#early plants

[balkanradfem]

Plant update!

I mentioned I had some unauthorized plants illegally growing in already-occupied pots. I'm now gonna transplant them to their own pots! Or I'll do as many as I can, because I am running out of soil.

This tomato looks the most established; I wasn't sure how to take it out, so I clumsily pushed my finger under it, trying to pull it up from below. I think I accidentally snapped away a piece of root, but it has another little piece so maybe it lives? It's a very feeble root system I have to say. But may it live!

I do feel much better seeing her in her own pot, feels right! The two tiny tomato plants underneath, I have damaged even worse, but I still planted them together in a little cup, hoping one might make it.

Next I checked on my paper towel seeds to see if any seed germinated, and there were some! I found 3 little dwarf tomatoes, and two broccoli seeds activated. I gathered up as much soil as I had left, and put them in 4 little plastic cups.

They're so tiny! Since they've already activated I feel like I can be confident these will come out of the soil, they're Certified Viable Seeds.

At this point I became banned from further gardening, because I don't have any more soil to work with. And this isn't the fault of my poor planning! Right when I was going to the forest to gather soil, my aloe arborescens had all those babies that needed to be transplanted if I were to keep them, and I couldn't abandon little aloe babies, that would be crazy. So in transplating all of them I spent.. half of my soil, and I need to go to the forest to get more. Earth is frozen, temperatures are below zero, ground is frozen, forest is cold. Good luck to me!

However there was another thing I figured I could do. All of my plants were starting to look leggy and sad, reaching to the window for there was not enough sun. I knew a trick to deal with this, even though I've never used it before, it felt like I really needed it now. I found a big piece of cardboard, and reached for used aluminum foil I had stashed 'just in case'. I wrapped the board in aluminum and placed it facing the window, and the plants.

The idea behind this is doubling the solar power the plants receive, by reflecting it right back at them. This way the plants get almost double amount of light, and they get it from both sides, so they stop reaching terminally towards the window, and straighten up a little! I realized after I've done this, that it could be more efficiently achieved with a big mirror, but I did not own a big mirror I could randomly move around, so I left it at cardboard and foil.

This is how it looks like installed:

I took the first picture yesterday, and the second today to compare progress, and even though the plants are still leaning out, their tips are straightened up! They are slightly more inclined to grow straight now they have a reflective source of light. I should have done this from day one, maybe plants wouldn't even get leggy that way. Am mesmerized by the new knowledge I acquired! My next batch of plants will thrive because I learned to use the power of the sun.

I also started using a big paper fan on them, fanning wind at them every day, because wind resistance communicates to baby plants they need to grow stronger stems! That's why professional greenhouses always have those big fans working, that and preventing the mold and disease occurring on wet leaves (wind dries faster).

Isn't it interesting how many normal household items you can use for growing a little garden in your kitchen? Plastic cups, paper fan, little spray bottle to water the tiniest seedlings, aluminum foil with some cardboard, my entire setup is just a big wooden plank placed on a cardboard box, it creates a little plant table. I bet everyone has most of the stuff they need for gardening at home.

[everythingcatalogue]

[thegospelofflame]

Psilophyton crenulatum, Lower Devonian of Atholville, New Brunswick, Canada.

From Plant Life in the Devonian by Patricia G Gensel and Henry N. Andrews, 1984

[balkanradfem]

I'm still okay, and I've started my first seeds of the year!

My first ones are: chilli pepper, horn pepper, dwarf tomato, cherry tomato, climbing triple crop tomato, purple cabbage, cabbage savoy, kale, broccoli, basil.

For the most of them I'm using the 'paper towel method', which is when you take the seeds, write down which seed they are, put them in a paper towel, spray with water, and then pack up in a plastic bag. This is the most efficient way of getting the most seeds to generate, because they are warm and constantly damp, so the conditions feel ideal to them to grow. It also works faster than putting them in the soil.

I have to check on them every few days to see what germinated, and then I'll put those in pots. I immediately put basil and kale in pots because it felt correct.

I have a plan for chilli peppers and dwarf tomatoes to grow on my balcony; they're both small enough to grow in a pot efficiently and they look so beautiful too! It's almost like a decorative plant except it also gives you delicious food.

And for others, this is just for a very early wave, if they succeed great! If not, I'll start more of them later.

There's also a new thing I'm trying out; I'll try to sprout a sweet potato. I got one from the plant lady, and I found out you can have them grow new seedlings, if you put them half-buried in the soil, or if you put it half-submerged in the water. But, they need to be in a very warm and humid place!

So I put it in a milk carton, because that size felt appropriate, and then on top of a radiator, which is the warmest place in here, and then I also added this 'cushion' pad to make sure it doesn't get too hot, and a bag to keep the humidity. But I take bag off continuously so it doesn't grow mold. I hope it works! Slips should be starting to grow in about two weeks.

[balkanradfem]

Baby plants update!

Every first of January I will germinate whatever early seeds I think I can get away with, and often it doesn't pan out great, but this year I got away with a lot! First to germinate was cabbage, and sadly it was very cloudy and dark these few days, so it grew all weak and leggy, and it's not super viable for growing outside. However, little basil plants have sprouted just in time to get some sun! Here's them early on:

I learned from my past attempts that basil will grow early but only in closed container, so I made sure to put it in a piece of plastic with a lid on. Other than that, I got two perfect little pepper seedlings, a fair few of early tomatoes, and 5 ground cherries!

The last one was a surprise, because normally they're tough to grow even under perfect conditions. 2022 is giving me good plant vibes. These will be my earliest plants, grown to establish early and to withstand a possible summer drought.

Fennel outright refused to exit the soil and celery tried it a little and decided, nahh. But I am thrilled with what I have, and will start seeds for a serious first waves of tomatoes and peppers very shortly.

Oh and that dill you can see on the picture, accidental. No clue how it got there. I allowed it to stay.

[mystericj]

Pioneers of the land. by Plioart