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
   • 3 Tbsp lime (antifungal properties?) when 1 part = 1 gallon
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

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

• 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

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 GT₁ GT₂ : 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 ...)

• 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
  • 2012-04-13: Fertilized lightly, zapped with tiny bit of pyrethins (yech, low air circulation = gnats)
  • 2012-04-20: Fertilized heavily, moved to main hood (turns out I've been underfertilizing!)

• ST₂: ... CHAOS (repotted, numbers are inaccurate). Sweet Basil, 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)
  • 2012-04-13: Fertilized lightly, zapped with tiny bit of pyrethins (yech, low air circulation = gnats)
  • 2012-04-20: Repotted
    • Culled weak plants, repotted 8x Sweet Basil, 7x Oriental Basil
    • Kept ~20 semi-strong seedlings (ten of each)
    • Fertilized heavily
    • Moved to unhooded rack, beginning hardening off process

ST,,0,, and ST,,3,,

Actual situation is messy. It's late, I needed to record what I did, will reorganize &c later -- ClintonEbadi 2012-04-20 08:16:38

• ST₀: CHAOS (repotted, numbers inaccurate) 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
  • 2012-04-13: Fertilized lightly, zapped with tiny bit of pyrethins (yech, low air circulation = gnats)
  • 2012-04-20: Repotted
    • Killed half of the peppers (weak, didn't germinate)
    • Repotted 6 Cal Bel Peppers
    • Thinned weak Chicory
    • Fertilized heavily

• ST₃: CHAOS (repotted, numbers inaccurate) 1x Lavender (1 died), 1x Parsley, repotted parsley

  • 2012-03-05: Parsley has germinated! (way, way early)... in the windowsill since I'm out of lights in the main hood after bumping the peppers out

  • 2012-03-20: Thinned Parsley
    • Lightly fertilized
    • Lavender not germinating too well
  • 2012-04-13: Fertilized lightly, zapped with tiny bit of pyrethins (yech, low air circulation = gnats)
    • Reasonable success germinating lavender
    • Parsley is looking a wee bit sickly
  • 2012-04-20: Repotted
    • Culled almost all parsley, half lavender
    • Thinned lavender
    • Repotted 6 parsleys that looked the least sickly
    • Fertlized heavily

After repotting and thinning, ST₃ and ST₀ were mixed-and-matched. Everything still in a seedling cell went into ST₀ under the main hood, and the repotted seedlings moved to the unhooded shelf in ST₃. These are not ready for hardening off and will remain indoors for the time being.

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.

Using 2"x12"x10' boards (cheaper!)

Soil

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

Strata:

• 3" (overflowing top of bed) mulch
• 10" compost/soil/perlite/vermiculite mixture
• 1" of mulch
• tilled earth

Layout

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

• 5'x3' raised bed (Two 10' boards)

• 4 5'x16" beds, around a 6' tall garden trellis cube made of electrical conduit (Five 10' boards)

Main Plot

First step: allocate each square roughly so that we can visualize the garden. Unspecific order (easier to perform plant location optimization after we know how many squares of each will be grown).

Garden CUBE

• Move butternut squash to main plot + teepee and vine eggplant instead?

Squash plants should be a couple feet apart and will need support for the fruit at some point

Containers

• Habaneros x 4
• Bannana Peppers x 4
• Overwintered peppers x 2
• New bell peppers x 2
• Aurora Peppers x ??
• Basil x 6
• Rosemary x 3

In the yard somewhere

• Chamomile
• Chicory
• Anise
• Cumin
• Lavender
• Rosemary (good hedge for the front!)

CategoryEvergreen