Saturday, February 15, 2014

Bouncing Baby Brassicas!

And on the fifth day after sowing, the brassicas sprouted!
After being sown on Saturday, the first baby cabbage sprouted on Thursday, five days later!  Today, the cabbage and broccoli are popping up all over!

As I wrote previously I've made several changes to the seed starting operation this year and, so far, they seem to be working.  I really like the new seed-starting mix (no longer using a commercially prepared mix), but the biggest change this year is the addition of temperature control.

Bunches of babies by day seven!
In years past, I've been fortunate enough to enjoy a decent germination rate, but the plants have been very, very slow to mature to transplantable size.  This year--especially with the extreme cold--I knew I had to try to warm up the greenhouse earlier.  I considered seed mats, but, after much "ciphering" I decided it would be more cost-effective to try to heat my tiny greenhouse.  Again, after many computational gymnastics, I decided to pilot my project with an inexpensive heater fan (with an adjustable thermostat) purchased when they first hit the shelves last fall.  The fan now sits on the bottom shelf of
Convection seems to be working!
the greenhouse, relying on the magic of convection to warm the top shelf.

It's been a wickedly cold winter (0 and -1 lows on several mornings), but the greenhouse has maintained the targeted temperature range for brassicas of 50-60 degrees even on nights when temperatures dropped into the teens.

Jim likes violas and I like johnny-jump-ups, so I started a mixed flat of those today to plant on the shady, cool north wall.  I also started some onions in squared
Let's see how the onions like this arrangement!
toilet paper rolls so they will not be disturbed by transplanting.

All of these are cool-weather plants, and I hope that they will be ready to move to the unheated cart before it's time to start the warm-temperature plants.  I plan to target the 60-70 degree range for tomatoes, and the 70-80 degree range for peppers.

But, in the meantime, I'll continue watching those bouncing baby brassicas!

What's growing in your Savory garden?

Nancy



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1 comment:

  1. miukatFebruary 17, 2014 at 1:49 PM

    Yay for sprouting seeds! I have some popping up too: lavender, oregano, thyme, marjoram, rhubarb and lemon balm. It's amazing. I sowed them on Wednesday (5 days ago, too) and they're already coming up :D Still waiting on the huckleberries, and fraises de bois. I thought these were all seeds that were hard to germinate, but the seed gods are smiling on me for now.

    I started to see damping off, and immediately took off the lid to keep the air circulating. Then I brewed some chamomile tea and have been misting it on the seedlings twice a day. Fingers crossed that it works.

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