Fwigf 2014: An Overview/ Starting Seedlings

This year we started our community garden a bit late. I'd called in early June to see about signing on for next year and got told there were still plots left in our preferred garden, and if we wanted one we could have it. We decided to go for it. I made a hasty garden plan and began starting seeds. A week and $30 later Fwigf was ours. A barren, flat, untilled piece of land, growing only sparse grass and Jerusalem Artichokes. I'd begun to think I was in over my head. I probably still am. Thankfully the gentleman next to us was a retired farmer and was able to explain how to build up mounds and lay out our garden most effectively.

There it is, the day we got our mounds made and our seedlings in. It didn't look like much there yet.

What we planted (from back to front):

Long Island cheese pumpkins, Adirondack Blue potatoes, Chinese Red Noodle Beans, Sugar Snap Peas and spinach, Bird's eye pepper and horseradish and spinach, carrots, cucumbers, cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce. Along either side is a row of Jade Blue Dwarf Corn.

Our seeds came from the Hudson Valley Seed Library (http://www.seedlibrary.org/), which is an organization dedicated to the preservation of heritage variety plants. What does that mean? It means our plants are open pollinated, which is the vegetable version of open source. We aren't growing GMOs, nothing is patented, and we can engage in seed saving and have our seed be viable. Nothing has been bred to be sterile and unable to propagate itself. Which means if we do this right we won't have to buy seed every year, and we're growing veggies that are a bit more unusual.

I mentioned up top that I started the seeds. What that means is I essentially planted the seeds themselves in a tiny greenhouse at home so I could plant the seedlings where they were a bit bigger and stronger and less likely to get eaten by Jerkface the groundhog. I used one of these: http://www.plantationproducts.com/pages/cfJiffy.cfm which is essentially a plastic tray with a lid and some pellets of peat moss that you put the seeds in. I liked this because all you needed to do was add enough water to hydrate the pellets, put the lid on, set it in a sunny spot and forget about it for about two weeks. Evaporating water condensed on the lid then 'rained' on the peat pellets. Which meant I didn't have to worry about over or under watering. When the shoots appeared I had to prop the lid open and start hardening off the seedlings so they'd be able to live outside. All that means is exposing them to out side conditions gradually.

I also started seeds by planting them in a container filled with potting soil and covering it with plastic wrap. Did the same thing and I was later able to use the extra potting soil to mound my potatoes. I think next year I'll skip the jiffy tray and just start in pots with plastic wrap. The steps are the same, I just think the pots method leads to more reusability and lower long term costs, but it is a more expensive initial outlay.

Direct sow is easier and cheaper, but has a higher risk of failure. Direct sow means you skip the starting bit entirely and just plant your seeds directly where you want the plant to grow. I don't care for direct sowing because I live in the Northeastern US where our growing season isn't what it could be and I want my plants to have as long a growing season as possible. If you direct sow too early your seeds won't germinate because the ground is too cold. If you direct sow too late you won't get food off your plants because they didn't have enough time to mature. Therefore I cheat and start my seeds indoors.

When the seedlings were big enough and hardened off they were ready to go in the ground. If you're using the peat pellets just pop that sucker in the ground, water it, and go about your business. If you're using the pot method you need to carefully remove your seedling (making sure to take ALL the roots), then put it in the ground, water it and go about your business.

If you're doing direct sow then pop your seed in the ground, water it, and keep coming back every day to make sure it's got enough water and hasn't been eaten by Jerkface and friends.