Call Me - The Germinator

With a little space and some south-facing windows, I'd like to plant as much as I can from seed - and I wanted to get a head start on some of those vegetables. As I researched various methods for germinating seeds I found this elementary-school science project for germinating seeds that sounded perfect for me - because I have trust issues and I want to see the seed actually bust open!

Sandwich Bag Method

So I prepared my sandwich bags, paper towels, and seeds. I used a spray bottle to dampen my paper towels because, based on my previous experience dunking and wringing out water, it's a lot easier to make things more wet than it is to make things more dry.

Once my sandwich bags were all prepped and labeled, like an idiot, I taped them up to a window thinking, "Plants need sun, right?" WRONG! Well, right, but I didn't have plants yet, I had seeds, and seeds don't need sun, they need warmth, cover, and moisture.

After my common-sense kicked back in I collected all the seeds in a pile and stacked them up on top of my refrigerator. I compulsively checked the seeds multiple times/day in hopes of witnessing the miracle of life, and to my surprise, just 24-hours later, some of the seeds were sprouting!

White-trash Greenhouse

While waiting for the sprouts to progress I started working on my greenhouse. It's still fairly cold here in Utah, and the south-facing window that gets the most sun is out in my shop (RV garage). Since that garage is not heated and the nightly lows are generally in the high 30's, I created a makeshift greenhouse.

Under the window is a work-bench, which I insulated with a Mexican blanket. Then I draped a tarp over the window and workbench in an attempt to trap heat and moisture, and create a greenhouse effect. I have 0% confidence this is still working, but 25% hope, so I keep it up.

After I ran out of room in that window, I set up a card-table by a west-facing window in my house. Those plants did astoundingly better, and I'm kicking myself for not using the window in the house first, and then making the garage and overflow for more established plants.

Leggy Sprouts

Since I don't have a grow light to install inches above my seedlings I'm facing a common issue of leggy sprouts. I always thought it was great to have leggy things around - but not sprouts. A sprout is leggy if there's a log shoot up to the leaves - and it even gets so long that it can't support the weight of the leaves and turns into a floppy plant. This can occur for a few reasons:

• Overcrowding 
• The light source is too far away so the plant has to reach
• The seedlings have life too easy 

I deduced my problem was either a light source too far away, or my seedlings having an easy life. Since I can't bring the sun closer, I set up an oscillating fan next to my seedlings. This supplied intermittent gentle breezes that will hopefully result in the plant putting more energy into establishing firm foundations. This is also good preparation for when the veggies get planted outside and learn about the harsh realities of life. 

Game-Plan

I'm planting my garden in two waves - one was a week or two ago when I planted broccoli, pumpkin, peas, lettuce, and spinach, which can withstand some of the residual winter weather we call "spring" in Utah. After Mother's Day I'll plant pretty much everything else. My peas, lettuce, and spinach are doing really well (despite the rabbit that hops around on the other side of the fence eyeing my lettuce fortnightly), but I don't think my broccoli or pumpkin were mature enough to withstand the freezing temperatures and sprinkling of snow we received last week - even though they were covered for the freezing temperatures. I'll have to buy some starts from the nursery to replace those, but I'm thinking with this being my first time growing from seed - I did all right.