Our Seeds Have Legs?

Cosmos and Dahilas

      Sorry I’ve been away for a while, things just get a little, well, hectic sometimes.  Farm cats with eye infections that needed quarantine and treatment (and another that needed cared for separately), two weeks’ worth of volunteer work, and well a house we’re attempting to keep clean during all of this, certainly puts a damper on things.  If you’ve been keeping up with us on Facebook, you’ll notice that I managed to get a little done in my absence from the blog.  You’re also probably thinking, “So are those seeds still alive?” as I go on a diatribe about lack of time to do anything constructive recently.  Without further ado, they are!  

      You see, I'm sure that I'm not the only one who looks forward to each season with anticipation instead of accepting the season that is presently with us, and this drawn out winter is no exception.  It's so dead, barren and cold outside.  I keep glancing towards the sour cherry tree, but no buds of green growth are appearing yet.  (At least none that the farm cats before they were quarantined haven’t decided to chew off.)  The black walnut trees look miserable with their loss of branches, and the ten friendly farm cats have been unsuccessfully begging me to come indoors with each single digit day that is upon us.  (Now nine of them that have successfully made it through the doors and into carriers, with a minor eye infection they are being treated for and they are begging hourly to once again go outside.  The grass is always greener…).  In case I haven't said it before... I dread winter. 

      Fortunately for me, and all of you like me, spring is just around the corner.  We actually saw 50° on a thermometer today, although some sections of the yard still have 4-foot tall snow banks and most of the grass is more-or-less covered in the aforementioned “white crap.”  I relish the day that the strong young seedlings in our seed starters can be placed in the reddish-brown soil of Pennsylvania Dutch Country.  When containers can decorate everywhere a flowerbed, garden or lawn is not firmly planted.  When the birdfeeders, full through the winter months will find their homes back in the shed, and ferns or hanging baskets will take their places.  Oh, how I miss spring!  The warm weather, the open windows, the lack of this fluffy or slushy “white crap” falling from the sky… spring! 

      The seed starters are now getting me more excited as well.  Each and every day, in between the franticness of life, I glance at them and notice that their leaves are a little taller and a little greener.  Then I noticed their stems stretching out towards the light… ugh.  Leggy seedlings here we come! 

 

Some leggy members of the cabbage family stretching towards the light

      I’ve seen worse, much worse, so my guess is with a little care I should be able to save these leggy seedlings… I hope.  I figured the lights really can’t be any closer than they are already or melting plastic would hit the seedlings and more or less destroy them (and cause a massive fire hazard).  So I’m keeping an eye on it and a lid on them, and we hope that everything works out for the best in the end.  (Last year we had some leggy issues as well.  They appear to be a little worse than this, but those seedlings made it and produced a good 400+ pounds of tomatoes, so I’m not terribly worried, just slightly concerned.) 

Some happy marigolds growing strong (and starting to grow their legs)

      I will hopefully steal a few minutes away today with the help of the handy husband to plant the tomato plants and some of the broccoli, another round of the cabbage and cauliflower, and then hopefully we’ll see some growth springing up from them in a few days! 

      Above all there are already a few things I learned this year in our seed starting adventures.  Although we started seeds last year, and outside in the ground previous years, there are always new lessons to learn each and every season.  Hopefully, you can learn from some of our aggravations we are already experiencing, and don’t have them to deal with as you plant:    

• Toilet paper roll pots are extremely messy.  It’s another Pinterest fad that I’ve grown to hate.  I love the idea of reusing things that would usually be tossed out, but without bottoms on, toilet paper rolls are a mess.  You’re in an endless balancing act, trying not to lose dirt as you fill them and place them into the starters.  So unless you use newspaper or cut and fold the bottoms or something as a bottom on the toilet paper roll pot, avoid them.

• Toilet paper roll pots and newspaper pots mold rather quickly.  I put the same amount of water in every container (which were all the same size) to begin with, placed the lids on, and low-and-behold the newspaper and toilet paper roll pots molded.  (The broccoli toilet paper roll pots are being switched out and I’m giving it another try in those with folded over bottoms this time.)

• Always check the bottom of the tray to make sure it doesn’t leak before planting.  Yes, I told you this before, but did I check well enough?  No.  The onion tray is leaking, but with a lid under it, everything is still nice and moist for the seeds to grow inside, and my shelf isn’t covered in water either, so we’ll call it a win-win here!

• Don’t put your seed starters too close to the grow lights.  (Bonus Tip from last year!)  Yes you need to have your seeds close to the lights so they don’t grow into leggy seedlings; however, if you put them too close it’s bad too.  Obviously, we are still in this balancing act.  Some containers last year were fine.  Others did have their issues though and the grow lights actually melted the corner of one of the tallest containers that was located about an inch from the bottom of the metal shield, so an inch away is too close here, but two inches away (this year) also causes leggy seedlings! 

• You can SAVE leggy seedlings!  (Bonus Tip from last year!)  This one was a real bonus last year when our tomato plants became a little too leggy for their own good, but with care and propping up indoors, they were planted a few inches further down their stems in the garden and became sturdy little fellows that produced over 15lbs. of tomatoes a plant.  Now as I repot seedlings in newspaper and toilet paper rolls, I’m planning on potting them a few inches down, covering some of their stem and moving the trays closer to the lights without the lids on.  I’ll keep you updated on whether or not it works.

Calendula and Nasturtium growing in newspaper and toilet paper roll pots

      Until the next garden update, happy planting!