A couple of years ago the big garden on the street side of the privacy fence was a disaster. I couldn't get anything to germinate - not even flowers! It was extremely frustrating. How could I NOT be able to grow any flowers?! The things that did come up were celebrated one day and then a couple of days later I would find that they were eaten by a critter. Stupid deer. So the end of that garden season was very disappointing with few veggies to count as a success. Seriously...no flowers that year.
The following year we decided to run the chickens through the garden and let them "do the work." Hello permaculture. Last year's garden was FABULOUS! Most things were from seed. Those that I started in the hoop house a few weeks before transplanting. I was giddy! We tried new things and even the things that didn't do that great were minimal and I know to start certain things like the Three Sisters garden a little sooner than we did last year.
So, what is my beef this season? Well, my seed starting skills are not what they once were and I don't know why. By mid-March I had a few trays of seeds started, nothing terribly exotic. The success rate was mediocre at best. The things that did sprout were tomatoes. Which was great, but over the next couple of weeks some of the tomatoes started to wither. Which is fine, I always plant more just in case. I ended up with a dozen of pretty healthy seedlings which were transplanted into pots over the weekend:
Some of these looked a bit sad when I first transplanted them. I was hopeful that they would perk up and they did!
Here is an example of what didn't work:
Some of the seeds in this one came up, but I think that was somewhat accidental. The soil I used for these soil blocks wasn't ideal. It ended up being really heavy and solid blocks. Not awesome. I won't be picking up that soil mix again.
Another thing that I tried out for the first time ever was making little pots out of toilet paper tubes. I was getting tired of dumping something that could possibly be used somehow. After a search on Pinterest I found the post that led to this:
So they worked out pretty well. I think the key here was that fact that the soil wasn't totally packed into these little cups. These are Romanesco (left) and Kohlrabi (right). This part is the success part, we'll see what happens once they are transplanted into bigger pots or even straight into the ground.
Of the 5 trays that I prepared throughout the month of March only two were semi-successful. This morning I spent some time getting the cell packs out and ready for seeds. The one tray that didn't work included the free tomato seeds that were included in my order from Baker Creek Heirloom seeds and the Shishito peppers - a favorite and the really cool Royal Golden Watermelon. The other tray is all herbs and some squash.
In the transplants and the cell packs I used the cheapest potting soil I have ever seen and it seems so much better than the last stuff that we found at Lowe's. We are kind of experimenting here. We bought and planted three varieties of blueberry plants (one of each) into the yard bed along with the Olympian Fig that I got a couple of years ago. The blueberry plants along with the soil were from Walmart. I have never thought to buy garden supplies at WM - so this year will be interesting If all works out, I think I'll have to stock up on the soil. Anyway, we'll see how things turn out in the days to come.
I came to the conclusion that maybe soil blocks might be the better way to go for my fall crops. Which I will start by mid-summer. The hoop house get's a lot of heat, so I'll have to set up some trays in the garage so that they will have a little bit of a chance of surviving.
Growing a garden is my jam...it's what makes Farm Life the best!
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