seed starting 101

While its gray outside and the air is unhealthy (this is a term posted by the air quality folks, not me) it would be easy to get a little down and depressed.  But wait, its late January, which means its time to start sprouting a spring garden from seed.  Here's how I do it.

Start with soil.  I find that a sterile seed starting mix with some compost added at about a 5:1 ratio works well.  Get this just moist enough that a handful barely holds together.

Spread soil evenly into starting trays with a liner below.  I like these called 6-cells.  There are 12 discrete 6-cells in this liner tray for a total of 72 potential sprouts.  I like to tamp down each individual square until just firm.  This helps to give a nice workable unit for transplanting later.

Make a small well in the middle of each square and drop seeds in.  Today I am starting the ones you see above (essentially brasicas and onions)  I like to cover each seed with just a little more soil the gently press so that you know the seed is being touched by soil on all sides.  I like to put at least 2 seeds into each square, playing the odds for best overall germination.  If both sprout, you just pinch one off later.
Once you get all of the seeds tucked in, label your trays and water well.  I like to try and keep my starts moist all the time but not drenched.

Now here is the part that gets tricky.  Some seeds need heat, some need light, some need dark then light, some need cold then warmth (really, just read your seed packets).  So you need to follow those directions to achieve sprouts.  This is a home made light set up in my basement with seed starting heat mats below.  I run this light for about 12 hours per day.  I prefer it for early starts like these because the days are still relatively short.  However...

Once the days get a little longer in the next 3-4 weeks I'll use the south facing window in my kitchen in place of the light for my next set of starts.  There is some controversy about whether this works, but here at 35 degrees latitude once its late February or later we get plenty of light for healthy seedlings without artificial light added.

Now, we wait.  In the meantime, I think I'll cook something.  I suspect that Carson is hoping for baked goods.

1-1-11

Happy New Year.  I'll admit, it kind of snuck up on me this year.  But polar bears don't lie, its time for a new calender.

 New Year also means new goals, resolutions, etc...
 It seems fortuitous that I have a 1 year old so I'm keeping it real this year and I'm going to try and reconnect with my inner 1 year old.

Take a little love from man's best friend

Appreciate the beautiful things right in my own backyard.

Run around outside, come rain, snow, or wind

 And make my little corner of the world a greener place one little leaf at a time.

Have a happy, healthy 2011.

Holiday Festivities

I felt the need for 2 holiday posts because I am aware that many find my gardening just too weird and geeky.  Here's what else went on this weekend.

First, a brick (literally a brick) of hops showed up at our house.

In case you are wondering, this IS legal and is for some upcoming batches of homebrew.
The beer that we started last week was moved into secondary fermentation.  Carson wanted to help.

C got a sweet Wagon on Christmas Day (Notice its still dark out, that a boy!)

I know, he still looks asleep.  After breakfast we took it for a spin.

Then Sunday it snowed.

You already know how much we all like snow.

PS We even had a gingerbread house....

Awww a family of 3 with a little house and a garden, kind of like us.

Happy holidays Love, J, T, And C

Holiday Garden

The much awaited (OK so maybe me and 2 other people are in suspense about this) Hoop House looks... the same.  On the bright side, the low tunnel is cranking.  Check it out.

Pictured above: Beet greens (red and golden), Broccoli Rabe, Frise, Mustard Greens

We picked Beet greens for Tacos and Arugula for Salads.  We'll pick most of the Rabe for a midweek pasta dish on Wednesday.

Oh yeah, and carrots.  These are literally the sweetest carrots I have ever eaten.  So here's the crazy part, they have no covering.  If you are wondering how they are still alive I have a theory.  We've been lucky enough to have a snow storm before every really cold spell below 32 F this winter so far so I think I'm getting an igloo effect.

After all that Winter Gardening Carson and I wanted to show you our serious gardening faces.  You dig?

Gray skies outside, inside ...

There was cookie baking.  For the second year I decided to make big boxes of cookies for my co workers.  It started like this

 This is a citrus sable from Joy the Baker.  Don't know about her blog?  She rocks, she also bakes the most delicious things.  Anyhow this log was cut up into many buttery citrus spiked cookies.

Then I made chocolate cookies on and later stuffed then with caramel.

I rolled out soft cream cheese based pastry dough and then sliced, coated with sugar and dried fruit, and rolled up tasty bites of rugelach

Oh my...

Meanwhile outside it rained and Tyler started his inaugural batch of home brew with assistance from Cale (note Tyler is hiding from the camera)

Carson tried out his new winter boots

All in all it was a good weekend.  Soon after these photos were taken the rain turned to snow.  After making all of this yummy stuff, it didn't feel cold and gray.

Hoop House Planting

In mid November we built a simple pair of hoops over one of our raised beds.  We have not tried this before but are taking the year round garden attempt seriously, so thought we would give it a try.  You might ask, where does one find instructions about this sort of endeavor for this climate?  Long story short, we can't find any.

Then, before we could decide exactly which seeds to plant, it snowed like crazy.  It got really cold (like 10 degrees F cold) and we thought, hey look at that...row cover is awfully tough stuff.  We decided to try skipping the plastic.

 And then, like it often does here in Utah, it got pretty warm for a week and all the snow in the valley melted.  The soil temp has stayed above 40 degrees F for 2 days so I've gone and planted 1 row of Bloomsdale Spinach and 1 row of Sputnik Arugula.  I layered on a thin bed of straw and buttoned up the fabric.  I'm promising myself I won't look again until Christmas.

I'm also promising myself I won't be sad if all that I see is straw after 2 weeks.  It is an experiment after all.

What to do when the ground is frozen. Part 1

Inventory your seeds. You know you love to do it, plus it is useful.
This helps me reign the seed catalog drooling a little bit because I am aware the the average family of 3 does not need more than 5 kinds of radishes. Conversely, I really do need to restock on carrot and tomato seeds.
My seeds come mainly from 3 suppliers: High Mowing Seeds, John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds, and Seeds of Change. They all support organics and heirlooms. Their seeds germinate successfully year after year. A real person answers your email questions and knows a heck of a lot about gardening, need I say more?

Play ball with your dog. Look at Whisky, she's finally not too hot to chase that ball all over. Can you believe she is almost 10? After 30 minutes of catch, she wasn't even panting.

Introduce a toddler to Sushi. He liked it. It was messy. I think he ended up flinging bits to every corner of the kitchen. You've got to love this boy.


More coming soon... I think it will be frozen for a while.