This afternoon I have finally planted seeds that I HOPE will make transplants for my spring garden.
It was more involved than I thought it would be. I simplified it as much as I could, but it still took me two days. The biggest problem was trying to get the seed starter medium wet. That sounds like a dumb problem, but the medium is VERY light. If I had sneezed into the bag, the medium would have covered the whole kitchen – I kid you not. I added water VERY carefully and slowly. The spray in the kitchen sink was MUCH too strong. I finally used a turkey baster to ease water into each of the peat planter pods, making sure each didn’t overflow. I also didn’t want the peat pots to fall apart, so I stopped several times in the process. I did it last thing last night, hoping that things might settle in overnight.
This afternoon I found a spray bottle in the garage and used it to add more water. Then I used a pencil to make two planting holes in most of the pots, but only one hole in the ones for the broccoli. I planted two rows of spinach, two of broccoli, two of lettuce, and one row of green pepper. I split the last two rows, planting some yellow squash, zucchini, and two kinds of tomatoes.
I pushed the holes closed and tamped down the medium a bit in each peat pot, and then sprinkled some fertilizer pellets. Finally I sprayed everything carefully one more time and added the clear plastic seed starter tray top. I had to hold it down with some pill bottles because it didn’t want to close tightly.
Supposedly, things will start sprouting in 8 to 14 days, depending on the seed. When that happens, I’ll take the plastic top off and turn the tray around each day, hoping the sprouts will grow up reasonably straight.
I have little clue what I’m doing. Everything I have read is like the recipes for bread that say, “Knead it until it feels right.” :0(
It’s exciting to be TRYING to grow plants that I can move to my spring garden around the 5th of April.
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