Seed Starting Part 3: Put 'em in the dirt!

It is so beautiful outside! Today the kids actually took their shirts off with permission while playing outside. I couldn't resist: I planted peas and carrots in one of my garden beds. I'm pretty sure there will be another cold snap and they won't do well, but all this sunshine and birdsong has me itching to grow things. On that note, are you ready to start some seeds?

All we really have left to do is put those seeds in the dirt. This year I used an odd assortment of containers, sticking to my if-it-costs-money-what's-the-point gardening motto. I've been saving all our small plastic yogurt cups, so I punched holes in the bottoms of them with a steak knife and filled them up with dirt. Then I had a seed-starter tray from last year and a few red Solo cups that I tried to start cabbages in over the winter. Titus and I filled them all with dirt and planted zinnia, basil, echinacea, tomato, eggplant, and pepper seeds. Oh yes, I planted a couple cucumber seeds, too. Plant markers were made from a Solo cup that I cut into pieces and wrote on with a permanent pen.

All my containers are sitting on the windowsill nearest the heater to speed up the seeds' germination. Peppers in particular require warmth to germinate, and the other nightshades appreciate heat too. As soon as those little guys pop out of the dirt, I will move them out to the greenhouse under the grow lights. All I have left to do is get ahold of a fan to set up in the greenhouse. I want to use it to strengthen my seedlings' stems, but also because the air is getting pretty humid and stagnant in there; I'm not trying to grow mold!

Now begins my most insecure part of gardening: waiting for the seeds to germinate. Every seed that doesn't pop up feels like some sort of personal failure. Year after year I am sure that nothing will grow and my garden will be a complete failure. But then a tiny plant pokes up its pretty green face and I am absolutely thrilled. I guess it is kind of ridiculous to have so much emotional energy tied up in a handful of miniscule seeds, but it is true. I am a gardening basket-case. Hopefully the seeds come up this year or you are in for some embarrassingly dramatic blog posts!

Operation Greenhouse is a success!

I am so excited that my completely impromptu greenhouse project is working! I have butter lettuce (above) and baby bok choy (below)...

... as well as a tray of cut-and-come-again salad greens. I didn't buy anything fancy for this other than organic potting mix. Everything is growing in old plastic containers I snagged out of the recycling bin. I just stabbed holes in the bottom of each using a kitchen knife, filled them with dirt and seeds, put them in the greenhouse and hoped for the best.

It's certainly not as impressive as growing tomatoes in winter. These are cold-hearty plants, after all, which is why they are growing so easily in my non-heated greenhouse. But I know they are doing much better in here than they would be doing outside, where the daytime high has been around 37 degrees for over a week. I don't have a thermometer in the greenhouse yet, but it is noticeably warmer inside it than out. And it has been so nice being able to grow something during the middle of winter, when I am usually only able to daydream about spring.

I know I'm pretty fortunate to have a greenhouse. They can be costly and take up space, which is shy many people don't have them. But if you want the same basic idea and are limited on space but not creativity, you should definitely consider building a cold frame. This is a good tutorial on how to build a cold frame - looks like a pretty simple and inexpensive project that would be well worth it in the end, as it can be used just like a greenhouse to extend your growing season. Let me know if you decide to give it a try!

Greenhouse Experiment

I have been both intrigued and intimidated by the idea of greenhouses for a while now. And since I park my car right next to my dad's small greenhouse, the idea has been nagging me as well. I love the thought of extending my growing season, but what does that really mean in sunny California where the weather rarely dips below 30 degrees and it is pretty easy to grow at least something green year-round? And what about all these things I keep hearing like "humidity monitor" and "internal thermostat"? If growing in a greenhouse requires me to understand anything beyond the basic stick-it-in-the-dirt-and-water-it skills, I'm sunk, since I am still trying to master those.

But every day I park my car right next to my dad's yet-unused greenhouse, and I wonder.

After an unsuccessful library search on "greenhouse gardening" I decided to just give it a try. I have planted lettuce and bok choy in my outside garden several times and they either aren't growing or are being eaten by snails as soon as they sprout. I figured that even if I remain ignorant to humidity and temperature variables in the greenhouse, planting something in there will at least give it a pest-free growing space. So I stabbed holes in several plastic containers and gathered up a few large pots, filled them with seeds, gave them a good watering, and sealed them up in the greenhouse. We'll see what happens. I suppose I have to remember to water them (note to self: EVEN when it rains since the rain can't get into the greenhouse!).

So, this is basically a completely uneducational guide to growing veggies in a greenhouse. I have no idea if my methods or timing are correct, but I'll find out soon if anything grows. If anyone out there has successfully used a greenhouse, let me know!