Despite my total lack of control when ordering seeds, this year I'm being much more disciplined about actually starting the seeds. Over the weekend I developed my calendar for the next 10 weeks so that I start the right seeds at the right time.
First up are the peppers. I'm attempting to grow five varieties this year. Three are bell peppers from last year: California Wonder, Golden Star, and Gourmet, and two are sweet specialty peppers: Yum Yum and Healthy. (Who can resist those names?)
This year, rather than wrangle the little peat discs covered in netting, I'm trying some homemade recycled pots made of the cardboard rolls from toilet paper and paper towel rolls, and some rolled up newspapers.
Already the toilet paper/paper towel rolls look like they're starting to come unwound, so I don't have super high hopes for their longevity. But hopefully they'll be good seed incubators long enough to get the seedlings ready to transplant into larger pots.
But the newspaper pots seem to be really sturdy so far. We don't get the newspaper (and most of the newspaper I have easy access to has colored pictures anyway), so for the next set of seeds in 2 weeks I'm going to try to make a batch of pots using a bunch of brown kraft paper I have.
I'd better spend most of my evenings making little pots, because the next group of seeds includes about 9 varieties of tomatoes, 2 varieties of cabbage, a bunch of herbs, eggplant, and broccoli. Not to mention some onions...
Are any of you starting seeds? I'd love to hear what you're growing and what you use to start your seeds.
I love the homemade pots! Very clever! Please tell me how you made them. I would love to have a vegetable garden, but I have lots of critter visitors. Think there's any hope?
ReplyDeleteOne seed pot tutorial coming up tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteCritters are tough to deal with! I didn't have too many problems last year (thank goodness), but something kept thieving my strawberries. I'm going to try some chicken wire fencing around the berries this year. My mom has a lot of trouble with gophers eating the roots of her plants, and the squirrels steal the tomatoes. A lot of people bury chicken wire undergound to protect the roots from gophers. And I've heard of people stringing fishing wire around plants or hanging pieces of shiny metal or tinfoil on the tomato cages to help deter hungry varmints.
This is so awesome! I'm excited for the tutorial on the pots tomorrow!
ReplyDelete