garden news-planting fall seeds

GARDEN NEWS-PLANTING FALL SEEDS

recently i went to my usual seed packet buying stores and the selection was thinned out
i went online and looked a the seed catalog from a website i use to order things from when i lived in texas
i used this site since the organic nursery i usually used bought many of their seeds from this company
i was able to select from a bigger selection than at the nursery

earlier i wrote about how i prepare my beds using compost organic fertilizer liquid fish emulsion seaweed and molasses
i fork that into the soil real well then cover with a thick layer of mulch for the several weeks until its time to plant my seedlings
then i just rake back the mulch and plant my plants
i also will usually add some of my worm compost when i plant the seedlings

this year i looked at my 8 3ft x 8ft beds and said what i can plant in there that we will eat and not have to can or freeze or preserve in someway
also what will ms b and mr h eat out of the garden

so 
i came up with these things
broccoli cabbage curly leaf kale swiss chard bush sweet peas vine sweet peas and then a lettuce mix of several packets of lettuce mixes plus spinach plus baby kale plus swiss chard plus beets

i put the lettuce mix in the pictured spice shaker and use it to scatter the seeds into my starter mix or soil
this gives me a wide variety of greens to eat in our salads



i took the empty plastic 6 packs
filled them with this good potting starting mix which has stuff in it to hold moisture so the seeds will germinate like zeolite perlite vermiculite peat moss

i then planted the seeds into the 6 packs

i for now will keep them in our front picture window that gets a lot of morning sunlight

later i will transfer them to our community garden greenhouse to grow larger

early on i like to keep them at home where i can watch them better
i water them each day to keep them moist

some of the plants i will transfer later to a 4 inch pot to allow them to get larger before i transplant them
i anticipate they will be ready in about a month to plant into the garden

in addition i will add this winter into my garden carrots garlic onions cilantro and im sure ill find something else to add later

i usually dont plant many things directly from seed into the garden since pests and varmints tend to eat them when they are first growing
they tend to not attack them as much if i use transplants like above
i usually direct seed carrots 

these plants will all grow in my garden all fall and winter
some like the lettuce mix i will plant every few weeks to keep a fresh crop growing

i never really did a lot of my own seedlings much before moving here but ive found this pleasure from planting this tiny little seed in this container and watch it grow up into a large edible plant
the best example this year was my t tomatoes from my sister in laws garden which i seed saved and grew a ton of tomatoes from

you should try planting your own seeds yourself especially if its hard to find veggie plants this fall

the organicgreen doctor