Planting Seedlings

Every year we try to plant some seedlings ahead of time so that we have plants for our garden once the weather is warm enough. We aren’t very successful. Something or other happens and we lose our plants. But we keep trying each year. This year we ordered seeds from burpee.com and also got a pot maker to help make our planting more green and environmentally friendly. Plus I was intrigued by this.

First of all, it’s bigger than I thought. Certainly bigger than the dirt pellets that you can buy. This is great because it gives room for roots to mature without having to transplant.

How it works is you recycle your newspapers by making them into little pots that you can plant your seeds in and then once the plant is mature enough you just place the entire thing into the ground. This allows the plant’s root system to be placed into the ground unharmed by removal from the container. The container will degrade and allow the roots to grow through it during the growing season. The newspaper just turns into compost.

I thought this was a good idea. Also, we won’t need to buy the little dirt pellets anymore because we will always have newspaper and the wooden pot maker is obviously re-usable. We would have to buy a bag of dirt each year but that’s nothing really.

I re-used my trays from previous years. They also have clear lids to keep the moisture in while the seedlings emerge. One thing I would say for next time is to make the newspaper strips longer so that the walls of the pots are doubled up and stronger. I worry that these may fall apart before they go into the ground. But maybe they won’t.

The kids enjoyed helping. They helped make pots, put dirt into them and plant the seeds. It was a great FHE activity.

    

We did 3 trays worth of seeds. Vegetables, herbs and several flowers.

The other thing we tried this year that we have not done before was using a warming mat under the trays. The warmth is supposed to encourage faster growth. It sure did! I saw seedlings from a whole tray of my flowers and I think the thyme within 3 or 4 days instead of 7-10!

Remember at the beginning of this post, I said we aren’t very successful each year because something always seems to happen? Last year it was putting the seedlings in a window that was too sunny. This year, they dried out way too fast with that warming pad. I lost a whole tray of cosmos and morning glory and probably the other two trays too, my marigolds certainly, but I’m not sure about the tomatoes and peppers yet. I forgot to check on them and they dried out!! Fast! Doh!

Well, maybe it’s not too late yet to re-plant them and watch them more closely. I think I will also place a towel between the warming mat and the trays because I think the mat may just be a tad too warm.

And I need to get a fluorescent light fixture because they’re in the basement. 

Fingers crossed it works the second time around!