i present the proof of my gardening prowess - a couple of spinach seeds have germinated - woohoo! okay, that's not such a big deal but it is to me! check them out:
i have a pile of little seeds coming up - they seem to really like the salad containers!
they'll soon be moved here so that i can start even more seeds:
by moving them from under the grow light in to the little greenhouses, you can start the hardening off process. they will stay in their little salad containers for a few more days and then i will transplant them into cardboard pots. during the day, i will open the plastic that wraps the greenhouses and close them up at night. during the day, we will open the windows on both ends of the porch to let in some fresh air - it sure gets hot out there on a sunny day! eventually i will remove the potted seedlings from the little plastic greenhouses and put them on several tables that we have out on the porch. after a few days of that, the seedlings will then be moved outside during the day. and that will be their cycle until it is time to put them in the ground. i can't wait. but will have to for at least a month and a half!
are you tired of paying for jiffy pellets to start your seeds in every year? a few years ago - i was too! then i found all kinds of nifty things that people were doing - such as using egg cartons for starting their seeds. save up all of your egg cartons from the grocery store:
and voila! fill them with a mix of manure and sifted dirt. these babies are soaking in seaweed compost water - sure is smelly!
plant your seeds just as you would in a jiffy pellet. you can fit 3 of these egg carton seeders to a baggy if you use the baggy method. or if you use salad containers, like i do, they fit together just as well as the jiffy pellets!
and yesterday's lunch - tempura! oh i love tempura!
the pic is blurry and it doesn't show how delicious this really was! we did shrimp, onion, mushroom and sweet potatoe - yummeh!
Nice. I eat a spinach salad every night, of late...
ReplyDeleteoh Stephen - i cannot wait to be making salad from my garden again - i love spinach salad! i love it with strawberries, too, just like your Sweet Wife. i know you hate it with strawberries....ya freak! bahahhaahah!
DeleteEggs cartons cut apart for seed starting? The horror! The HORROR!!! (You must understand...I have chickens and NEVER have enough spare egg cartons around!)
ReplyDeleteI use plastic sandwich bags. Kinda easy, got the idea from mmpaints over at her blog: http://www.selfsustainedliving.net/2012/04/great-weekend.html
You fill the baggies halfway or a little less with your potting mix, plant your seeds in it, water. If it gets a little chilly (and you use the resealable bags) you can zip them up to retain heat and moisture overnight.
A lot different from what I usually carried around in baggies in high school in the 70s....
hey Lamb...ya for people with chickens there are never enough egg cartons! i have used the mmpaints method for years with the baggies. but this year since we were buying local salad all winter, we decided to try salad greenhouses - and they are working out really well!
Deletebahahahahaha! but what you carried in the baggies was still green right?
Yay! How exciting to see little sprouts! I did something very different for my sprouts this year. Soon will share!
ReplyDeleteI had to look up Tempura-not much fish out here-lol
Thanks for your encouraging words on my blog!
xoxo
thanks Jen! i always get excited when i see little sprouts so thanks for that! oooooh - i cannot wait to see what you are doing this year - hurry up and do tell, please! we love tempura around here - it doesn't have to be done with only fish - you can go all vegetarian with it - lots of veggies are good deep-fried - yummeh!
Deletethanks for your always encouraging words and support - over the years! it has been years that we have known each other - isn't that crazy?!?!?!? xoxoxo back to you!
Try this:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=k2m8-hfhtDU#
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PltQYV1oqec&feature=related
I was given a 2 inch soil block "machine" and did not know what to do with it. These two videos are gangbusters and THE way to go for multiple reasons. And NOT terribly costly. I use them and love them.
Just don't paint them white.
Winston
Winston - last year jambaloney's Mom and StepDad gave us all 3 sizes for the soil blockers - and we love them! we just haven't gotten around to making them yet!!! and we still had some leftover peat pellets and had been saving the egg cartons as i love re-using/re-purposing things! the peat pellets and egg cartons will be moved into the big-sized soil blocks when it is time.
Deletei promise i won't paint them white buddy! bahahahah!
Kymber give this a look see...Might work better for you than egg cartons to start plants ...It's on my wish list.
ReplyDeletehttp://non-electric.lehmans.com/search?w=plant%20pot%20maker&asug=
thanks for the link Beth! i have seen and used these before. our problem with these is that we don't get newspapers or fliers - teehee. but we do have soil blockers which we plan to start using - i just really like the little egg cartons!!! xoxo
DeleteI leave my egg cartons while. Looks like I need to send cartons to Lamb, people are always giving them to me, had to start turning them down. Looks like your seedling are coming around.
ReplyDeletei hate that autocorrect. and for some seeds, i left them whole as well. and ya, poor Lamb needs some egg cartons - bahahahah! seeds are doing real well now - i gotta get planting them into pots in the next day or so and then start more seeds - woohoo! thanks Phelan! xoxo
DeleteWe have those little portable greenhouse stands for our seeds, too. Aren't they awesome?
ReplyDeleteI have also been using egg cartons to start my seeds in. Unfortunately I found out that hard way that both onion and lettuce don't really do well in them. Mine just didn't seem to have strong enough roots to work their way through the paper!
Prairie Cat - those little portable greenhouse stands really are awesome! when the seedlings are too big for their salad containers, i transplant them in pots or soil blocks and move them to the green house stands - then there is more room on the seed starting tray to start more seeds!
Deletethanks for sharing your experience with the egg cartons. i have read of others having similar problems so i am planning on soaking them before transplanting to make the cardboard turn to mush and then pulling them off of the seedling.
thanks for stopping by and i will check out your blog now!
You are just so annoyingly talented:)
ReplyDeleteThe food looks devine!
that's such a sweet thing to say agirlandhergun - thank you so much! now ya got me blushing! teehee!
ReplyDeleteI am challenged when it comes to gardening, I am better at preparing what was grown in the garden. Doesn't it feel good when the little sprouts start popping up? Like you have a new little friend just waiting to grow and give you joy. Good luck with your starts in your greenhouse.
ReplyDeletehey Rose - it feels so good when the little sprouts pop up - it feels so awesome! and yes, you have a new friend that you have to take care of and attend to, and eventually plant! i always talk and sing to all of my little seeds, seedlings and plants...and once they are in the ground, jambaloney and i walk around the yard 4 or 5 times a day and i sing ridiculous little songs to them all - it sure does bring me a lot of joy! thank you for your sweet comment - i am going to check out your blog right now!
ReplyDeleteI have to replant my oregano-for some reason they didn't sprout! My tomatoes,broccoli,and onions are coming up nicely,though.
ReplyDeleteDonna - it sounds like you got a bag of bad seeds - i hate when that happens! glad to hear that everything else is coming up! xox
Delete..well I GUESS we should start our garden then! hehe..looks great! For our starters we also use a newspaper roller which compacts a piece of newspaper into a biodegradable planter...gotta find it in that mess of a shed! I think we would use egg cartons but with 3 doze eggs a week here cartons are a hot commodity! hehe..that tempura looks yummy! take are!
ReplyDeleteegb - ya, i have seen those newspaper roller things - our prob is we don't get the newspaper and we don't get fliers or anything to make them with! we do go through a ton of egg cartons tho! and ya - sounds to me like i should be mailing some of our egg cartons to you!!!
DeleteThat is going to be a great garden from the looks of the numbers of seed pots with germinating seeds.
ReplyDelete