I always find myself playing, I mean, working with my seeds in February. Usually by Valentines I’m cleaning the last of the seed heads harvested in late fall. I have some new seeds this year, sunflower seeds. I’m hoping I got them all dry enough last fall. I had a batch of pumpkin seeds that didn’t get dry enough once and they rotted in their envelope. I know of course that you can take a seed out to the sidewalk and whack it with a hammer to see how dry it is. My neighbors already think I’m pretty crazy. Whaling away with a hammer on the driveway is not going to improve those opinions. Plus, I’m often impatient, I want things done, and done now! Anyway, now is when I start going through the seed stores to see what has gone wrong over winter. Something usually does. I have found myself becoming more accustomed to failures since becoming a gardener.
For those of you new to seed saving, holler out in the comments if you’ve got questions or confusions.
Besides preparing and organizing seed, now’s the time to start squaring away your seed starting area. Mine always seems to get cluttered with dead plants and excess potting equipment over the summer. My setup is pretty basic, so it only takes a couple of hours to really get things sorted. I have 2 fluorescent tube ballasts with 2 bulbs in each. They are the regular sized ballasts, not the small 2 or 3 foot ones you can find sometimes. I have those and a heat mat on a timer plugged into the wall. They click on for 6-8 hours a day, supplementing the south facing window’s sunlight.
I usually start two shelves worth of seed flats. One full of those seeds that like some bottom heat to sprout. Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, squashes and some herbs. Then the other tray I fill with hardy stock like kohlrabi, cabbages, onions, etc. that don’t need that extra heat. That usually provides me with more seedlings than I can actually plant.
I start my seeds in a mix of potting soil, vermiculite and home-made worm castings. That mix I can usually start gathering in February. This year for example, the gathering of the worm castings is going to be a complete clean and restock of the worm bin. What doesn’t get used in the seed starting mix will be stored to spread on the garden once things thaw. Last time I cleaned out the bin I got close to 3 gallons worth of worm castings.
I start most of my seed in small plastic pots that allow for plenty of root development, planting out can happen late here if winter drags her feet. Those need a dip in a light bleach solution before they get filled with the potting mix. If you’re planning on making the pressed paper pots, or diy pots out of cardboard, it’s best to start early. Some of those can be tedious to make, and it’s better to get them done now than wait until you find yourself needing them.
I haven’t yet finalized or drawn out the garden plots for this year. That too usually gets done by the end of February. Sometimes this month is mild enough that I can start some tool prep. Sharpenings and replacements and such.
So, now you’ve all got homework. Make sure you start getting things ready, rushing can lead to a stressed out gardener and a stressed out batch of plants. Work smarter, not harder people!
- Calamity Jane
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
A fellow hammer the seed freak, which I too fail too often do, hence the anguish of ruined seed,,,,, this Feb. as yourself CJ I collected the various jars/containers with last years seeds, first time ever have I found 3 jars full of seed ruined by critters, they must have inbedded in the seed before saving, now my curiosity is this, altho the bugz have worked their way out of the seed which only shows a little hole, are the seeds still usable? All the critters seem to be expired, lack of moisture or O2 in the jar perhaps, I added some pyrthium crystals to the jars once found, and plan to experiment to see if they grow/sprout anyway despite the bored hole in them, but they won’t be my main seed bank, theres more in reserve that turned out fine… just the first year I found critters in the jar, all dead with holes bored into the seed. BIOCHAR, is my latest addition to the soil, first year to experiement with it, youtube has all the latest on making your own biochar and what it adds to the soil…. sort of a pain and time consuming but I have 4 raised beds in the making to use for the experiemnt. Adding a medcinal herb section to the yard as well, catch 22 tho with the chickens that free range, you can bury a marble in a flower pot and they will jump in the pot and dig until they find it, so chicken-proofing is a challenge to anything newly planted, sprouted and planted, gee that covers it all….. Gotta go with you on pumpkins CJ, the yield is great, cannable, and pumpkin soups/breads are the tastiest, with the benifit of seeds for treats… plan now is the way to go, plan and think and then plan it again, cheers to all you dirt dobbers……ohhh yeah for the hardcore, morninga is worth looking into as an all round food, yeah youtube again….
Jane, my seeds have already begun to sprout. By the end of summer I should be a thousand-aire!
http://wallpaperdojo.com/images/plantWallpapers/howto_grow_a_marijuana_plant.jpg
Funny me.
Good for you! It’s a crop with a long illustrious history in these United States. I have grown and probably will grow it again. It’d be great if it was legal and encouraged as a cash crop instead of being vilified and used to justify the ever more expensive war on drugs.
We are making our first (well, I should say MY first) foray into the gardening world this year. We bought a lot of seeds last week, and I am really excited about starting them. Thanks for all of this great advice! I am looking forward to my veggies :)
Yikes, CJ growing MJ,,,, tsk tsk tsk, been down that road, didn’t handle it well, saw a country where it grew legally, most farmers lived in grass hut’s and moved on to harder thing’s and I hardly ever saw a local indulge with the weed that grew freely, no law against it, but they had moved on overall to the harder areas… just one mans opinion that it didn’t turn out right for the people of a certain country nor I.
In other years I have started seeds in February, but found that with my setup, starting everything in the greenhouse during the first week of April is most efficient (there is a person in the house with many allergies, a greenhouse with supplemental heat, and long Canadian winters).
The plants started in February didn’t really produce significantly earlier than the ones I started later – at least not enough to justify the extra effort. But if the plants did grow well in early spring I would have run out of space in my 8×10 foot greenhouse before planting out in early June!
That said, I’m still getting ready to order seeds soon. Ordering seeds online during a snowstorm reminds me that winter won’t last forever!
I save a lot of my own seeds, but since this is only Year 5 as a gardener (not counting helping out as a kid), I’m still experimenting to find the best varieties for my needs so I order a some new things each year.
Hey, I have grown a garden every year since 2007…so not long. However, it has always just been a small plot (6′x20′). All I normally grow is tomatoes,okra and some random other fruit or veggie that I run across at Wally World. I am really wanting to jump in a little larger scale this year (2-3 4′x8′ raised beds). I would just plant in the ground burnt yard sometimes floods and I have a plague of gophers. Anyhow…I have a small tool shed to build one of the beds near that will block about half of the sun per day for that bed if needed. The rest can easily be full sun beds. I live in zone 7b in eastern Oklahoma an I can grow awesome tomatoes and okra. I would like to include squash, bell peppers, carrots, maybe peas, spinach, celery, cucumber an anything else anyone would recommend for my area. My main focus will be canning for the winter. Having said all that, I have done loads of research online and have come to the conclusion that the more research I do, the more confused I get. What stuff should go in the partial sun bed and can those things even be planted near each other? (Some of my research suggested that some things shouldn’t be planted near each other). Any links to reputable sources or direct advice from some one her would be awesome and greatly appreciated! BTW, to all my fellow preppers in the North West, have fun putting your preps to the test! We are praying for you down South, an when its over please post about what you learned from the storm…actual practical experience is the best teacher.
Looking for an answer, this years catologs are showing organic seeds, and heirloom seeds, is there that much difference in them? Or what is the difference?????
This week I’ve gotten some more seeds from my local Tractor Supply Company store, and started pickling onions, mesclun, crookneck squash, cherry tomatoes, carrots, Lamb’s Lettuce, basil, and mini-bell peppers. In accordance with my plan to slowly ease over to heirloom, not hybrid, types, I’ve also sent away for a few different types of tomatoes that I’ve never seen before, red celery and cilantro.
I can’t wait for spring, but up here in Canada it looks like another 6 weeks!