So last night I started some seedlings. Then today I was reading TennZen's blog and realized how far behind I really am. She spent Saturday transferring her warm weather seedlings to larger pots and she's going to be ready to plant those seedlings by March 28. That's sort of a puzzle to me, since the last frost date for middle Tennessee is in April. Maybe she's in Memphis!
So anyhow, I started three of my cool weather vegetables--collards, sugar snap peas, and swiss chard--in my Jiffy seed starter. Not sustainable! Grow Biointensive advocates stress sustainability. Sustainability would mean making use of resources I have instead of buying materials and then recycling what I do use. By next year (or even by the time I do a fall planting) I hope to have flats I've made myself and my own compost and soil. But starting with the Jiffy seed starter is easy and not too complicated for the beginner.
To start the seedlings, I filled the little pots with jiffy starter soil, put seed in each pot, and watered them until the water seeped out the bottom of the pots. Then I covered them with the plastic top that comes with the kit. They are now in my greenhouse. Ok, they're in my living room. But it's the right temperature. I have no idea whether or when I should water them again. Guess I'll figure that out...keep your fingers crossed that little plants will appear soon.
My plan is to do my double dig this weekend--with pictures and an explanation--plant my potatoes and sow some of my cool weather vegetables directly to the garden. I'll start my warm weather seedlings in my "greenhouse" around the same time.
3 comments:
Thanks for visiting my blog! I wouldn't feel too bad about using the Jiffy peat pellets. I personally use them and am very pleased with the results. I also save and reuse the plastic trays, so it's a win-win combination for me.
As far as starting the seeds a little early and planting before the absolute frost-free date, I am planting after the 50% probably of frost date. (I live in East TN, by the way)
I've also paid attention to the weather trends around here and it gets warmer a lot sooner nowadays. I don't know how current the USDA's frost dates are, but I believe they need to be updated. If I waited until April to plant, then there's a distinct possibility that the plants would burn up before they had a real chance to produce anything. It's happened to me before, I'm sad to say.
As far as the potatoes, I cut mine into chunks with at least 3 eyes per chunk. Then I let the chunks dry out for a few days before planting. That's the way my granddaddy always did it.
Good luck with your garden!
Also, don't worry about starting those sugar snap peas in the peat pellets. Go ahead and plant them directly in the ground. Peas don't like to be transplanted and don't survive it very well.
If you've already planted your peas in the peat pellets, dig them out and put them right in the ground.
Oh thanks so much for the helpful comments.
On the peas, I only planted a few in the peat pots. The majority are going in the ground with my other cool weather seeds this weekend.
On the potatoes, I opted for your granddaddy's method!
And on the frost dates, I agree, they seem a bit off. I'm crossing my fingers for a long, cool spring and I'll try in the fall to plant some cool weather vegetables.
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