it up one tree in my mini-orchard and it grows around in the canopy. That allows me to use no additional garden space, but I get two harvests from the orchard- fruit earlier and squash hanging down later in the season.

 

[NC_Quail]

Very true, very true. No vegetables then.

Need to try out those bacon seeds

 

[rosemarythyme]

This is obvious, but plant what your family likes to eat! No point in planting kohlrabi if they try it once and say yuck. Believe me, I've heard of people planting "a lot of radishes, because they're easy to grow," (for example) and then find out nobody wants to eat them.

This is the joke every year about my turnip harvest.

Hubby: WHY do you grow so many turnips?
Me: But they grow so well...

To be fair, I do like turnip greens quite a lot. And I've accumulated a decent number of turnip recipes. But hubby remains unconvinced that turnips should actually be eaten and the fact that I fill up a few square feet with turnips is less than thrilling to him.

 

[triciayoung]

Wow they look great!

Ok maybe a dumb question but what is slips?

I wanted to try sweet potatoes this yea but couldn’t get hubby onboard so we’re just doing regular potatoes again.

So, a slip is when you take a sweet potato and use toothpicks on both sides to hold it halfway in the water and let the plants grow out of the potato. When the plants get to 3-5 inches, they can be cut from the sweet potato. Then you soak the end of the cut plant in water until it has its own roots. Then you have a slip. This slip is put into dirt to grow. One sweet potato can make about 6 slips.

 

[Blue Raptor]

Need to try out those bacon seeds

Ooh, sounds good, send me some.

 

[TooCheep]

Here is one. The biggest problem is catching it...

 

[Chris2018]

Was looking for a dedicated seed starting thread and couldn’t seem to find one. The “what did you do in the garden today” thread is great but I haven’t done seed starts in probably 7 years and would love to focus on seed starting ( I already feel like I’m struggling week 1 )

So please share what you’re starting, your tips, thoughts & of course photos.

Start off with a good soil, a good soil will save you a ton of headaches in the long run.

Your soil should,

• Be light weight and airy.
• Drain well but still retain moisture.
• Have structure, you don't want a seedling falling over every time you water of it has a breeze blowing on it.
• Provide beneficial microorganisms like mycorrhizae to help build a stronger. heathier, faster growing plant that is less stressed.
• Be pH balanced for plants.
• Have a wetting agent.

A very simple soil mix I used for years in my greenhouse before switching to the more elaborate one I mix now was nothing more than,

• 70% well sifted peat moss
• 30% perlite
• Yucca (as a wetting agent at 1 Teaspoon per cubic foot of soil).
• Mycorrhizae (at 5 Tablespoons per cubic foot of soil)
• Lime (at 4 Tablespoons per cubic foot of soil)

Here is a link that has some good information on starting seeds for the beginner.

Iowa State University link

 

[Sally PB]

Ok, here are pictures of my pots. I just finished making/filling 81 of these.
Start out with a plastic container

Cut off the bottom

Fill with potting soil

My light source is the sun, so it's at an angle, not directly overhead like grow lights. So I fill the container really full. If it isn't, then the lip casts a shadow.

I used a utility knife to cut off the bottom. The pots get weaker and more difficult to cut as you go around. I found that working on a stack helps keep them more stable and safer to cut.

 

[BabyGotQuack]

Ok, here are pictures of my pots. I just finished making/filling 81 of these.
Start out with a plastic container
View attachment 3437991
Cut off the bottom
View attachment 3437992
Fill with potting soil
View attachment 3437995
My light source is the sun, so it's at an angle, not directly overhead like grow lights. So I fill the container really full. If it isn't, then the lip casts a shadow.
View attachment 3437996
I used a utility knife to cut off the bottom. The pots get weaker and more difficult to cut as you go around. I found that working on a stack helps keep them more stable and safer to cut.
View attachment 3438000

81??

So what is the reason for cutting off the bottoms and not just using the already there opening? (I hope this isn’t a dumb question lol)

 

[BabyGotQuack]

Got the lights! I have 2 more but ran out of hooks, do I need the extra 2?