With no apparent freezing weather in the near future, I decided to tackle the big task of wintersowing most of the flower and early tomato seeds that I had bought a while back. Since I mix my own growing medium for everything, these containers were filled with a 50/50 mix of Perlite and Peat moss that was measured and moistened in 2 gallon batches. I sowed Black Cherry tomato, Early Girl tomato, marigold, coleus, nasturtium, shasta daisy, echinacea, coreopsis, celosia, and hollyhock.
Also, in the cups and cellpacks on the left are Ambrosia sweet corn. I always start mine in cellpacks each year, which allows me to get a jump on things. Most farmers in the area plant corn around the middle of March, so it's only a week off from normal planting time.
Since the weather was nice, I also decided to repair a couple of broken window panes in one of the coldframes. The damage was done when the lid was left up the other day, and a strong wind made it slam shut. Since the old windows had lost most of the caulking that held them in place - they popped right out and broke. Here's a photo for reference...
With some clear packing tape and clear caulking, it was fixed like new again. Speaking of the coldframes, I would consider the latest planting of lettuce and such to be a failure. The reason is because of the tall board in the front. Anything planted in it has to be raised up at least 8", or it doesn't receive the sunlight it needs. I'll most likely construct a removable shelf of some kind that will bring the plants up to the needed height before next fall - whcih will work much better.
Take care, and happy gardening!
EG
13 comments:
Sounds like a good tour. I bet they were totally impressed.
how did you make this cold frame? do you have any plans?
I did some wintersowing a week ago. I might do some more, but I think it is springsowing now. I'm sure I will get freezes on and off for the next month or so, but still the weather is so warm this weekend.
stefaneener - they really liked my propagation system the most, and enjoyed seeing things done "differently" than most gardeners.
Darren - I don't have any plans for the coldframe. I just built it "freestyle", I guess. Sorry...
Daphne - i'd like to hear more about your wintersowing. Maybe you can post about it in the future?
Sounds like a lot of fun EG...I'm sure your guests were amazed at your operation....I will also be doing of winter/spring sowing today.. I can't wait!
EG, will the things you wintersowed in the open containers do as wellas those in the bottles?
Sunny - make sure to post about the WS'ing!
ribbit - no, they sure won't. But I didn't want to risk my corn seeds rotting from consistent moisture.
8:20 guests, I'm lucky to be awake them :-) All the winter sowing looks great. So far I have planted some seed in the polytunnel and a few cell packs in the coldframe. The coldframes are a bit of a pain with light restriction. Mine is not bad with the low window angle but it still is pretty shady in the from few inches.
Wow! I bet your guests were impressed with your gardening operation. I know I would be.
Sorry your cold frames suffered some damage. I read one of Elliot Coleman's books, “Four-Season Harvest.” In this book he mentions sowing seeds in the cold frame and cutting the soil into squares to transplant them to the garden. I wonder if you could add a growing medium to the first several inches of the cold frame bringing your seedlings up to the level where the light would reach them? Just a thought.
So, I'm sure you've explained this before ... but how do you get your seedling in/out of the soda bottles? Do you just cut them in half (the bottles, that is)?
Lou - The bottles are cut with a razor knife around the label of the bottle.
I love the reclaimed containers (yogurt cups, soda bottles, etc.) I still don't entirely understand how you got the seeds IN the bottles ... much less how you'll get them OUT.
That would be a great visual.
Love your blog!!!!
suziam48 - Thanks for the kind words. The bottle is cut in half with a razor knife, just at the bottom of the label. This way, the top half can be slid over the bottom half.
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