#growing seedlings

[balkanradfem]

Starting my big wave of seeds!

Here's all my materials: some paper towels, scissors to cut them into pieces, little pieces of cardboard for labels, plastic bag, and my big box of seeds.

I've been adding seeds to this box for 5 years now, by gathering seeds from my own plants and then putting them into these tiny envelopes, that I make from big envelopes that are free because we get bills in them. I then group all the same type of seeds together (peppers, tomatoes, zuchinni) and tie them together with a little elastic, so it's easy for me to find a certain seed I'm looking for in the box! I just need to grab the correct stack and look trough it.

Whenever I ponder about those deep questions like 'what would you take with you to an abandoned island', I always think, this box definitely. This is all I need.

Now I need to decide what I'm starting! I sorted trough everything and decided on five different types of tomatoes, red and yellow peppers, eggplants, ground cherry, cantaloupes, and basil. I've also put aside spinach, swiss chard, peas, parsley and carrots, to sow outside directly! They can grow in the cold.

Here's all the seeds on their towels, with a label. I spray them down, fold everything together so they're all wrapped up, and close them tightly into the bag. If the bag ends up having a little hole in them, then the seeds could dry out! I will check on them daily to make sure they're fine.

I need to make sure I have enough containers and soil now, because in the next few days I'm going to be finding germinate seeds and planting them directly into soil. I love this, finding new little activated seeds every day! Except for when I am out of soil, then I stress around trying to squeeze the new seeds anywhere they could grow.

I also have another bag with paper towel; my roommate gave me a few clementines, and they had seeds inside, so I put those up for germination too. Now that I have one big pot I've became greedy for more trees. I hope they activate!

[hanafubukki]

Thinking about falling in love with Malleus.

How it’s such a gradual love that you don’t see coming.

You met him one night.

You might have even thought him weird.

Became friends with him.

Got to know him as Tsunotaro first.

Then as Malleus Draconia.

But never the future king.

There’s tears and wounds as there always are in a relationship of any kind.

But as time pass, so do wounds heal.

And as time moves, so do feelings gradually change.

Until one day, you noticed your feelings had seamlessly changed.

It felt normal.

A given.

How could you not have fallen in love with him?

This fae that held your heart.

He can have it.

For you knew no one else would treasure it as much as he did.

I love you, Malleus Draconia.

[darke-faerie]

Gardener Xie Lian and San Lang week 4 report!

This week we put our pots *outside!*

The pink pots are doing really well! and the silver pot appears to be growing grass and mildew... but ooh! the daisies are pretty! (We did not grow the daisies but they are our humans favourite!)

[hopegrasping]

Suck at starting seeds?

Out of sight, out of mind and you forget about them for weeks and months? Overbearing seed parent over watering them to death?

I've discovered a solution and I've never heard anyone talk about this before:

Plant your seeds with carrot tops

You just need one, and it's as easy as it sounds. baby carrots won't generally work, you need that weird green part on the top and they usually cut those off baby carrots. Normal big carrot for best results it needs that weird brown but at the top bc that's where the leaves grow, they grow super fast and need water every few days. It's okay if you kill them bc it's easy to start over, they're literally just kitchen scraps most people throw away (the top 3/4 inch of a carrot give or take you just need Enough for the Taproot (the orange carrot part) to drink enough water so your plant can thrive).

The greens taste like parsley and carrots and if you keep it alive long enough you get carrot flowers which you can pick and press or let them live so they can produce carrot seeds, it's really a pick your own adventure bonus plant!

Plant your seeds in a pot with however many carrot tops you want to plant. I do one in the center, and I water it just as often as the plant needs me to. I can understand this by A. Seeing the plant droop, it's VERY dramatic especially as an adult. Just keep it where you can see it. Or B. Stick your finger in the soil and see if it's dry. People have their own way of gauging that, I stick my finger in then take it out and let my bare skin decide if it detects a reasonable amount of moisture for a plant to drink, if my finger is mostly/totally dry, I water, if it is a little damp or wet, LEAVE IT ALONE YOU WILL KILL EVERYTHING.

But yeah! Just keep it up and in a couple weeks your seedlings will sprout and you will see them and rejoice. We love you carrot tops!!!!!!

[kirbyfigure]

omg HI

. 𖦹˙— ೯⠀⁺ ⠀ 𖥻 🍊 ⠀ᰋhaiii

[gardening-guy]

aaaaaaaa one of my roommates who is also one of my closest friends let me spend an allocated amount of money on whatever i wanted for a late holiday gift and i am going to use it to convert one of my living room bookcases into an indoor seed-starting cabinet!!!

it's one of those kinda tall white bookcases that you can get from target. i try to avoid target as much as possible nowadays, but i bought this bookcase back when i was just starting in college, so i'm comfortable with using it instead of throwing it away as unnecessary waste.

i'm buying the following:

small humidifier

4 thin grow light panels

a bag of seed-starting mix (we're trying out espoma organic brand)

10 seed-starting trays with 12 cells each

a surge protector for the outlet that i'll be plugging the humidifier, grow light panels, and my current grow lights into

new spray bottles for misting plants & for neem-oil solution

my first actual bottle of neem oil (how i haven't bought this yet, i have no idea)

more plant labels

2 new bags of potting soil just for the rest of my houseplants

8 window box planters for a separate project (i'll be drilling them into either my backyard fence or onto the back deck railing)

additional ideas and advice are appreciated! i can post a picture of the bookcase that i'll be working with once i get home from my shift :)

[hearthandheathenry]

How To Stard Seeds Indoors (Cheaply)

I finally finished designing my little seed-starting info flyer after some experimentation to make sure these techniques and items actually work. After lots of healthy seedlings, I am now confident in sharing this info! This project was started as a way to fight back and provide for the community. I am growing much more than I need, in order to give out free plants to my community members and to also feed as many people as we can. If you are like me and want to do the same, or even just provide food for your family in these scary times, here's some good info to get you started! Please don't be intimidated by gardening - anyone can do it!

Feel free to save and share to whatever platform. No watermark because its all free to use info from me to you 😊💕

[blondebrainpowered]

GIF by Hyper RPG

[hillbilly---man]

Wanna see what made me mad today at the garden section at Walmart?

Explanation: you get two or three green bean plants for five dollars. Not a bad deal if you don't know anything about growing green beans!

However, look at this:

You can get a whole bag of DOZENS of seeds for less than half the price.

"But what about the convenience or the time savings?"

Valid concerns for many things you'd grow in your garden. However, green beans are different. If you buy that packet of seeds and put them in the ground, they'll look like those $5 plants in two weeks!

Also: if all the bush green beans you have in your garden are three plants, that's probably not going to be enough beans

[dimalink]

New arrival – new plants

April is going to its end right now. It is time to do things about seedling. To put different in containers. To have everything grow. And be stronger. And, in the end of May, to go to countryside – already, to put in seedbeds! So, this is third, already. New arrival with plants. My green friends.

And, this time – vegetables. This is corn. Cucumber. I will have, also, a cucumber. And eggplant. Two types. They look similar. And, cabbage. And, more flowers. Asters. This time, I plant them more brave way. And, even, a little didn’t calculate a little of soil. And, I put soil from old flowers containers. And, about situation – mainly, I have, already, learned how to do it.

And, now, I have only one question. What is the better way to put seeds in the soil. Put more or less in one block. With one seed in one container. With two, with three or with five. It depends, maybe, about a plant. Some of them, rather ok, can grow as a group.

And, one thing surprises me. And, I see this for the very first time. This is corns. They are so green high growing. They are like sticks. But green. Stems. And cucumber. And recognize them first. They are like small little flowers. Or, so, a green little grass. But, they are cucumbers.

I have never seen corns. And, even, was with big surprise. I see in a supermarket. And I take it - for interest! And, all the others – they are well known things for me. Eggplant, cucumber, cabbage.

 Corn makes a big surprise on me. I have never seen them. Such green plants. They are going upper. And very fast. Something like from ancient world. So huge and something like triangle. This is my imagination. I see it at night for the first time. When I come to the place to check. And, it is, already, growing some things for my surprise. Before my eyes. Cucumbers – in a most far corner. And, also, they start to grow fast. So, this is yes!

New friends! With a hello to them! It will be time, soon, to put them in a soil. Little time more, like a month, approximately, they will be in such small block. And, to the soil I replace them during countryside season. New friends! Lots of them! Green! And so fast to grow! I even was surprised. New plants! I like a lot plants. I will be friends with all of them! Cabbage it is so round form thing. It will be so interesting to see all of these. Whole line it should to be with cabbage. As a so big head. Or brain. Clever, maybe, this cabbage, very clever, clever a lot!

Eggplants of two types are looking similar. Maybe a lot. Maybe, they are almost the same. And cucumber will grow and they are so green and delicious things they will to be. They are like high bush, maybe. So, this is a garden I will have! It will be to grow lots of friends in a garden! Garden with a friends! And, now, it is most time to prepare for seedbeds!

Dima Link is making retro videogames, apps, a little of music, write stories, and some retro more.

WEBSITE: http://www.dimalink.tv-games.ru/home_eng.html ITCHIO: https://dimalink.itch.io/

TUMBLR: https://dimalink.tumblr.com/ BLOGGER: https://dimalinkeng.blogspot.com/ MASTODON: https://mastodon.social/@DimaLink

[balkanradfem]

Thank you to everyone who added a comment or a reply, I love the info!

I've been trying to look more tips up, and one I find consistently is 'use old toilet paper rolls and old egg cartons to grow seedlings' and I'm about to go off on a tangent here but please don't do this!

Technically, you can, you can grow little seedlings in paper toilet rolls or egg cartons, but it is so incredibly difficult, and I know because I've tried it. The problem with paper containers is that they dry out so insanely fast, it's almost impossible to stay on top of it. You need to put the paper containers in the entire tray of water, and the paper will 1. absorb that water before the soil does, 2. dry off and have that water evaporate incredibly fast. Every single time I tried it, it was impossible to stay on top of it, I had to water it multiple times a day and my plants still dried out!

Plastic containers are much easier for this because they actively protect the water that's inside, it can only dry out from above where the soil is exposed to air, and it's much easier to stay on top of that! You need to water only every 2-3 days and you're good, unless your plants are in direct sunlight which dries them out faster.

Also, gardeners who planted their seedlings in 'biodegradable paper containers' and then just buried the entire container with the plant, expecting the paper to fall apart and for the seedling to be able too push its roots through, all found out that the container did not biodegrade in time, and the seedling was stuck inside for weeks before the roots could find a way out. With paper containers, little roots can also start pushing inside the cardboard and get stuck to it, so trying to wheedle a plant out can harm it, while with plastic, it's very easy to take the plant out.

So if you're a new gardener and you wanna grow some plants, please stay away from paper and cardboard containers, they make it so hard, I've had nearly every plant dry up in them, despite being obsessed with taking care of them. If you want natural plant containers, you can look into wood, metal, clay, and there's also grow-bags! You could use old tin cans for growing, those work great.

If you wanna see which plastic containers worked for me, you can find a detailed list here!

Lately I've been pleased whenever I find a way to make use of something that would otherwise get thrown away; for instance, I learned that you can use scrunched-up aluminium foil to scrub pans and pots, instead of that ball of wire you can buy!

The walnuts that you can't completely clean out of shells, are a great bird snack, who can get their beaks in there. Fruit that is starting to go bad/already has gone bad, is a great food for butterflies. Any food that's starting to get rotten can be a great addition to a compost pile and a snack for any worm. Citrus peels can be used to infuse vinegar to make nice-smelling cleaning solution. Or they can be made into sugared candy! Lemon slices that make a great winter decoration, can be used as a halloween decoration later when they turn black. Any small carboard box you have can be used for organizing, and if you have a big one, you can put a wooden board on it and create a little shelf to put plants on! An old cracked aquarium can be used as a little greenhouse, or an extra shelf on top of a surface. Old newspapers and old clothing can be cut into strips or tubes, and weaved into baskets. Old paper egg cartons can be soaked, blended and then turned into paper. Any plastic container can get a hole at the bottom and grow a plant in it.

Please tell me more things that you know how to reuse that would otherwise just be thrown away! I want more of this knowledge.

[rosielindy]

What an awesome idea! Get those melons up there where they belong 🍈🍈

I have a chain link fence, I’d like to do this with butternut squash. Hmmmm, it’s not too late…. 🤔

[sarahgrows]

Corm update! I shared a month ago that I started a bunch of corms from my Alocasias. This is them now! I do need to disclose that I got more excited than I should have been and opened the humidity dome sooner than I should have which stunted the growth a little bit. I don't think any of them dry rotted but they're not as far as long as they should be (especially the top ones).

The Silver Dragons have all taken off. The two Melos on the middle right are doing well. The dragon scales on the middle left are doing okay, they're alive. I don't see much going on with the Cuprea's all on top but with how well the rest is coming along, I've got my fingers crossed.

I have one of the Melo's and SD's sold already when they become actual pups. I'm excited to get them potted when they get too large for the dome really, and get them in the greenhouse, which will be equipped with lights and a little humidifier if deemed necessary. I have this vision in my head and I am happy to see it slowly coming into fruition 🙌🏻

[darke-faerie]

Gardener Xie Lian and San Lang week 5 report!

They were a little too busy giving each other heart eyes in their ducky suits...

no wait! they checked on our flowers - they all seem to be a bit...crunchy, think we'll need to help our human with remembering to water them this week

[wildrungarden]

4/20/24 ~ I found this tree hidden in my gardenia bush out front growing. Anyone know what kind it is? I pulled it up and planted it in a pot for now till I figure out what kind it is ☺️

[jimvasta]

Seed roulette

A new and exciting game for hopeless gardeners.

I planted seeds in little starter pots, telling myself I would remember what they were.

Then a helpful person *enter husband stage left* decided to optimise the efficiency of the window sill, rearranging said pots to make room for future unspecified objects.

I am not a great gardener, I don't know much about seedling identification. I have beef tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, sweet peppers, chilli peppers, sunflowers, and possibly some other things from random seed packets thrown into the basket by loving son *stimming happily stage right* at the garden centre.

What am I growing? No idea!

I know I will figure it out eventually, but for now, since Samwise is busy off adventuring with Frodo and can't help, it will have to remain a mystery.