It Was A Close Call, But We Made It

I had a sleepless night and ended up sleeping until around 4 pm. It was the rain that helped me fall asleep in the end, and it rained throughout the day. In fact, it is still raining. I must admit I really love the sound. I just hope there will be enough sun in the next few days to make sure none of the seedlings outside drown.

The seedlings indoor are used to being well watered by me when I get up, since they are on heated mats and have growlights on 12 hrs a day. But since I got up late, they had started showing signs of drying out. Luckily I was able to water them well, help them stand using toothpicks, and now as I am getting ready for bed, they look like themselves again. It was a close call, but I am relieved they pulled through.

Strong roots & Free containers

It was mainly the sunflower plants, the bean plants and the tomato plants that had been affected. I gently removed the mat with the sunflowers and I was pleased to find large and intricate root systems underneath. I made sure none of the roots were damaged, and I placed that mat in its own container. That way they seedlings will have a bit more support from the sides.

I used a repurposed fruit container. The kind that grapes are often sold in. I always save containers like that so that I can use them to start seeds and transfer plants.

The box is rectangular and of a really good size. The lid is attached and it closes all the way, but there are still several holes all around the container which helps the water to run through smoothly. All of this makes it an excellent free mini greenhouse. This time, however, I just used the container as a way to support my sunflower seedlings. I figured it would be easier for me to take the container out to start hardening them off next week, rather than wait for the rest and then take the entire tray out. They’ve grown quite large already, and most of them have their true leaves. That means I won’t be able to use the lid, but the container is useful all the same.

The corn plants

The corn plants are doing well, but they’ll probably need another week before I can start hardening them off.

The pepper plants

The chilli and pepper plants are doing incredibly well. I love that most of the seeds were ones that I saved from bell peppers I’d bought and from chillies I’d grown.

The bean plants

A few of the seedlings are tall, large and have several true leaves already. But most of the beans are still figuring out how to grow strong enough roots to be able to stand. There are around five that haven’t germinated yet. I ended up soaking a handful more beans, just to be on the safe side. Also, I want to be able to harvest a lot of beans come summer, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to raise seedlings in succession.

The flowers

I believe all of the varieties have begun germinating, though only one variety – the calendula seedlings – are ready to be hardened off.

Conclusion:

I must say that I have never produced seedlings with such large root systems in such a short time before. I definitely prefer this method of starting seeds. It has been hassle free, fairly quick and it has proven to produce very strong plants. I look forward to transferring some of the seedlings to my hydroponic systems next week.

Next week I will plant the remaining seed potatoes, start hardening off the squash plants, the cucumber plants, the sunflower plants and the calendula plants. The rest of the seedlings will need more time.

I will prepare the containers for the four sisters, fertilise the garden for the first time of the season, as well as keep monitoring the seedlings inside.

In a few weeks, all of the seedlings will be outside in the soil, or indoor in hydroponic systems. After that, all I need to do is fertilise once a week and harvest gradually.

How was your weekend?

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