Seed starting

As part of our resolution to document better, I am writing this post about some seeds that were started on January 6th.

One of our goals is to grow as much as we can from seed or through propagating our own plants. We are still beginners at it but getting more and more successful. We are starting seeds to fill in some of the empty spaces in our back garden. Some we have grown before (okra, eggplant, Amsterdam celery, marigolds) but the hyssop and Welsh onions are new to us.

Currently we use the Jiffy seed starting greenhouse from Home Depot. We reuse the outer part and purchase more Jiffy Strips Peat Pots. Over time the clear plastic lid has been lost so we just cover the tray with plastic wrap until the seeds sprout. One day soon we hope to have a more sophisticated set up but this works for now.

As you can see, some have already sprouted. The hyssop (shown below) and the okra are the first to sprout, just 3 days after planting.

Are you starting seeds yet? Have you started any of these plants from seed?

Seeds Planted

• Okra, Clemson Spineless
• Eggplant, Italian trio
• Welsh onions
• Hyssop
• Amsterdam celery
• Marigold - Cottage red

DIY Vertical Pallet Garden

Pallets are all over Pinterest where people make tables, sofas, even buildings out of them. We recently had two pallets from our paving project so Tim made a vertical pallet garden out of them.

After finding where we wanted our pallet stack, we dug a 3 feet deep and 12 inches round hole with a post hole digger and planted one 4x4 pressure-treated timber in the ground. We used the trusty post level to keep it plumb in all dimensions, and in the hole we dug poured one 80 lb bag of Sakrete.

The next day repeated the same process and waited till day 3 to stack and mount the 2 pallets.

We had to remove a few pieces of the front boards to create what we wanted, then stapled 1/4 inch metal screen under each place we wanted to make a planter. The air stapler did the job here! 

We used a piece of mesh screen to lay inside the pocket so potting mix would not come through, the material could be anything such as weed barrier or anything water permeable.

In one section we used 2 sections of boards together and did the same blocking process with stapling the screen, then laying the mesh inside. The potting mix was retained so this method of creating a planting space worked well. We'll let you know how it holds up in the long run.

All of the pockets were filled with potting mix, plants were added on the very top and bottom rows, and seed were planted in the middle. Plants were chosen that would climb or droop, as the very top row is a nice variety of lemon cucumber. We will no doubt try this again on our property as there is more room for vertical growth.

Plants/seeds included in this project:

•  Lemon cucumbers (plants; top row)
•  Moth beans (seeds; second row)
•  Nasturtiums (seeds; second row)
•  New Zealand spinach (seeds; third row)
•  Pot of gold chard (seeds; third row)
•  German chamomile (plants; bottom row)