Post by lonecowhand on Feb 13, 2016 0:21:25 GMT
Since you all have been such a generous and great source of information and experience, I am compelled to share some practical methods for successful vegetable gardening from seeds. I am a seed saver, I only grow plants from open pollinated heirloom varieties, most having been grown and proven over a hundred years, and I select the best to grow the next year.
I have been gardening for 50 years and there are no methods ( I know of) I haven't tried.
It all works, but I believe gardening should be productive , cheap, and stress free! Few things are as exasperating as having sprouted and transplanted seedlings, setting them out, only to see them all missing within a week, or by the next day.
Start now by collecting a big garbage bag full of clear plastic drinking water bottles. If you yourself buy them, get the ones with straight sides if you have a choice. If you don't use them, ask a friend who does to keep em for you. You can also get a whole bunch at events, schools, or from local businesses who do.
You will be transforming them into "cloches" , or bell jars, one for each little seedling so you'll need a mess of em.
I start all my seeds indoors on windowsills in those Barbeque cooked chicken boxes from the grocery store, the kind with the clear dome lids. They are good because the black bottoms are deep enough , and the clear domes are tall enough for seed starting, but any similar plastic domed container will work, if its tall enough.
I fill the black bottom with a good pre-moistened seed mix, I use half fine peatmoss and half potting soil, having been baked at 325 for an hour to kill soil borne pests, and cooled.
Using a butterknife, I wiggle rows 1/2" deep into the soil medium, you can get 5 or 6 rows (lllll) in each chicken box. drop your seed into the rows and LABEL as you finish each row: include the variety the origin of the seed and the seed year, and the date planted. Cover the seed lightly and mist some water on 'em, put the clear plastic lid on and set in the windowsill. In a week or less some will be spouting. Once the seedlings have their second set, or true leaves, they can be set out to the garden.
Here's the magic part , the water bottle Cloche. You take the capless water bottle, and with a scissors, cut the bottom off , as close to the bottom as you can, without it necking in. Water bottles are so thin, it is not difficult to just snip into the side and cat all around. You can do it with a knife, but more dangerous.
You plant the seedling, water it in well, and then center the open bottom over your seedling and press it in until it seems solid, and the wind or hail or snow wont knock it over. About an inch, no more , or you wont be able to get it off later.
You can test my method by planting some uncovered at the same time, right next to the ones in the cloches. They will probably be gone by the next day, as birdies, snail, slugs, cutworms and ants, all love salad more than you.
Water the seedlings in through the cap opening regularly when you dont see transpiration on the sides. I leave the cloche on until leaves are curling out the cap hole on top,and the bottle is filled crammed with leaves. By this time they will have survived cold, hail, torrential rain, and a million hungry pests.
When I pull off the water bottle cloche, the plant is adequately mature to resist some pest attack. The newly freed plant will struggle for a day or two , but the head start will provide strength to the new plant, and minor predation by birds will be survived. The used cloches can be stored , or used on the next row.
I leave the funky leaves on the plant, as a foundation upon which new leaves will fall without getting dirty or snail bitten. I practice "cut and come again" .I leave those lowest leaves , for the plant. I leave the new leaves to grow bigger, I take the ones in between, as I need salad.
You can get many more weeks of production using this method, and a lot more salad!
Bon appetit.
I have been gardening for 50 years and there are no methods ( I know of) I haven't tried.
It all works, but I believe gardening should be productive , cheap, and stress free! Few things are as exasperating as having sprouted and transplanted seedlings, setting them out, only to see them all missing within a week, or by the next day.
Start now by collecting a big garbage bag full of clear plastic drinking water bottles. If you yourself buy them, get the ones with straight sides if you have a choice. If you don't use them, ask a friend who does to keep em for you. You can also get a whole bunch at events, schools, or from local businesses who do.
You will be transforming them into "cloches" , or bell jars, one for each little seedling so you'll need a mess of em.
I start all my seeds indoors on windowsills in those Barbeque cooked chicken boxes from the grocery store, the kind with the clear dome lids. They are good because the black bottoms are deep enough , and the clear domes are tall enough for seed starting, but any similar plastic domed container will work, if its tall enough.
I fill the black bottom with a good pre-moistened seed mix, I use half fine peatmoss and half potting soil, having been baked at 325 for an hour to kill soil borne pests, and cooled.
Using a butterknife, I wiggle rows 1/2" deep into the soil medium, you can get 5 or 6 rows (lllll) in each chicken box. drop your seed into the rows and LABEL as you finish each row: include the variety the origin of the seed and the seed year, and the date planted. Cover the seed lightly and mist some water on 'em, put the clear plastic lid on and set in the windowsill. In a week or less some will be spouting. Once the seedlings have their second set, or true leaves, they can be set out to the garden.
Here's the magic part , the water bottle Cloche. You take the capless water bottle, and with a scissors, cut the bottom off , as close to the bottom as you can, without it necking in. Water bottles are so thin, it is not difficult to just snip into the side and cat all around. You can do it with a knife, but more dangerous.
You plant the seedling, water it in well, and then center the open bottom over your seedling and press it in until it seems solid, and the wind or hail or snow wont knock it over. About an inch, no more , or you wont be able to get it off later.
You can test my method by planting some uncovered at the same time, right next to the ones in the cloches. They will probably be gone by the next day, as birdies, snail, slugs, cutworms and ants, all love salad more than you.
Water the seedlings in through the cap opening regularly when you dont see transpiration on the sides. I leave the cloche on until leaves are curling out the cap hole on top,and the bottle is filled crammed with leaves. By this time they will have survived cold, hail, torrential rain, and a million hungry pests.
When I pull off the water bottle cloche, the plant is adequately mature to resist some pest attack. The newly freed plant will struggle for a day or two , but the head start will provide strength to the new plant, and minor predation by birds will be survived. The used cloches can be stored , or used on the next row.
I leave the funky leaves on the plant, as a foundation upon which new leaves will fall without getting dirty or snail bitten. I practice "cut and come again" .I leave those lowest leaves , for the plant. I leave the new leaves to grow bigger, I take the ones in between, as I need salad.
You can get many more weeks of production using this method, and a lot more salad!
Bon appetit.
