Sunday, September 27, 2015

It's all about Seeds

This is my Garden Share Collective post for October, which this month has a theme - SEEDS

It's very timely for now it is time in our garden to prepare for the growing season by starting off seeds in trays ready for later spring planting.

My motherinlaw and I spent the afternoon with packets of seedling mix and our seed stash, starting off seeds in trays.  We have decided (or rather, she decided) that the old pigpen would be a good raising place, since it gets sun, and is warm, but seeds wont be damaged by late frosts.  In the absence of a potting shed or garden shed, I concurred.

We had quite a little conveyor belt system going, she put in the mix, I watered and put in seeds, then she topped with a small sprinkle and named the tray.

Now we have quite a collection of filled trays.

Our working table, this was the first few trays we potted up
The first of the trays on the pigpen floor
I did have to laugh about the seed collection we had.  Both of us had saved seed from plants last year, but invariably we had the same foods, always Spring Onion - I guess because it produces such a prolific amount of seed.   I found I had lots of little folded envelopes and packets marked things like, "Anna Lettuce - nice 2010" etc.  Will they still be viable? I don't know, but time will tell.  In a couple of weeks if they haven't germinated we'll try again.

Kale seedlings in the main garden, from seed I collected last Autumn
A note to YATES - the seed packets were so sparse with seed. Shame on you YATES.  We counted and planted only 19 seeds from the packet of "Summerstar" tomatoes.  Gone are the days when you got a good few tablespoons of seed in a bought packet.  Oderings gave the best value for money, with goodly numbers of seeds in their packets.
With only 19 seeds in this packet, it is hardly value for money!
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7 comments:

  1. UnknownSeptember 28, 2015 at 10:57 AM

    You might not like my post this month Anna! Your seed raising set up looks perfect. Happy growing.

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  2. Melissa LSeptember 28, 2015 at 8:24 PM

    19 seeds in a packet seems very stingy! I haven't bought tomato seeds in a very long time, since we constantly seem to get them whenever I pull worm castings out of our worm bin and into our pots. Maybe it's time to start saving seeds from any tomatos you get from those 19 seeds?

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  3. AnonymousSeptember 28, 2015 at 11:12 PM

    Sounds like you had a successful afternoon, I would be happy with 19 seeds if they all germinated! My post is about my poor germination rates, have a great month :)

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  4. AnonymousSeptember 30, 2015 at 12:15 AM

    I agree that 19 seeds in a pack is pretty disappointing, especially when they may have cost 3 or 4 dollars. I hope you have better luck with your other seeds.

    ReplyDelete
  5. PhuongSeptember 30, 2015 at 5:02 AM

    It looks like you got a lot accomplished in one afternoon. I had a lot of old seed I've been trying to use up too, some grew and some didn't but it's really nice when they do.

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  6. lizzie {Strayed Table}October 1, 2015 at 1:17 PM

    only 19 - that is stingy! I know some seed places go by grams when they package their seeds. I once only received 6 rhubarb seeds in a packet. I was shocked. I like your potting table, it is always nice not having to bend over while gardening.

    ReplyDelete
  7. africanaussieOctober 6, 2015 at 12:55 PM

    I dont mind if there are not many seeds since I have a small garden. I have been very happy with seeds from the seed collection - a lot of their seed packets are 1.00 and all the seeds come up!

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