Seedling Sale/First Sprouts

Yesterday I dropped off two trays of extra seedlings at a garage sale my parents were having as part of the Great Mukilteo Garage Sale. About two dozen plants, mostly tomatoes of different varieties, a few eggplants, basil and cilantro. At a dollar a piece they sold out quickly. I made twenty-four dollars! Not bad, at least enough to recoup some of the cost of seed.


While the family was busy selling the plants I went garage sale-ing with my friend Landon. I was able to find all of the things I was looking for: a whole slew of plastic pots of various sizes, a couple of new flourescent fixtures, and a box full of mason jars for canning at the end of the growing season. All told those items cost less than $10 combined!



When I visited the garden this morning I noticed that the first seeds I sowed last week have begun sprouting. Mostly the spinach, but also several beans and peas. It will be important to keep the rows moist during this critical stage of the seedlings emergence until they have established a few true leaves. A thorough watering (about 2 liters for each 13' row, from the rain barrel of course) every morning should be sufficient to keep them moist without drowning them. The broccoli transplants seem healthy, although a few cold nights this past week have kept them from putting on too much new growth. At any rate they seem to be adjusting well to their new home.

Prepping: Continued

Aaron and I braved the cold/rain yesterday to work on sifting grass roots from the newly turned garden space. This is definitely the most labor-intensive aspect of setting up an urban garden (don't get discouraged now!). Luckily we have relatively good soil to work with (i.e. very few rocks and no major roots from the nearby hedges). We still need to sift about half of the new area, which will have to wait until more amicable weather presents itself. Here are some pictures of vegetable seedlings we have under way:


Seeds-eye view of brocolli (left) and tomatoes
(at right) planted 3/5/09



The seedling station in our basement. Seedlings are fragile so it's important to keep them warm (70 degrees or so) and under plenty of light. Seeds germinate best at the same temperature. Our lights are kept on 18 hours a day. At left is my GlowPanel 45, an LED grow light that uses only 45 watts and seems to be giving the plants just the right spectrum they need. The fixtures to the right are compact fluorescent bulbs rated 5000K (2 at 13 watts and 1 at 30 watts). Underneath the table is a two bulb (40 watts each) T-12 shop light fixture with regular cool white bulbs. As long as your lights don't produce too much heat, you'll want to keep them as close to the plants as possible (usually within 6 inches or so) to prevent them from becoming spindly. If you're planning on starting an outdoor garden this year, it's not too late to start planting seeds indoors. Carpe Diem.