Seed Propagation

Current status is: germinating for the first time. Anything related to keeping seedlings alive (light) is completely untested, but, assuming pieces of random advice from scattered forum postings across the Internet can be trusted, might even work.

Process

1. Staring mixture: 1 part vermiculite, 1 part perlite, 1 part spaghum peat moss
2. Fill peat trays 1/2-3/4 full with mixture

3. Put 2-3ish seeds per pot to maximize chances of success (ClintonEbadi is perhaps a too-cautious person at times)

4. Cover to the recommended planting depth
5. Fill drainage tray with 3 quarts water (overfilled the first with a gallon, underfilled the second with two quarts, three seems to be enough to keep everything properly moist)
6. Insert and mark seedling trays with business cards (variety + planting date + # of seeds/cell + expected germination date)
7. Wrap the whole thing up in plastic wrap and wait

Equipment

• 7 drainage trays capable of holding 5x10 cell paper/peat starter cell pots (I'm going for easy transplantation here) (GT_n = Germination Tray N, ST_n = Seedling Tray N)

• Storage rack for seedlings and germination trays

• 10inx5ft duct cut into 10-11" wide pieces as makeshift reflector hoods (hack! not sure if it's even worth it ...)

• Lots of 5000K / 1500 lumen CFLs + extension cords + pluggable light sockets (because I'm not confindent in my ability to wire things that have to be left on for 16 hours at a time without causing a fire) = 2 CFLs per tray, attached to a cheap square plug, ziptied to the copper wire supporting the reflector.

Seeds to Acquire

Marigolds, yarrow, potatoes?

Available Seed

En route from SSE

• Yellow of Parma Onion

• Borettana Yellow Onion

• Romanesco Broccoli

• Parade Cucumber

• Five Color Silverbeet Swiss Chard

• Christmas Lima Bean

• SSE Lettuce Mixture

• Waltham Butternut Squash

• Early Hanover Melon

• Amish Melon

• Aurora Pepper

• Anise

• Cumin

• Sunflower Mixture

• Spider Flower Mix

Not Germinated Yet

• German Chamomile (pending indoor germination)
• Dill (pending indoor germination)
• Yellow Summer Crookneck Squash
• White Lisbon Bunching Onions
• Longstanding Cilantro
• Early Scarlet Globe Radish

Germinated

Herbs

• "True" Lavender
• Sweet Basil
• Oriental Basil
• Flat Leaf Parsley
• Chicory

Peppers

• Cayenne Pepper
• Habanero Pepper
• California Wonder Pepper
• Sweet Banana Pepper

Currently Germinating

Organized by the tray they are in. Details on start dates &c coming once ClintonEbadi is unlazy enough to double check the labels on the germination trays. I seed everything in increments of ten cell peat pots.

• nicht!

GT₀ is allocated to Chamomile+Dill, GT₁ and GT₂ are unallocated

Seedlings

First waterings are noted here, but subsequent are not (I was under the impression that it'd have to be done less often than basically daily ...)

• ST₀: 2x Chicory, 3x California Wonder Bell Pepper

  • 2012-03-03: Chicory dried out during the day! Bottom watered 3 cups
  • 2012-03-03: Transplanted first tray of Bell Peppers with significant germination
  • 2012-03-03: Fertilized lightly
  • 2012-03-05: Last two Bell Peppers germinated (also fertilized when transferring)
  • 2012-03-07: Thinned Chicory
  • 2012-03-19: Thinned peppers (note: third pepper tray has really low germination rate, bummer)
    • Fertilized entire tray lightly

• ST₁: 2x Sweet Banana Pepper, 2x Orange Habanero, 1x Cayenne Pepper

  • 2012-03-03: Watered
  • 2012-03-03: Fertlized lightly
  • 2012-03-05: Watered
  • 2012-03-21: Thinned seedlings
    • Fertilized lightly

• ST₂: 3x Sweet Basil, 2x Oriental Basil

  • 2012-03-05: Watered
  • 2012-03-09: Thinned all basil
  • 2012-03-09: Fertilized lightly
  • 2012-03-20: Fertilized lightly (and thinned Oriental Basil more)

• ST₃: 3x Parsley, 2x Lavender

  • 2012-03-05: Parsley has germinated! (way, way early)... in the windowsill since I'm out of lights
  • 2012-03-20: Thinned Parsley
    • Lightly fertilized
    • Lavender not germinating too well

Garden

Construction

Several small raised beds due to limited areas that receive enough sunlight, root infested soil (well, living in a forest does have its disadvantages), crappy soil, large drip lines, etc.

Cedar or Pine? Cedar may last longer, but this is being used at most 2 seasons... depends on the cost.

• 1x12x10 pine board is $20 for 10', but if we want 4' beds that's an awkward length

• 1x10x12 pine board is also $20 for 12' and would get us three sides of a 4'x4' frame per board

Soil

Soil: http://www.areamulchandsoils.com/mulch%20price%20page.htm ($20.50 per yard2)

Might need gravel for drainage.

Layout

Pending raised bed plans... at first glance, Square Foot Gardening looks like a reasonable framework to sketch things out.

We could make it square meter gardening, but the book recommends 4'x4' grids so we'd be losing some space, and wood in America comes in feet

Available (to us at least) board sizes are either 1x10x12 or 1x12x10; we want the beds to be at least one foot so square beds are wasting not-to-useful-sized pieces of lumber. Maybe a non-square design: 6x3 feet? 5x3?

Assuming use of 10' lumber ... 5x3 + 5x3 + 4x4 uses 5 pieces of lumber, with 6' of the last piece unused (throw in another 5x3 bed and piece of lumber to fix that ...). Or, 6x3 + 5x3 + 4x4 with no wasted lumber.

(doesn't work, Steve's wiki is too old)