Skip to main content

Terrariums and Seed Starting

After reading a bit in my trusty Week-by-Week Vegetable Gardner's Handbook:  Make the Most of Your Growing Season by Ron and Jennifer Kujawski book, my husband and I quickly realized we were a bit behind in our seed starting.

First, let me say a couple of things regarding seed starting.

1.  It's apparently complicated
2.  I've failed at it miserably in the past

Luckily enough, I had signed up for a terrarium making class at a local nursery, Tagawa Gardens, and they were having a "Seed Starting Day" that same day.  Yay killing two birds with one stone!

I went to my terrarium class, it was lovely.  Just the right amount of information, terrarium history, and hands on fun.  For $18.23 I was able to buy all the supplies for this little guy, all I had to do was bring the jar, which was left over from my wedding.  Score.

I loved the moss, I guess having grown up in a relatively dry environment has made me fall helplessly in love with all things super green and humidity-needing.  So it's nice to capture at least a little bit of that in my home. 

After terrarium class was over, I got down to business buying seeds.  This place was ginormous, but I resisted the temptation to browse and focused on seed acquisition.


We decided on trying the following vegetables from seed (variety name):
  • Chives (eek, already threw out package)
  • Basil (ditto, package gone)
  • Parsnip (All American) 
  • Carrots (Half Danver)
  • Kale (Nero Toscana)
  • Spinach (Bloomsdale)
  • Lettuce (Buttercrunch)
  • Zucchini (Black Beauty)
  • Cucumber (Straight Eight)
  • Sugar Pumpkin (New England Pie)
  • Watermelon (Sugar Baby, wishful thinking for hubby)
  • Spaghetti Squash (Vegetable Spaghetti)
  • Pea (Oregon Sugar Pod)
  • Fenugreek sprouts (another story entirely) 

We, and by we, I mean my grandpa, told me to start certain veggies from plants.  Our transplant selection includes (varieties TBD):
  • Starter Onion
  • Starter Garlic
  • Asparagus
  • Broccoli
  • Cauliflower
  • Tomatoes
  • Peppers
  • Rhubarb
So last night, we started a few seeds: Basil, Chives, Carrots, and Parsnips.  In coming weeks we will plant Spinach, Kale, and Lettuce.

After agonizing over a seed growing set up, my loving husband jerry-rigged the following for us.

Shelving we had:





Then he hooked up a bad ass light:


Then we got to planting:





Above would be carrots, way too many itty-bitty carrots seeds.

And blow is a close up of our finished product:



My only concern at this point is heat.  You can buy all sorts of fancy heating mats for your seedlings, but I'm hoping having them in our main living area, which we keep at 70 degrees, will keep everyone snug as bugs in rugs. 

Wondering about the cost breakdown?  Well, it was more than I would have liked, but we realize this is a starting investment and hopefully it will pay off in the end ::fingers crossed::

Metal Shelf: Had in the basement
Plastic starter trays x4: $15.88
Seed starting soil: $12.99
Seeds mentioned above (all organic and/or heirloom varieties): $15.47
Florescent light fixture: $19.97
Florescent bulbs (4 pack): $16.00

Total:  $80.31

We hope to add another light fixture in the near future for our upcoming seeds on shelf two.

And now - we wait.














Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Little Review of Smart Gardener

My good friend introduced me to Smart Gardener via Pinterest .  The description was something along the lines of, "this site plans your garden for you."  As a new gardener, I was skeptical.  Sounds a little too good to be true, but I checked it out anyways. At first I was enamored.  It allows for garden planning in 4 steps: 1.  Layout your garden - you are able to choose the square footage of an in-ground garden, or choose from a variety of containers/raised beds.  Cool! 2. Select your plants - this is limited by season, and you cannot mix cool weather and warm weather vegetables.  Not cool!  Varieties of vegetables are also limited if you are looking for something specific, but you can add them manually. 3. View your plan - you get a little image with your selected plants on it, plus the space they require in your garden (square footage), planting depths, seed spacing, plant dimensions, and what to plant next to each other or not (F...
2 comments
Read more

Mr. Stump - You are no longer welcome here

So we have this guy smack in the middle of our pile of dirt.  Mr. Stump. I purchased some Bonide Stump-Out last summer and had my dad drill the necessary holes to use it. Apparently you drill in some v-like holes, mix this stuff with water and pour it in.  I never got around to it, but now that we are wanting to plant, seems like I might want to get on it. After treatment, your stump is supposed to come out -  in 4 to 6 weeks....I just realized this.  But after that 4 to 6 weeks, you can set it on fire to remove the stump.  You heard me:  SET. IT. ON. FIRE. So this weekend, I wiped off our recent snow from the stump and poured this stuff in.  I will post an update in 4-6 weeks when we SET. THE. STUMP. ON. FIRE. ::excitedly clapping hand, not gonna lie::
2 comments
Read more

Plant Problem #2: Peppers

My peppers are looking funkified.  I know it's a horrible picture, but I'm sure you can see those blackish spots. I'm not sure if they have picked up the previous plant herp, aka fungus, that the broccoli and cauliflower had.  Or maybe some other kind of blight?  I'm treating it with the fungicide and rolling with it.  I've come to accept the fact, long before we even started this whole gardening thing, that not every plant was going to be a winner.  If they don't make it, they don't make it.  C'est la vie.  For a dose of good news, we had our first zucchini harvest this week. I made lovely zucchini ribbons with a meat sauce for a couple lunches this week. In the background, you'll notice a zucchini accident (young one I broke while trying to trim off dead) and a pepper.  Apparently, you are supposed to remove the first peppers to encourage growth.  So I lopped him off and here's to hoping between that and the fungicide, the p...
Post a Comment
Read more