Difficult Seed Germination

This morning I placed three jelly jars into my refrigerator. Usually my canning jars contain homemade jam, jelly, or even pesto. But this morning my jars contain a mixture of compost and seeds. Don't worry---I labeled carefully!

Some seeds are notoriously difficult to germinate and require extra care. For example, basil and parsley require long germination times and warm root zones. I generally start to germinate them around Christmas for planting in the spring.

Today's project involves lavender, purple coneflower, and purple prairie clover---all attractive to native pollinators. These three seed varieties require a period of cold prior to germination. I could place them in the ground outside and wait for winter to do its work, but since these varieties are fussy, I decided to germinate them indoors. The seeds will "winter" in the refrigerator for a month or so. Then I'll place the soil-and-seed mixture into small pots where they will germinate under lights and be warmed by a seedling mat beneath their roots. Hopefully, all this tender loving care will produce a few viable plants.

What else is in my fridge? Mason bees. Yup. They live there all winter. But that's another blog post for another day. Cheers!

Indoor Citrus

Mid-winter in Wisconsin can be dreary. As an urban farmer, I spend my winter perusing seed catalogs, planning next summer's veggie beds, mapping out crop rotation, and baking lots of pies and tarts with last summer's fruit harvest. 

Last winter I began indoor citrus. I purchased a bag of Meyer lemons from Trader Joe's in January 2015 and saved all the seeds from the lemons. (I also bought a bag of organic limes, only to discover they were seedless. Buyer beware!) I germinated the seeds in a small plastic bag with damp paper towels. It was easy. Then I transplanted the little seedlings into light soil and watched them take off.

To add variety to my indoor citrus grove, I purchased four trees from an online vendor---a Meyer Lemon, a Venous Orange, a Key Lime and a Mediterranean Olive tree. These trees were more mature than the seedlings I had started myself. The Meyer Lemon produced two blossoms and eventually two beautiful lemons. One of them we harvested over the weekend, which you see in the photo at the top of this blog post.

All the citrus seedlings grew rapidly over the summer. In November I transplanted them into slightly larger pots. It's been a challenging winter for my citrus trees. They have dropped nearly all their leaves and generally expressed their displeasure at my care. Nevertheless, these sturdy trees are producing tiny new shoots and leaves where the old ones fell off.

Watering citrus trees is tricky. They prefer dry soil, but not parched. It's taken me months of guessing to ascertain if I'm over- or under-watering. Finally, I purchased a moisture meter with a long probe to help me determine when to water.

This isn't an instant gratification project, but one taste of that sweet lemon juice (yes, Meyer Lemons are sweet, not sour) has motivated me to keep my citrus grove growing. It gives me hope in the winter months.

Fall Crops

One of the challenges of urban farming is learning how to keep all the garden beds productive through the fall months.

This morning's harvest was a continuation of late summer crops---tomatoes, beans and elderberries. About two dozen butternut squash remain on the vines. The fall-bearing raspberries ("Heritage Everbearing") are producing heavily, unlike the summer raspberries ("Nova" and "Latham") which produced almost nothing. We're not sure if that is the result of a harsh winter or uninformed pruning.

After harvesting potatoes, onions and garlic in mid-summer, I replanted those beds with bok choy, spinach, Swiss chard, scallions and beets. Most of these were started by seed in the greenhouse and were ready for transplant when the root crops were harvested. This is the tricky part---knowing when to seed so fall crops are ready to transplant to available beds. I've found that sowing fall crop seeds in the greenhouse in early July is helpful, and sowing seeds outdoors in the beds no later than mid-August is most productive. Any later than that, and our daylight is just too limited to get those seeds germinating even if the weather is cooperative.

Now I'm off to the kitchen to process my crops for winter storage.

Growing Shallots

Shallots have never been a part of my menu planning. I've heard of them, especially when watching cooking shows on television. But they are difficult to find in the grocery store and quite expensive for something described as a "mild onion." Just use a little onion or scallion, right?

In December I decided to educate myself about shallots so I added them to this year's garden plan. I chose Zebrune shallot seeds from Seed Savers Exchange. Zebrune shallots are a heritage variety from France. It's called a banana shallot because of its long shape. The bulbs are pinkish-brown and store well.

Just after the new year, I sprinkled shallot seeds in four inch pots and placed them under lights in the basement. Each time their green tops grew a few inches tall and began to flop over, I would give them a little haircut. In early May, I gently teased the little bunches apart and planted them individually in a raised bed outdoors. They grew tall and strong and without drama. Last week I harvested them and placed them in the sun to dry.

Truth be told, I can't quite figure out why this is a big deal. Shallots grow every bit as easily as onions and scallions. The bunnies and chipmunks leave them alone and they don't require any attention at all. It's a no brainer. If you haven't tried growing your own shallots, I recommend adding this to next year's wish list.

Hooped Raised Beds

Last fall, this covered raised bed grew spinach, Swiss chard, arugula and kale, which we harvested by Thanksgiving. After harvest, we decided to retain the hooped cover over the winter months so that (theoretically) we could access this bed in early spring. Since then, Old Man Winter has completed buried the whole thing until this weekend, when my boys shoveled out the excess snow and tossed it downhill. We hope the sun will warm the raised bed in the next few weeks to allow planting of early spring greens. Meanwhile, I'm sowing seeds--indoors, of course--in 4" containers for transplant when the weather allows, perhaps late March or early April.

Gardening under snow? Well, maybe.....

Homemade Potting Soil Mix

It's nearly time to start sowing seeds for your spring gardens. Of course you can buy commercial potting soil mixes, but read the label carefully. Do you want chemically enhanced soil? Watch for Miracle Grow and other "helpful" additives.

Mixing potting soil at home is easy and economical. It takes a few basic ingredients and a dish pan to mix it in. I usually start with compost from my bins, but alas, it's frozen solid. Instead, I purchased a 40 lb bag of ordinary potting soil without any additives. This should cost about $5.

For my seed starting mix, I use equal parts of soil, peat moss and horticultural vermiculite. This mix is light enough for seeds to germinate. If I need to transplant healthy seedlings into larger containers, my transplant mix contains equal parts of soil, peat moss and Turface for drainage.

If you can afford it, choose coir rather than peat moss because coir is far more sustainable than raiding the peat bogs. Horticultural vermiculite is available at garden centers. I buy it in super large bags, but it's also available in smaller amounts.

Turface is tiny bits of clay used for drainage on golf courses and athletic fields. It's sold at landscape suppliers for about $12 per 40 lb bag. (I learned about Turface from the bonsai community.)  If you can't find Turface, you can substitute chicken grit for drainage, which is easily available at farm stores. The baby grit is quite fine and can get dusty; granny grit is slightly larger. Caution: even a small bag of grit is very heavy.

Now go play in the dirt!

Greenhouse Transition

Our little greenhouse is a hard-working element at Red Bucket Farm. In March we began raising seedlings inside the greenhouse. We started with hardy herbs (rosemary, chives, lavender) and cool season veggies like peas, carrots, beets, and Brussels sprouts. In mid-April we added warm-weather veggies including tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and basil. The shelving units were loaded with containers and flats of seedling pots. We used a water thermal inside to moderate cold night temperatures as well as a fan to keep the air circulating.

This week we transitioned the greenhouse from spring nursery to summer growth. I removed the water thermal and three of the four shelving units. We hung shade cloth over the southern exposure to limit the sunshine, which gets overpowering in the summer. One shelving unit remains for ongoing seedling projects.

I potted the eggplant and peppers into their summer containers and gave them each a tomato cage for support. Although the space appears relatively empty now, it will soon be crowded with foliage and veggies. A tall tower-style fan remains in one corner of the greenhouse all year.

Nifty Carrot Trick

When I mentioned to friends that I had started carrots by seed indoors, they laughed out loud. Why would anybody start carrots indoors? How absurd!

In her book The Zero-Mile Diet, organic gardener Carolyn Herriot describes something she calls her "Nifty Carrot Trick." She recommends starting carrots indoors in four-inch pots. When the sprouts reach four inches tall and the weather allows, she moves them outside to garden beds. Later, these carrots can be harvested in bunches rather than single rows.

I thought this technique was worth a try. After all, when I've sowed carrot and beet seeds outdoors in previous seasons, the critters manage to nibble off the tops just as they sprout. So in early February, I located old bonsai pots about four inches tall. I planted two pots with carrot seeds, another with beets, and a fourth with onion seeds. All sprouted nicely indoors. A couple weeks ago I moved the pots to the greenhouse, and then transplanted them in blocks to a raised garden bed. I'm pleased to have carrots and beets in the ground -- and it's only mid-March! It feels good to get an early start on the crops.

By the way, Carolyn Herriot lives and gardens in Victoria, British Columbia. Although some of her information is specific to the Pacific northwest, I enjoy this book enough that I purchased it for my own library. I especially appreciate her simple organic techniques. Check this book out at your library and see for yourself.

Seedling Soil Mixture

We're off to a good start. So far this year we've planned the gardens (Jan. 26 blog), researched seed purchases (Jan. 27 blog), warmed up our seedling heat mat (Feb. 1 blog) and assembled our lighted plant stands (Feb. 14 blog).

Today let's think about creating a soil mixture suitable for planting seeds. It's much cheaper to make your own soil mixture rather than buy bags prepared at the garden center. At Red Bucket Farm, our approach is simple. We create a soil light enough for seeds to emerge using compost, peat moss, and perlite or vermiculite.

If you haven't started composting yet, you can purchase finished compost at any garden store. But remember that you can begin composting in the winter by mixing a combination of green and brown ingredients in a plastic tub in your basement or garage. (See my May 6, 2011 blog post for more details on composting.)

For many years I've purchased peat moss from the garden center. Recently, though, I've become concerned about depleting our peat bogs. Coir--coconut husk fiber and peat--is a more readily renewable option. It's sold in dense blocks and requires simple hydration. Perlite and vermiculite are also available at garden centers.

Using a hand scoop, dump approximately equal amounts of compost, peat/coir and vermiculite/perlite into a bucket and stir, keeping the mixture light and loose. Distribute seeds over the soil mixture and stir very gently to just barely cover the seeds with soil. Then mist with water from a spray bottle, and/or water from beneath using a drip tray. It's important to keep the seeds moist enough to germinate but not soggy enough to rot. I check my seeds twice a day to maintain proper moisture levels. It's not difficult, but you must be attentive.

The snow is melting and spring is approaching. It's not too late to start your seeds indoors---vegetables, herbs and flowers all benefit from an early start. What are you planting?

Lighted Plant Stands

'Tis the season, folks. It's time to get those seedlings started. I could remind you of how much money you'll save by starting your own plants by seed, and how many more varieties are available by seed than the little transplants at your garden center in the spring. But you already know all that. The biggest challenge to starting seeds indoors is getting the growing conditions right. It's all about light, temperature, soil and nutrition.

Today let's think about lighting. Perhaps your house has a lovely south-facing window with tons of good light. Lucky you! Most of us will need to use some form of artificial light, generally florescent bulbs situated within a few inches of the seedlings for 14-18 hours each day.

I'm lucky to own a commercially made lighted plant stand. I bought it years ago for my tropical bonsai trees to live on during the winter months. The cart was a little pricey, but it's positively plebeian compared with the latest gear designed for indoor gardening---metal halide or high pressure sodium lamps, reflectors, fans, pumps, and more fancy stuff than you can shake a stick at. By contrast, at Red Bucket Farm we excel in low-tech solutions.

My commercial plant cart is pictured above. It has three removable trays in fixed positions, each with a florescent light fixture above. The fixtures move up and down so I can snug them up close to my seedlings. We've retrofitted the cart with reflective insulation wrap around the side and back. We've also added some plastic poultry netting on the side to keep the cats out. The front is usually covered with 6-mil clear plastic to hold in humidity and keep out the critters. Sometimes I use a little fan to encourage air circulation. Yellow stickies help keep the gnat population under control, and the heated seedling mat is concealed beneath the new starts.

This photo shows our improvised overflow plant stand. The tropical bonsai trees will have to tolerate their new home for a couple of months until the seedlings move outside to the greenhouse. This stand is made from a cheap plastic 4-shelf unit purchased at the home supply store. We bought this for the greenhouse, and use it as two 2-shelf units which fit beneath the knee walls of the greenhouse. Indoors, it has become a lighted stand with the addition of some pvc pipe, a few elbows and T-joints, and a shop light fixture. We didn't glue the joints so it will be easy to disassemble and store. This kind of flexibility is an advantage as the seedlings grow and move outdoors. In a few months, all the plants will be outside and both lighted carts will be cleaned and disassembled. If you haven't the space for a plant stand, you could make a tabletop fixture just large enough to elevate one shop lamp over your seedlings.

However you choose to illuminate your seedlings, the time to start is soon. Good luck!

Seedling Heat Mat

On December 21, I planted basil and parsley seeds in an attempt to keep myself cheerful during the darkest part of the year. Basil is a heat-loving plant and parsley is notoriously slow to germinate, so the whole project would have been ill-fated had it not been for one wonderful new bit of technology---the heated seedling mat.

Costing around $35, my seedling heat mat is large enough for one flat. It's made of heavy gauge vinyl and is designed to hold soil temperature about ten degrees above room temperature. My seeds germinated quickly and the little plants are off to a great start. Yesterday I moved the basil and parsley plants off the warm seedling mat to allow for a new project---I've just started lavender (medicinal for my bees) and chives. Later, I'll use the mat for peppers and eggplant. 

Not all seeds require such warm feet. Last year my tomatoes and Brussels sprouts did just fine without heat. I plan to start onions, carrots and beets soon without the benefit of the seedling mat. But I can see that this is an excellent tool to help get an early start on spring. Many thanks to my friends Lynn and Charlie for introducing us to this!

Safe Seed Pledge

When I first began gardening, I would drive to my nearest garden supply store and buy a packet of seeds, usually whatever first caught my attention. Now I'm a more informed and cautious gardener. I suspect my local seed company is in competition with DuPont and Monsanto for genetically modified seed corn, so I choose to buy my seeds from more conscientious suppliers.

There are many seed catalogs out there. Some of them have wonderful photographs, others have useful growing information, still others might include supplies and tools. It's fun to curl up next to the fireplace and read the catalogs---there is so much to learn from them.

I choose open pollinated or F1 varieties. Seeds collected from open pollinated plants will produce offspring essentially the same as the parent plant. Heirloom varieties are all open pollinated (but not all open pollinated plants are heirlooms). An F1 hybrid is a first generation hybrid produced from two open pollinated parent plants. Hybrids may be more disease resistant, but they will not reproduce reliably. By contrast, genetically modified plants have been created by inserting unrelated genetic material into a plant. The long-term hazards of consuming genetically modified food is still unknown. I'm choosing to avoid it.

I'm sending my business to companies that have signed the Safe Seed Pledge, which indicates the company will not knowingly buy or sell genetically engineered seeds or plants. These companies support agricultural progress that leads to healthier soils and genetically diverse agricultural ecosystems. It's said that "money talks" in our culture, so I urge you to send your seed business to companies that make you proud.

Solstice Herb Planting

Today is the winter solstice, our shortest amount of daylight all year. It's been a cloudy, gloomy month with very little snow, which means no cross country skiing or snowshoeing. In spite of holiday preparations, the blase weather is beginning to weigh down. I decided to start a new tradition: plant herb seeds indoors to help lift the darkness of winter solstice.

The lighted plant stand in my basement houses a small collection of tropical bonsai trees in the winter. It's a chilly 60 degrees there, so germinating seedlings will require extra heat. We added a seedling heat mat just large enough for one flat, and then draped the shelf with plastic sheeting to help retain the heat and humidity.

I mixed my seedling soil mixture---one third peat moss, one third vermiculite, one third sifted compost. Then I planted peat pots with basil seeds and parsley seeds, which will take a few weeks to germinate. The herb pots are situated on the top shelf of the plant stand next to two bowls of spinach seedlings. This is my indoor garden, and it will have to suffice until spring. Happy Solstice!

Giant Sunflowers

Last winter, I read that sunflowers are a good source of nectar for bees. It seemed like a good idea in terms of nurturing my new bee hives, so I bought a package of sunflower seeds to plant.

I don't know what possessed me to choose the largest sunflower available. This variety is called "Mongolian Giant" and is purported to grow very large seeds up to 1 1/2 inches long, with flower heads 6-18 inches across, and reaching 12-14 feet tall.

They weren't kidding! These sunflowers have grown taller than my walk-in chicken coop, and much taller than my new apricot trees. They tower over the garden dramatically, their sparse leaves barely creating any shadows, large heads reaching to the sky. In the last few days, the heads have started to droop. We'll leave the flower heads on the stalks as long as we can, then clip them and lay flat for the final drying. I've never harvested sunflower seeds before and will report back later.

I haven't noticed any of my honeybees on the sunflowers but the big fuzzy bumble bees adore them. It was a small investment to help the bees, and I'll wait until the end of the season before I decide if I'll grow them again next year.

Homegrown Sprouts

A couple of weeks ago I was reading an article in Chickens magazine. (Yes, there really is a Chickens magazine. You can find it at http://www.chickensmagazine.com/) The article promoted feeding fresh greens to chickens for healthier and happier animals, and it causes their eggs to be more nutritious. For those of us without pasture space, author Cynthia Amidon suggests sprouting seeds, which evidently chickens adore.

It seemed like a good idea, so I hopped on the internet and read a few articles about sprouting seeds. My favorite website was http://www.sproutpeople.org/. I measured three tablespoons of alfalfa seeds into a quart canning jar, washed and soaked for 12 hours, then rinsed and drained twice a day for about five days. Soon I had a full quart jar full of lovely alfalfa sprouts. It was simple.

Next I made hummus and baked flatbread. Combined with the crunchy green alfalfa sprouts, this created delicious and nutritious sandwiches that the whole family enjoyed. The only problem was that the chickens only got a few tablespoons of sprouts because we ate them all. So now I'm back to washing, rinsing and draining more sprouts. Maybe this time we'll share some of them with the chickens.

Chicken Poop Tea

Yesterday I started brewing a bucket of chicken poop tea. No, this isn't the latest blend from Celestial Seasonings. Instead, it's homemade liquid fertilizer.

In the February/March 2011 issue of Mother Earth News, I learned that my tiny seedlings are at risk of nutrient deficiency because the lightweight seedling soil mix is quickly depleted. I can give them a boost with liquid fertilizer, and I can make my own at home because I have the correct ingredients close at hand.

I took my red bucket out to the chicken coop and gathered several handfuls of chicken poop along with wood shavings. Then I added a gallon or so of water and gave it a stir. I'm letting it brew in the greenhouse for a day or two before I strain out the gunk (which will go to the compost bin). I'll still need to dilute the tea 1:1 so it doesn't burn the seedlings. I'll be able to use this treatment on my baby plants every two weeks.

Sounds yummy, doesn't it? I hope it helps my little seedlings.

Starting Seeds Indoors

I got spring fever early this year. I needed to do something garden-related, so I started some perennial flowers by seed indoors in very early February. I was thinking about blossoms for my honeybees. Truth be told, the perennials-by-seed have been only marginally successful. I have one echinacea plant, a couple of hollyhock seedlings, and several lemon balm.

At the same time I started spinach, chard and lettuce in bowls for indoor germination. This has been far more successful. Today I moved the salad bowls out to the greenhouse.

Later in February I started some vegetable seeds in peat pots for indoor germination. I planted Amish Paste Tomatoes, Sun Sugar Cherry Tomatoes, Flamme Tomatoes, Brussels Sprouts, Basil, Yummy Mini Bell Peppers, Carmen Hybrid Peppers, and Eggplant Rosa Bianca.

I don't have the greatest conditions for starting seeds indoors. I keep my house rather cool (62 degrees during the day) and the soil might need to be warmer for those seeds to germinate. Still, with a little creativity my plants are slowly getting started and I'm trying to remain hopeful.

In a few more weeks, I'll move all the seedlings to the greenhouse, but temperatures out there still fluctuate too widely for the tender seedlings.

Selecting Seeds

We started receiving seed catalogs in the mail at the end of the calendar year, before the Christmas decorations were put away. I don't mind; it's wonderfully healing to sit in front of the fireplace and dream about next year's crops.

For many years, I've been a loyal customer of my local garden center. I love their expertise and their willingness to answer silly questions without laughing at me. I appreciate that they stay open year around. It's lovely to visit the store in mid-winter for a dose of inspiration. The garden center merged with a local seed company 20 years ago, so seeds have always been available. I have confidence that plants and seeds sold there will surely grow in my region. Unfortunately, I've also become more aware of the strong smell of garden chemicals in that store.

During the course of mid-winter research, I learned that some seed companies have taken a Safe Seed Pledge in which they promise to sell seeds that have not been genetically modified. Although I wasn't entirely sure of the implications of genetically modified seed, I decided to patronize some of these companies. I jumped on the internet and ordered several seed catalogs, then waited for them to arrive in the mail.

I've learend that gardeners plant heirloom seeds to produce old-fashioned fruits like our grandparents might have grown. There is an urgency to preserve these genetically pure plants. Heirloom and open-pollinated seeds can be saved from one season to the next and continue to produce reliable crops that are the same as the parent plant.

Gardeners may chose to plant F1 hybrid seeds, bred from two different parent plants to produce an improved plant. Sometimes a hybrid will be more well-suited to a particular climate or region, or perhaps a hybrid is bred for particular sweetness or disease resistance. Hybrid seeds will not produce strong, reliable crops if saved for the next season.

There is increasing concern about genetically modified seed, in which unrelated genetic material is bred. The long-term results of this are still unknown, and many gardeners are cautious about using this.

After my new catalogs arrived in the mail, I spent several evenings in my chair at the fireplace, circling all my favorites with a red pen. I was like a little kid in a candy shop. The photographs in the catalogs were gorgeous, and the descriptions made me want to order one of nearly everything. It was difficult to narrow down my choices, but I finally placed an order and waited for the seeds to arrive.