As previously mentioned, I have a 4-6 pack/week habit on Tanamura and Antle lettuce. At $3.99 each, these don't break the bank, but there is the recycling stream to think about with their clamshells. I also want to be more knowledgable about which varieties I like. and I think yesterday evening's $100 baker creek shopping spree included some lettuce varieties-- Bronze Beauty and Black Seeded Simpson (already had, check your inventory before seed splurges).
Today (9/15/2022), we're experimenting (again) with papertowel plate germination, as described by Suburban Homestead. I love the irony of using grandma's waterford crystal candy dish as a humidity dome for veggies. Also paired with silicon muffin cups each containing a papertowel fragment and a selection of Botanical Interest TY lettuce mix (purple) and BI Black Seeded Simpson (orange...great, maybe we can have a 2022 grow off when BC's comes in). Check back in 2-3 days for germination and transplant to containers.
9/18/2022 lettuces have sprouted. Moved them into 2 round containers and a 6 pack (red=black seeded simpson, black=mix). Started to plate germ spinach (orange) and lyrata choc daisy (purple).
9/22/2022 move the 4 sprouted spinach and 8 or so sprouted lyrata into 2 4" pots -- keeping inside to avoid burn of round one.
9/24/2022 reload plate germ with spinach (orange) and mixed lettuce (purple)...
9/27/2022 transplant sprouted mixed lettuce from purple (3 days is almost too late?!). Replace in plate germ with bloody dock. Spinach is partially sprouted, could probably go another day or two.
9/28/2022 transplant the spinach (4 days) and reload with basil.
10/1/2022 transplant bloody dock (4 days) and reload orange with bronze beauty lettuce.
10/4/2022 transplant bronze beauty (3 days) and basil (6 days) to indoor aqua tray. Lower germ on basil than lettuce. Peas that sit on the dryer seem slightly further along in sprouting-- possibly the heat? sun aspect? Moved lettuce and spinach to mister table because running out of space and it is getting v. leggy. (roughly 10 days from transplant). orange-- cabbage, purple-- kale?
10/7/2022 transplant cabbage + kale (3 days). orange-- cilantro, purple-- buckwheat (basic)
10/13/2022 move cilantro (6 days with 1/2 germ rate) and buckwheat (6 days was way too long). Giving humidor a break to dry out because my "cilantro" bamboo tag was covered with mildewy mold when I went to transplant.
10/17/2022 let the system dry out a bit but didn't bleach, some mildewy discolor on the silicon containers. orange-- Astro arugula. purple-- thousand head kale.
10/20/2022 transplant-- too long on Arugula (3 days), tried surface casting 1K head kale (3 days) to save the dibbet (?) hassle. orange-- orangelo thyme, purple-- wild zatar oregano.
10/23/2022 moved blue kale off mister table and into old wine barrel (10/4 start germ, 10/7 transplant). bonus potatoes in there plus random carrots and shalloty onions? Also interplant the barrel with what is labeled as Dock, but suspect is actually 9/28 basil. Maybe it wants to be the next herb pot? Harvest the last of our persimmons.
10/25/2022 moved off thyme and oregano (5 days)-- too long and too small a seed, need to direct sow. Ended up ripping up paper towel to transplant. Now orange - catnip, purple - dock (try #2 since first was basil).
11/5/2022 moved catnip and dock (11 days) probably waited too long for getting them established. Going to take a break from starts because out of potting soil and find I am not checking as early and often as I should
11/21/2022 starting the germinator back up-- watching a Gabriela Camara master class where she's raving about peppers. I've started some Nardello peppers because the last MC with Alice Waters was raving about them. Sure, they're not season but the back porch has been burning things and I have been slow to move things out of the starter tray to the yard, so maybe getting a headstart on peppers is the thing.
11/27/2022 Nardello 100% germination (6 days). Trying out cozelle squash from a poorly stored 2017 survival seeds set, expecting 0 to low germination.
11/30/2022 starting germination of all 6 (minimum 4, overpacked for low germination?!) black magic cosmos in hopes of more chocolate scents...
12/4/2022 3/6 cosmos germinated for transplant (4ish days). no sign of cozelle germ... started 2022 Dill Tetra
12/6/2022 2 more cosmos (for total of 5/6ish--7 days) sprouted. possibly 1 cozelle starting to germ (10 days?) going to continue to observe. Very few of the dill looking sprouted yet.
12/11/2022 dill has more than sprouted (5 days) need a flimsier medium than a papertowel.
12/13/2022 wow, the cozelle are actually sprouting in the potting mix! trying with 2017 honeydew in the germ tray...
12/24/2022 very belated transplant of honeydews from the germ tray (11 days) with a surprisingly high take rate for almost 6 year old seeds. Moved the cozelles into the mud planters outside along the walks in hopes they will harden off and get established with the rain in the forecast.
12/26/2022 started Robeson tomatoes
1/1/2023 have transplanted Robeson starts over the following 3-5 days from germination station. Started West India Burr Cucumber, Amaranth, Datil pepper
1/4/2023 transplanted amaranth (3 days nearly 100% germ). cucumbers will probably be next.
1/9/2023 transplanted cucumbers and Datil (8 days). Datil pepper not that impressive germination. Started Bronze Beauty lettuce.
1/11/2023 transplant bronze beauty (2 days--perfect). start echinacea. Move robeson transplants out of soil and into 2x yogurt pot aquaponics (16 days from starting in germ).
1/19/2023 moved relatively low germ echinacea and kept the non-germ seeds for a few more days (8 days). Started Nero kale.
1/21/2023 a few nero's sprouted (2), giving 1 more day. most of echinacea up (10 days) so moved to a flat.
1/22/2023 started japanese flowering kale (ornamental), the last 2 seeds of big leaf tong ho, and the last 2 purple magnolia pea seeds (seems to go really high before setting peas)
1/24/2023 transplanted japanese flowering kale (2 days). started borage
1/29/2023 transplanted borage (5 days-- wow this grows fast with high germ) and 1 tong ho into an aquaponic pot with dill (7 days, underwhelming). Started mexican gherkin cucumbers
2/1/2023 transplanted mx gherkins (3 days-perfect). Started '17 boston pickling cucumbers
2/19/2023 back from hawaii and massive seed start haul. amish paste tomato, matador spinach (aquaponics got overrun with aphids), calendula, dahlia, marigold, zinnia, lemon cuke, dragon's egg cuke, sikkim cuke (joseph hooker famous find)
2/25-2/26/2023 welp that was way too many things to start at once. Lots of sprouting, lots of delaying because busy and big rainstorms. I've got some cukes direct seeded in aquaponics pots, some in soil pots, the amish tomatoes in a big soil pot, the spinach in a pack soil, and the flowers semi-direct seeded in yard. (calendula under the pool sink, marigold by the front fender of the truck, and dahlia interplanted with dill along the cinderblock fence).
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