MY SEEDS ARE SPROUTING!

Posted by Katie Elzer-Peters
March 14th, 2009
Filed in Seed Starting
Tags: flowers, seeds, vegetables

After worrying, worrying, worrying this week-first it is hot, then it is cold, then it was dry, now it is raining-I have seen my seeds that I planted last week start to sprout!  I took pictures so I can show off my “babies” to my loyal readers.  (Shout out to Susan and Natalie, my Mother-in-Law and best friend from College)  Actually, more than two of you read.  I am just trying to aggravate Chris!  Yes, my seed monitoring is fanatical, but it is kind of nerve-wracking waiting for the seeds to come up after shoveling and wheeling load after load of compost into the garden.  What if they didn’t show?  (As of this writing, I am still waiting for the pesky sweet peas and nasturtiums.  Tick tock tick tock.)

Baby Spinach

The little green speck in the center of this picture is one of my spinach seedlings.  I was most concerned about the spinach sprouting, because sometimes it takes a long time to germinate and can succumb to fungal disease before it actually emerges.  I have a few more seedlings coming up and it has only been a week, so stay tuned!  My spinach is “Catalina” from Renee’s Garden.  I did not chit or soak my spinach seeds before sowing.

Baby Lettuce

These are my lettuce babies.  I got my seed from Renee’s Garden.  These seedlings are from the “Farmers Market Lettuce Blend:  Sweet Greens and Reds” package. It took them about one week to sprout.  For four days, it was sunny and 75 degrees every day.  For the last two days, it has been overcast and about 50 degrees.  I didn’t measure the soil temperature.  That would have required more planning than I tend to engage in.

In order to try to ensure that the lettuce did not get stuck under the soil, I dug a little trench with my trowel, filled it with growing mix that I had added water to, sprinkled the seeds, and added a TEENSY bit of mix on top of the lettuce, barely covering the seeds.  Then, I pressed down the soil to restore capillary action.  (That is a fancy way of saying, putting water molecules and soil molecules back in touch with each other so that the water will flow upward toward the seeds.)

Baby Radishes

Approximately anyone can grow radishes, however, that makes it no less exciting when the seedlings start to sprout!  Normally, I have a big problem with dumping an entire packet of seeds into the row, and spending about twenty six hours thinning the radishes.  Because I am hoping to eat these (as opposed to sowing them near carrots to break up the soil crust), and they are so easy to grow, and I just read the square-foot gardening book, I sowed the radish seeds about every three to four inches so that I don’t have to spend a lot of time thinning.

Tips Adapted from the Gardening Books I have been Reading

This spring, because I am growing vegetables for the first time in North Carolina, I decided to read up before planting.  I have implemented the following tips gleaned from several different books (Square Foot Gardening, The Gardener’s A-Z Guide to Growing Organic Food in particular).

• Planting seeds according to mature plant spacing.
• Double-digging and adding six inches of compost before planting.  (My blisters are somewhat healed, after a week.)
• Adding vermiculite/growing media as a seed bed to retain water and allow for better air flow.
• Creating walking paths and RELIGIOUSLY not walking anywhere but the paths. (Still training the dog.)