What did you do in the garden today?

[CNJ]

I am impressed with my Burpee self-watering seed tray that I bought from Walmart. My 36 seed tray cells are not sitting in the water, it sits on an elevated platform with a wicking mat and comes with a clear cover. Seeds that failed to sprout with my other seed trays, has sprouted. I think it's because I always leave about a 1/2 inch of water in my old trays. The wicking mat is a game changer. It made a big difference.

I got Prism Hybrid Kale, Heavy Hitter Okra, Purple Bumble Bee Cherry Tomato, and Bok Choy sprouting up. The ones that didn't sprout yet is the uncoated generic Tycoon seeds that I got from amazon and Purple Zebra Tomato. However, I have sprouted 5 for 5 seeds of Purple Zebra in a homemade seed bowl and I don't really need anymore. I somehow got caught up in seed math.

 

[CNJ]

I am trying something new with my Tomato Kratky bucket set up. I made a mound around my tomato plant in a 5-inch bucket net cup cover and covered it with plastic. The mound will make the rainwater run off the sides. This set up has 4 buckets strung together with a stacked float valve bucket bottom and a reservoir bucket on top. I will do another 4 buckets set up in the same row. I plan to prune the suckers off the tomato plants until it reaches the overhead trellis, and then I will let it run wild.

I also, have a 1/4-inch wicking rope that will always be touching the solution in the bucket, so the fine coco coir in the net cup won't dry out like it normally does. I have some plants that are using this wicking method, and the roots followed the water level down, so I know it works.

 

[saysfaa]

How would you repackage a few seeds? Without plastic

My sister sent our seed order in. We are splitting packets of some things and trading 4 to 6 seeds of some of our old seeds and some of our newly ordered varieties.

Glass baby jars make sense for some of my seed stash. Mostly, the jars are too big for the seed size x number of seeds.

Last year, I made envelops out of paper: I found a template online, printed a pageful, cut them out, glued one end, let that dry, put the seeds in, and glued the other end. It is better to write the contents, source, and year on it before any gluing. Last weekend I discovered it is also better to write the seed count on them.

I'm fairly happy with the envelopes but they are a little hassle to make and I had to destroy them to open them. Also, a few seeds got caught in the ends. That might be from impatience so letting the glue dry more could fix it. Possibly, if I made them extra long, I could cut off the end and reglue them shorter. Or maybe there is a better way.

I'm toying with the idea of using straws. I need a way to close off the ends. I would rather not flatten the ends. The tricky part is being malleable enough to fit as a plug yet neither shrink loose as it dries nor allow the seeds to stick to it nor give too much moisture to the seeds. Anyone want to throw out some ideas?

 

[Sally PB]

My husband suggested Uline too, so I’ll check them out

Uline has a TON of stuff, and the prices are pretty good, even when you don't buy a gazzillion of something. They have all KINDS of things too. I could spend a long time looking through their catalog (yes, paper catalog!) at work.

How would you repackage a few seeds? Without plastic

A friend sends me seeds in coffee filters, the flat cone style. He folds them up, tapes them shut. They mail in an envelope very well.

 

[Molpet]

envelopes

Just folded paper and taped shut.
Seed tape by TP strips , a drop of water based kid safe white glue and a seed on the drop. Dry a couple days, fold or roll up.

 

[saysfaa]

Just folded paper and taped shut.
Seed tape by TP strips , a drop of water based kid safe white glue and a seed on the drop. Dry a couple days, fold or roll up.

I made seed tape with flour paste once. I think that kind of glue would work better. It doesn't bother the seeds, then?

 

[jerryse]

Foggy misty morning here. Rainy afternoon coming. Should be the last rain for days. Chainsaw parts arrived late yesterday. Now I need to install the parts. No energy on gloomy days.

 

[Molpet]

I made seed tape with flour paste once. I think that kind of glue would work better. It doesn't bother the seeds, then?

so long as its water base it will dissolve. and just a bit
https://site.extension.uga.edu/paulding/2021/03/make-seed-tape-and-get-gardening/

 

[Molpet]

Foggy misty morning here. Rainy afternoon coming. Should be the last rain for days. Chainsaw parts arrived late yesterday. Now I need to install the parts. Mo energy on gloomy days.

gloomy, foggy day here too...good to hibernate

 

[MotherofOrpies]

Never ask your hubby who doesn’t like gardening to help you in the garden I asked him if he could clean the gutter pipes of the shed, when I dropped by, I saw he had cut down my spindle tree when I asked why, he said it was in the way …