A few weeks or so back, I posted in a FB status that I wasn't going to do any veggie plants from seeds. Just buy a few plants and tone it back this year. YEAH... never believe me when I say things like that. After seeing all my wonderful gardening heroes starting stuff, I went to Lowe's in a fit of maniacal gardening rage. And....
Three packs of seeds, two packs of Eco pots and a bag of soiless seed starting mix later....
Now... I hate it that I gave my little bit of money to Burpee's. I would have LIKED to have thought this out a lot better, and gone with a smaller company with a heart. Baker's... or that wonderful guy in northern Maine who sells imported Italian seeds. But no... I bought in a fit. So I slapped the slightly moist seed starting mix in those goofy Eco pots and tossed the seeds in and waited to be disappointed in myself.
Well... honestly... they're doing better than any other seeds I've started.
Germination like I've never seen before.... really!
My method this year was to put all those pots in an old plastic tray I had and cover them with plastic wrap. And put them on top of my refrigerator. Kept them moist. THAT'S IT. What the heck, man? Is that the key??? APATHY??? Whatever happened, it's doing fairly well.
These pretty little babies get minimal attention from me. When it hits over 50 degrees outside, they go outside for "walkies" (one good thing about this mild winter!). I had been keeping them fairly wet, but the leaves were turning a little yellow that way. Now I'm letting the tops of the pots get fairly dry before watering them again, and the leaves are greening up nicely. When it gets dark, they come inside and sit under a 75 watt bare bulb lamp with a metal collar around it. Before bed... they go back up on the fridge so my cat won't wallow on them. THAT IS IT. They're slightly spindly, but not near as bad as my seedlings of the past have been.
What's the secret, I have to wonder. Real sun? Burpee's excellent product? Not being mothered over to death? Whatever... I'm going to have to recreate the situation for the pack of peppers I'm going to start.
Also, there's growth going on here and RE-growth... which I'm fairly excited about. I love the thought and practice of grocery store gardening... getting something more from the produce you already buy. I've been doing it for years with my green onion ends, and last year I did it with a hand of ginger from WalMart. NOW... I'm going to do more! Onions from the root end... pineapples from the leafy top... and a second growth of celery from the root.
Get the MOST of your produce buying dollar... am I right? Right....
I'm also doing a bean patch from a bag of dried beans from the store... a mix of Lima's and Navy beans. Simply for the dried beans... and I'm going to see if I can work up to keeping us in beans this way! Beans have a tendency to cross pollinate, too. I'm kinda curious to see what I come up with.
Other plans...
Acorn squash
bush beans for green beans
lots of different herbs
marigolds
a WALL of vining okra
practicing on starting some plants and roses from cuttings
and... whatever else I can find in my seed stash... once I find it again.
So here's to the 2012 garden... and it's haphazard start. Let's see what happens. :)
2 comments:
Hey Beth! I am interested in what you're saying about starting plants from groceries you already have. Do both ends of the onion work or just the one and which one, lol? I had some onions that sprouted on their own and cut off the end and put them in a window. I also had an onion end but not sure it's the right end ;-)
Also, I have some dried garlic--how does that work. Another thing, would my white beans that I have work?
Hi Aunt Patty! On the onions, it's the root end... the fuzzy one. OR like your onions did... just do the whole thing and keep it in water. You'll get a long green onion type part you can use in cooking like crazy. Dried garlic... not so sure about. Just a head of garlic from the grocery store is what I use. Take each clove and plant it upright like it was in the head. It'll produce a pretty tall scape that you can use in stir fries, OR let it go and it will produce a beautiful purple flower! Beans are beans. Just a bag of beans from the grocery store DOES grow bean plants. I did this a couple of years ago in a bad spot and still got some dried beans. I think I have a better spot for them this year tho. Beans do grow long tho. You either have to give them a pole or a line to grow up... or plant a huge amount, plant stakes around it and tie them up for support. I'm going to try the later this year. It might not be pretty, but hopefully I'll get a lot of beans from this experiement! :) Let me know if you want to talk about this further!
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