Seed and Bean

In preparation for starting my seeds (March 9, 10, and 11 is when I start my peppers this year), I began making my pots to hold the little seedlings.  We have a small garden and I’ve found that, because I don’t need to start a lot of plants, sowing seeds in flats isn’t an efficient method for me.  In order to fill a flat, I have to sow a small number of each variety, which can get confusing, and I find pricking out (transplanting tiny seedlings into a larger container) an endeavour fraught with tension as I hold my breath and gently, gently tease the little plant out of it’s snug home, into a new pot, and gently, gently tamp it in.  Frankly, I don’t need that kind of stress!

Simple tools required to make a paper pot.

The newspaper pots filled with soil, planted with seed, and watered.

So I sow my seed directly into a little newspaper pot that I create with this handy tool.  The pot goes onto a water-catching tray, gets watered (just enough to dampen the soil), and then the tray and pots get covered with a plastic bag to prevent the soil from drying out while they sit in a warm place waiting for the seeds to germinate.  I check on the pots several times during the day to make sure the soil is damp enough.  If not, I find misting the pots and soil is a better way to increase the moisture than directly watering the soil – it’s easier to control the amount of water and it won’t create little pockmarks in the soil surface.  Note: When watering seedlings, use only filtered, room temperature (or slightly warmer) water – you don’t want the tender little things to be absorbing chlorine or lead or other toxic chemicals, and you don’t want to shock them with cold water (at least, not yet).

Once the seeds have germinated, I remove the plastic bag, and place the emerging seedlings under a grow light.  When the plants look like they’re outgrowing the newspaper pots (indicated by roots starting to push through the newspaper walls), and if it’s still too cold to transplant them directly into the garden, I pot them up into larger plastic containers (about 20cm diameter size), newspaper pot and all.  I find this to be an easier method of starting seeds for a small garden.

There can be, however, the occasional problem.  If I’ve watered too much, the newspaper disintegrates – although you’d be amazed at how much water that takes.  If I’ve watered too little, the newspaper crumbles, usually at the bottom, which necessitates transplanting the threatened seedling into a 10cm plastic pot.  These things don’t happen frequently enough, though, that I feel the need to change my method.

I’ve been asked whether the inks in newsprint are toxic and I’ve yet to discover a definitive answer to that question.  All I know is that they are less toxic than they used to be, for whatever that’s worth.  From what I’ve read, the amount of heavy metals used in the ink has been severely reduced and, in the case of lead, been almost eliminated.  There is still concern, however, about benzene, toluene, and napthalene (among others) although the good news is that many newspaper printers have been moving toward soy-based ink rather than petroleum-based, thereby reducing the toxicity even more.  As I understand it, if you’re unsure of what ink your newspaper is written in, your safest option is to use only the black and white part of the paper and never, ever the glossy, colorful inserts since these contain the highest amounts of lead, cadmium and chromium.  Although I’ve never tested my plants for heavy metal contamination, I’d hazard a guess and say that it’s probable; but whether that contamination comes from newspaper ink or simply from the air and water that plants absorb from our toxic environment would be impossible for me to say.  What I can say, is that my plants have never shown any visible sign of contamination and their health seems to depend more on the quality of the potting soil than whether I’ve started them in plastic or newspaper pots.  I’d be interested in hearing from anyone who has more knowledge than I do in the printing process (and an unbiased opinion).

In addition to being able to grow more interesting varieties than you might find in your local nursery, starting your own seeds can be an inexpensive alternative to purchasing plant starts – I’d love to hear how other gardeners start their seeds, particularly any frugal, stylish, and/or sustainable ideas.

I admit that when I first heard about gardening by the lunar cycles I was, to say the least, extremely sceptical – it just seemed a bit too woowoo for my stolid northern soul.  But then – and I don’t know why – I decided to try it out…and became a convert!  How could I not when my peas went from planted to harvested in less than a month, a good week and a half before the seed packet said they were supposed to be ready?  And I noticed other things too, like the fact that shrubs respond better when pruned during a waning moon, or that weeds take longer to come back if beds are weeded during a waning moon.

But don’t take my word for it…try it for yourself. 

I’ve included a link to an online site that shows phases and signs but I rely exclusively on the book  Guided by the Moon: Living in Harmony with the Lunar Cycles by Johanna Paungger and Thomas Poppe.  It’s the reference I use when, for example, I need to calculate the correct time to start sowing my seeds, which is what I did the other day. 

After calculating the number of weeks to last frost – typically, May 7th, here in Edmonton – and determining the length of time needed from seed to tansplanting for each type of plant, I cross-reference the date of planting with the moon phase and sign to find the optimal sowing date.  For example, tomato seeds need to be sown indoors 7 weeks from the last frost date which puts that sowing at March 19th.  But since tomatoes are a fruiting plant that bears above ground, they’re best planted during a fruit sign and a waxing moon.  The closest that those appear to March 19th is March 17th and 18th – Aries in a waxing moon.

Too complicated?  Sometimes it can only make sense if you do it but if you’re still feeling overwhelmed, I’m linking a spreadsheet showing my planting schedule based on the lunar cycle.  Using my schedule and the website I linked to, you should be able to calculate something similar, keeping in mind the following guidelines:

• Plants and vegetables that grow above ground should be sown when the moon is waxing.  The exception is lettuce, which should only be sown when the moon is waning.
• Vegetables that grow below ground should be sown when the moon is waning.  With the potato though, you should plant as close as possible to the full moon.
• Aries, Leo, and Sagittarius are fruit days.  All fruiting plants are marked in red on the spreadsheet.
• Cancer, Scorpio, and Pisces are leaf days.  All leaf plants are marked in green on the spreadsheet.
• Virgo, Taurus, and Capricorn are root days.  All root plants are marked in orange on the spreadsheet.
• Gemini, Libra, and Aquarius are flower and medicinal herb days.  All flower and herb plants are marked in purple on the spreadsheet. 

2010-Planting-Schedule 

The process is well underway.

It’s a good thing winter is long here in Edmonton because my seed order took me a while to put together this year.  No excuse but, for some reason, procrastination seized me halfway through the process and it took me a week longer than it should have.  Why the procrastination?  Well, it could be that after I’d inspected my existing seed collection and sorted out the ancient-therefore-no-longer-viable seed from the old-but-I’ll-just-sow-it-thicker seed to the yay-it’s-brand-new seed, made a list of what was left, made a list of what I was missing, filled in the details on the planting plan, and then went hunting for what I wanted in 8 seed catalogues, that I was just exhausted!  But with spring looming around the corner (sshh, don’t discourage me!), I finally got on with it and made my final selections (with the help of an Excel spreadsheet but you don’t need to know the dirty details).  I chose two companies that, between them, had all the varieties I was looking for – William Dam Seeds and West Coast Seeds.  I’m not going to run through the entire list since it will be linked on my final plan that I’ll post a little later, but I’ll share a few things I’m particularly excited about as they relate to my list.

In the ‘never grown it before’ category, I’ll be trying the Spanish Black Round radish and cumin.  Buoyed up by the bumper crop of coriander that I harvested last year and no reason to hope except that they combine so well together in my favorite Indian dishes, I have high hopes for the cumin.  If anyone has any advice for me about growing this herb/spice, I’d love to hear it.

In the ‘expensive and/or difficult to find’ category, I’m growing my own crop of tomatilloes – because I can’t keep mooching off the neighbors forever.

The ‘eye-catching plants’ category also needs to include nose-catching plants since I’m going to try sweet peas along the back fence.  This also falls into the ‘never grown it before’ category – which is shocking to me since I love their scent so much.

How about you?  Anything you can’t wait to see show up in your seed order?