Seedlings
There are a number of ways to get plants started in a vegetable garden: direct seeding in the garden, planting seedlings purchased at a nursery, and starting seedlings inside or in a greenhouse. I use all three.
Planting seeds directly in the garden
The advantage of this is that it is quick and easy. Work the soil and insure it is the best it can be. I then scratch a shallow furrow for each line of seeds I’ll put down. Sometimes measuring with a tape, but most often just eyeballing. I plant carrots this way. And in order to insure that the soil stays moist so that the feathery leaves can push through, and to protect the new leaves from earwigs and other vile creatures, I put down floating row cover.
Buying seedlings at a nursery
I sometimes do this. Especially if I find a space I need to fill a space and don’t want to wait for what can sometimes be two months to grow seedlings. But I have to pick from what the nursery has in stock. And what others have left behind!
Starting seedlings inside
I do this for many vegetables. Especially those I want to start early in the growing season. Right now I have kale, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli (brassicaceae), and eight varieties of tomatoes in a seedling tray under a grow light. The brassicaceae popped up yesterday, and the tomatoes began showing their tiny new stems this morning. I have a 72 cell tray and put in sterile starting soil. I keep the soil moist and warm, using a heating pad specifically designed for this process. And a grow light. I had problems the first season I grew seedlings: damping off and leggy stems. Damping off, where seedlings are susceptible to a variety of fungus, can be prevented by removing the plastic cover of the seedling tray as soon as the seedlings first appear. And leggy stems (too rapid stem growth versus leafing) is best taken care of with proper use of a good grow light. The payoff? Early planting of the varieties of vegetables I choose. Not waiting for what the nursery will have. Oh. And the joy of watching them grow.
Lettuce seedlings from earlier in the season
Walk well. J J
1
Linda Jeffers says:
January 26, 2010 at 6:11 am
I used to grow my own veggies. I’m jealous of the joy that comes from jumping out of bed, oh so early, with excitement, to see how much the seedlings have sprouted overnight. Again, I’m envious.