Seeds

Organizing Seeds

Jenni — Wed, 20 Apr 2016 05:50:16 +0000

Organizing Seeds Jenni Tue, 04/19/2016 - 22:50

Organizing your seeds can be a hard thing for some people. It's fine when you have a few packets, but what do you do when you have dozens? I wasn't sure, so I ended up diving them by type (tomato, squash, herbs, flowers, etc) and putting them in big envelopes. Inside each one is a ziplock for the open packets. I have the type written on the front of each envelope and I keep them in a container I bought at the dollar store. This makes it easy for me to flip through and find what I am looking for.

I also found this interesting way of doing it on the Frugal Mama & The Sprout blog. It uses a binder and photo pages to organize everything. This allows you to also add layouts of where everything is planted and then have the photo pages after it to hold each of the packets of seeds. I'm thinking of trying this next year.

Image courtesy of Frugal Mama & The Sprout

On the Montana Homesteader, they use an old photo album to hold everything together, including plans.

Reformation Acres has a whole bunch of ideas, including tic tac boxes and filing envelopes.

Thrifty Fun has even more ideas, including photo pocket pages and coupon organizers.

Topic

How-to

Organization

Seeds

Planted more seeds

Jenni — Fri, 11 Mar 2016 06:41:50 +0000

Planted more seeds Jenni Thu, 03/10/2016 - 22:41

Well, with the exception of cucumbers I think I'm just about done planting seeds for this season. I've done a few batches of peppers, tomatoes, squash, and eggplant, which should be enough to meet my needs and have plenty left over to sell. Every year I am too early with my cucumbers, which means my first batch dies because it is too cold outside when I move them outdoors. So this year I am purposefully waiting a few extra weeks before I start the seeds. Since I don't have any room inside for them, I can't be tempted to start them yet. I have a bunch more peas, beans, greens, and herbs to move outside, and once I do that I'll have room for the cucumbers.

Here's some photos of my tomatoes and squash:

Topic

Seedlings

Seeds

Artichokes

Jenni — Tue, 03 Mar 2015 07:02:48 +0000

Artichokes Jenni Mon, 03/02/2015 - 23:02

So today my first artichoke popped up. I've never grown these before - never even cooked one. But I do love eating them. I hadn't even planned to grow any, except that I got a free packet of seeds from the place I ordered my Asian Fingers Eggplant from. I couldn't pass up the opportunity to grow something new, so I decided to give the seeds one set of 6 pods to try growing it.

I was pretty happy when I checked my plants today and saw that the first one was completely popped up and there were signs of soil disturbance in other pods. That's always a good sign. For the most part if I can get a seedling to grow, I can get a plant to grow. And usually I get at least a few veggies/fruit from the item. So that means the hardest part is down - germination. Now just to get the plant to thrive indoors until it is time to plant outside.

Topic

Seedlings

Seeds

Seeds arrived!

Jenni — Sun, 01 Mar 2015 06:57:12 +0000

Seeds arrived! Jenni Sat, 02/28/2015 - 22:57

I had a hard time finding some of the seeds I wanted in the store, so I decided to look online. I ended up not only buying the plant I really wanted - Asian Fingers Eggplant - but also some flowers as well. I haven't done flowers from seeds in many, many years and even back then it was marigolds. And anyone who's had those knows it's super easy - just pinch the dried flower, pull everything out, and spread the seeds.

Since Abby loves pansies and snapdragons, I got those to try. And because I love Bluebonnets - the state flower of my home state of Texas - I had to try those as well. Never noticed before that they are a lupine, and those seem to grow fine here. So hopefully I can end up with a little bit of home here.

As soon as I got the seeds from the mailbox I got everything prepped and the seeds planted. They are already several days behind all my other plants and I want to get them going fast.

Topic

Seeds

Planting seeds

Jenni — Tue, 24 Feb 2015 07:02:55 +0000

Planting seeds Jenni Mon, 02/23/2015 - 23:02

So now that I have everything I need, it's time to start planting seeds.

I start by filling all of the trays with seedling dirt. I don't pack the soil in hard, as I want the roots to have room to move and grow. But I do gently push down on it to ensure I didn't leave any big air pockets.

Then I pull out my seed packets and figure out which seeds will go where, how many I am going to plant, etc. I usually try to do my plantings in sets of 6 since that is how the trays of 72 break down. That makes it easier later when you need to move things around as you transplant plants into bigger seedling pots. I lay them out on the trays until I have every bit of it planned.

Then I get out my plant markers and mark where all the seeds will go. This way I can move the seedling packets off the dirt and set them to the side.

Then I water the dirt. Not too much - you don't want it soaked. You just want the dirt to be wet.

I then use the bottom end of my permanent marker to make a hole in each cell. Look at your seed packets beforehand to see the depth you need to go on your seeds. Often times they are very similar, but you may get something that would prefer to be planted deeper.

Next I begin putting seeds into the holes. Depending on the number of seeds I have, the size of them, etc. I may put more than one seed in each hole. Sometimes you don't have a choice - either the seed is way too small to accurately get only one seed each time, or you only have a limited number of seeds and can only put one in each hole. Germination rates are under 100%, which means you will have some seeds that do not grow. You can also thin down your plants later if you end up with too many in a single spot.

Once I have the seeds in, put a little more dirt on top to cover the seeds. Then use a water bottle to lightly spray the tops of the dirt. This helps keep seeds moist.

Next I cover with the clear cover of your greenhouse and set them in a spot where they aren't going to be bumped and will be warm.

Even though your packets may say it takes 10+ days for a seed to germinate, I find that many of mine have popped up within 3-5 days. Don't worry if they haven't, though - some of mine have taken two weeks. It just depends on the seed.

Make sure the top of your dirt stays moist. I keep a spray bottle by the plants so that I can mist them to keep them moist.

Once your seedlings emerge, they need light. And not just a regular lamp, but sunlight or light from specially made grow bulbs. After several unsuccessful attempts to grow plants from seeds, I decided to invest in a grow light and stand. The light is 4' long and has 6 fluorescent tubes. In combination with a stand - which the light hangs from and is adjustable - I am able to cover my entire dining room table in light. This helps the seedlings to grow.

I try to keep the room warm and leave the lights on for about the same amount of time that there is daylight outside. This will vary depending on where you live. For most of the day I'll take the plastic tops off so that the plants receive more light, but I will recover them in the evening so that they can hold onto heat and moisture overnight. I stop using the tops once the plants get too tall.

At this point it's all about keeping your plants watered, warm, and with daytime light. Once the plants grow, they will put out roots that stick out the bottom of the planter. This means you can pour water directly into the bottom watering tray and the plants will absorb the water that way. But be sure to continue spraying any spots where plants haven't popped up yet.

Topic

Seeds