thumbs down, egg cartons

2 things I've learned:
• potting mix has no nutrients (how did I get this far not knowing
that?)
• don't start any more seeds in egg cartons

Here are pictures of my broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage seedlings.
The first picture was taken when they were 4 weeks old!! They still
looked 1 week old. They were in egg cartons, potting mix, under lights
and not a trace of true leaves. The cotyledons even started turning
dark purple.
The only online info I could find about cotyledons turning purple
suggested a phosphorus defficiency. I find that confusing since when I
transplanted these the roots were huge for such little seedlings. I
moved them into peat pots filled with my regular garden soil. The
second picture was taken about 5 days later. They're booming! I think
in the past I never even used potting mix. I'm pretty sure I had
always just sown in pots filled with garden soil. I guess that's a no-
no but I think I'm anti-potting mix now.

So I quickly transplanted my tomato and cotton seedlings to the same
soil and they are bursting with true leaves. I also threw out my
peppers because they never even germinated. I've since sown some more.
Which brings me to why i hated the egg cartons. I had high hopes, for
recycling purposes and space efficiency. But they are just so small
that they dry out too fast. I coddled them with a spray bottle but I
couldn't keep up. That's just too much trouble. I suppose if you
transplant them as soon as they've germinated it might work, but I
prefer to sow a couple of seeds per peat pot and just thin later.

My winter sowing bottles had the same lame potting mix so I poured a
little miracle grow bloom booster in them. That was an exciting change
since I never use that kind of fertilizer on my edibles.

Lots to catch up on

Here are the 2 new beds ready to be filled and a bad picture of my
broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower seedlings.

I've actually done a huge chunk of Spring work so far. The 2 old beds
have been turned, amended with manure and lime, and restrung. I've
also planted in them: spinach, carrots, bok choy, radish, beets and
Swiss chard. The radish and chard have germinated! We had 4 straight
days of rain over the weekend so that blue tarp was bought to cover
the bed with most of the seeds. I think it did the trick because when
I took it off it didn't look too disturbed.

I've sown indoors my tomatoes, peppers, herbs and cotton. The herbs
are sprouting but look sort of pathetic (I never can do herbs right).
But the tomatoes! The Hillbillies sprung up in days! And now the Box
Car Willie's are right behind. My god, those are the greatest tomato
names possible. I also threw a bunch of Peony Poppy seeds in the front
garden. Who knows?

Finally, the winter sowing is coming along. I added a couple bottles
of lupine and marigolds - all doing well. This week I'll do my final
jugs with some Heavenly Blue Morning Glories. Wintersowers recommend
that you start them late because they grow so fast. They're for my mom
so hopefully they'll be decent by mother's day.

The weather is so incredibly perfect this week that I'm trying to line
up all the machos in my family to help till the new patch on the other
side of the yard. Luckily they work for food.

Winter Sowing

This is my first attempt at winter sowing. I prepared three 2-liter
bottled (thank you, Polar Seltzer) and planted Hollyhocks in all
three. They are Fordhook Hollyhocks from Burpee that I picked up at a
store. I sowed about 20 seeds per bottle.
My 19 month old daughter helped by sprinkling the seeds in. But when I
asked her to help me carry them outside she literally threw one of the
bottles to me from accross the deck. I'm not expecting too much from
that one.

Grow Light Racks

It's a seed starting dream come true! We ended up buying two small
metal racks from Home Depot (each $20), a 4' shoplight with hang
chains ($9), and two cool 40w fluorescent bulbs ($3). I can fit 12 egg
cartons under one light, or 2 plastic trays. The setup was so simple
and I can add a light to the bottom shelf if I find the need. I will
sow broccoli and cauliflower within the next couple of weeks!

My seed order came from Botanical Interest yesterday. I love their
little boxes. I'm still waiting on Fedco and Sand Hill Preservation.

2010 crop list

I'm planning to order my seeds the first week in February. I'm ordering from Botanical Interest (BI), Fedco (F), Sandhill Preservation (SH), and Wood Prairie Farm (WP), as well as some seeds from last year (ly) that I've been storing in the fridge. Here goes:

Beets - Gourmet Blend (BI)
Carrots - Mokum (F)
             Scarlet Nantes (ly)
Swiss Chard - 5 color silverbeet (BI)
Bok Choy - Shuko Pac Choi (F)
Green Beans - tavera (WP) & (ly)
Shell Beans - Vermont cranberry (SH)
Tomatoes - Cherokee purple (SH)
                  Box car Willie (SH)
                  Hillbilly (SH)
                  San Marzano (ly)
                  Pink brandywine (ly)
Peppers - poblano (BI)
               Joelene's red (WP)
Parsnips - Harris model (F)
Summer Squash - gentry (F)
Zucchini - Raven (F)
Butternut - Waltham (WP)
Broccoli - Fiesta (F)
Cauliflower - snow crown (F)
Cabbage - (ly)
Sweet potatoes - assorted bush types (SH)
Pumpkins - Howden (F)

Sunflowers - Goldy Honey Bear (BI)
                   Mammoth Russian (BI)
                   Elves Blend (BI)

I'll buy my potatoes and onion sets at a local garden supply, Agway. I'll pick up zinnia and nasturtium seeds here and there, and probably get most of my herbs and kale as seedlings from the garden center.

Happy New Year!

This year I'm going to try starting seeds in egg cartons. My house
has very little to offer in the way of south facing windows. I was
thinking about how to get away without germination heat pads or
lights, which I can't afford. I thought maybe smaller seed cells would
require less surface heat and light. So I poked some holes for
drainage and I'll put them away until next month.

There's a blanket of snow outside but all I can think about is
warm dirt!

first seed catalog for 2010

   Yesterday my first 2010 catalog came from Johnny's! I've leafed through once and circled a few things. I might add endive (specifically frisee) to my planting list. This year I'm going to try not to buy seed from anyone with Monsanto ties. And although that means no actual buying from Johnny's, I can still use their catalog for inspiration!
   

   Here's a link I use to help figure out who is Monsanto free and who isn't. If you know of any others please share!

http://www.mothering.com/discussions/showthread.php?t=824672