Green Gardening: Starting your seeds with What?? Egg Cartons

As you may have figured from my thematic posts regarding green gardening, I've been a little nutso about cheap and green methods.  This one was suggested to me by a friend, and since I had a bunch of egg cartons hanging around for another project, I figured I could use one or two for this experiment as well. 

It's pretty straight forward, just put dirt in the egg carton and you're good to go!  I'd recommend only using the cardboard type, as this will allow for proper drainage for your soil.  Another thing I would recommend, because these dry out so easily, is to put them in a tupperware or other plastic receptacle and pour the water in it, and let it soak up through the bottom of the egg carton.  Seeds seem to like indirect moisture better than having it dumped straight onto the soil, and this seems to work better with this method.

We didn't start many plants in these this year, as I've been pretty obsessed with my Newspaper Seed Starters, but the ones we did are looking ok.  I'm going to have to either transplant them or get them in the ground soon, though, in order to keep them alive.

Have you done any green seed starting this year?  If so, let me know!  I would love to hear about all your trials, even if they're failures! :)

Tomatoes: Seed Starting and General Information

Tomatoes:

Tomatoes are fun to grow.  The only problem is that they take up plenty of room, you need to make sure that you account for this along the way.

I started my seedlings in my toilet paper roll starters to begin.   I prefer to start seeds out in a small setting and then move from there.  There are many different varieties, and it is always important to pay attention to the packaging and the specific directions for your varieties.  This year, I am growing Roma, Tiny Tim, Best Boy, Mana Lucie and Black Krim tomatoes.  Each of these came with slightly different directions to start.  I'm going to talk here in generic terms, and occasionally talk about more specific varieties.

Tomatoes need about 60 degree temperature to germinate and can take anywhere from 3-8 weeks to germinate depending on the variety.  Start these seedlings about 6-8 weeks before the last frost to ensure that they will have enough time to grow and be healthy before they have to go outside.  When they have two to three leaves, you'll want to transplant them into larger pots, and for these, I used my newspaper seed pods.  You'll need them in about a 3" pot at this point.  As with all indoor starting seeds, you will want to harden them off before they go outside, as they will not be used to the wind and varying degrees of temperature that await them in the garden.

When you go to place them in your garden, you'll want to plant them deeply, with the first true leaves from the plant just above the soil level.  This will stimulate root growth on the base of the stem and make the plant much more sturdy as it grows.  Another thing that you can do to make sure that your plant is stable is to trellis it, or to put it in a cage.

Remember they like warm, sunny, sheltered places and do not like to be overheated.  Depending upon the variety, you can expect to see fruit in about 70-130 days after you plant the tomatoes. 

If you have any helpful hints on growing tomatoes, please let us know!  I will share with you how our tomatoes do :)

Green Gardening: Starting Seedlings with What?? (Toilet paper tubes)

So as I've mentioned before, this year I'm trying to be "green" with my gardening.  I've already told you how eggshells can be used to start your seedlings, now here's another tip for you!!!

All you'll need for this is to save some toilet paper tubes and keep around a small container that you don't care about.  In this case, I used an old Glad Ovenware that I had bought and lost or destroyed the lid to.

First, you'll cut your toilet paper tubes in half, like this:

Then you'll set them in the container like this:

Then, go ahead and fill them with your seed starting mix!  After this is done, I add water, but not directly to the dirt, but to the outside of the container surrounding the little tubes.  The water will soak up through the toilet paper tubes and into the dirt. 

After everything looks like it's moist, go ahead and plant your seeds!  When you're ready to plant, you can either choose to leave the toilet paper tube in place or just rip it and it will come right off.  I'm going to take mine out only because I don't know how fast they'll decompose.  Perhaps I'll leave one or two as an experiment. :)

Are you a "green gardener"?  If so, share your tips!  We would love to experiment with more green gardening!

Celery: Seed Starting and General Information

This is our first year growing celery.  I'm growing just a couple of plants as an experiment, so this is all new to me as well.  This is all information that I have gathered from other resources, and I hope it helps both me and you, my reader.

I started my seedlings in eggshells, on 3/4/12 in a regular seed starting mix.  According to my package, these should sprout in 10-25 days.  I just scattered these on the top of the soil, as they need light to germinate.  One of my gardening books indicates that it can take a long time to germinate and to stay patient.  When two true leaves appear, transfer them into 3" pots and let them establish.  Then you'll harden them off and replant them when they have 5-7 true leaves.   According to one book, temperatures on these seedlings should never fall below 50 degrees for longer than 12 hours or they will bolt later in life.  If the weather isn't good enough for transplanting, trim them back with sharp scissors, keeping them at about 3" until outdoor temperatures are higher.

If your space is limited, container growing is good, when grown in deep containers.  When they reach 12" in height, begin blanching (or tightening) the plant by binding loosly with a collar by placing a 9-10" piece of thick paper around the stems of the plant.  Add more paper as the plant grows and develops.  These plants do not like to be dry.  Keep them very watered, especially when it is warm.

You'll be able to harvest this difficult plant somewhere between 100-120 days after you've planted it.  Harvest it gently by pulling the roots out from the ground with a garden fork.

If you have any helpful hints on growing celery please leave a comment!  Check back to see how our celery does!

Emerald Bell Peppers: Seed Starting and General Information

In our family, we almost always keep a bell pepper in the refrigerator.  There are more than enough meals that can utilize a pepper, and there are some times where I'm scrounging for dinner and a pepper sets off my imagination.

We've had good crops of bell peppers in the past and it's a great plant to have around if you're like me.  This year, we're growing Emerald Bell Peppers and I started the seedlings in eggshells, at a depth of 1/4" and they will take anywhere from 10-21 days to sprout.  You'll want to try to transplant these when they have three true leaves, placing them in 4-5" pots and moving them into their final position when they're about 4" high.  Make sure to harden these off and plant them after there is no danger of frost.

You want to make sure they're getting enough water when it's really warm, but to not waterlog them.  This is especially important when you're growing them in containers.  Harvest them with scissors or pruning shears when they're green to encourage more growth, or leave them on to have them change color.  Waiting to harvest them will make your yield less, however, so I recommend picking them when they're green.  They will store for about two weeks once harvested.  At the end of the season, you can uproot the plants and hang them by their roots and the fruit will continue to ripen.

Kohlrabi: Seed Starting and General Information

This is by far one of my favorite summertime vegetables.  I have a lot of memories of sitting around with my dad eating it raw, sliced with salt on it.  (Just the thought of it is making me drool right now)

The year before last, they did really well and I had much snacking.  Last year, I tried to do them in pots, however, and they really didn't like it.  I think it once again has to do with the two weeks where it was ridiculously hot and I couldn't keep anything watered properly.

This year, I'm again growing Kohlrabi, and am planning on doing some in pots and some in the garden, with the hope that I'll get at least something from my garden to eat this year.   This is a type of plant that you will want to grow in succession, so that you keep having harvests throughout the year.  planting one mound every 2-3 weeks is ideal if you have the space.

I started these in eggshells on 3/4/12, and will start another set on 3/25/12, and then another sometime in April.  After this time, I'll start the seeds in the ground directly as the weather should be consistently warm enough.  Start them at a depth of 1/2" in a regular seed starting mix.  They typically take between 10-14 days to sprout, but these little guys sprouted in less than a week! 

They really need to have their own space, otherwise they will check they're own growth.  If you plant these in containers, fertalize them moderately every 2-3 weeks and maintain a regular supply of water.

You'll harvest these in about 55 days, and try to pick them when they are between golf ball and tennis ball size, because when they get large, they tend to become woody.  They can be stored for a little while, but tend to lose flavor the longer they are stored.

This year, I'm really hoping to get a good crop, as I found this recipe that looks like it would be great to try!  I've never actually tried cooked kohlrabi, so I'm hoping this year's crop is a success.

Kohlrabi Sauteed in Butter

Peel any tough skin off kohlrabi, trim and scrub.  Boil whole for 20-30 minutes, then drain, cut and saute in a pan for a couple of minutes with melted butter.

The leaves are also said to be good boiled.

Jalapenos: Seed Starting and General Information

The Jalapeno...  My favorite Pepper.  My favorite way to eat it is in popper form, stuffed with cream cheese and deep fried in a fluffy beer batter.  Yummmm.  I'm drooling just thinking about what I'm going to do with these peppers.

The year before last, we had 9 jalapeno plants, and at any given time, usually had around 30-40 jalapenos.  It was wonderful, almost overabundant.  Last year, I only grew one plant and ended up with only about 6 jalapenos all summer.  Last years harvest overall was very poor.  There was a point during the summer where we had 90-100 degree weather with no rain for about two weeks.  This coupled with a pre-planned vacation where we weren't around to water our plants, pretty much dwarfed our harvest and I ended up spending two weeks nursing everything back to health.  We lost a couple of plants too.  (This year, there won't be any vacation during the month of July... I've learned my lesson)

So this year, I'm starting 8 plants, with the hopes of recreating the bountiful harvest we had the year before last.

Jalapenos take a little work as they grow and develop, and it takes a long time to nurse them up to where they'll bear fruit.  This is the technique that I prefer to use when growing my jalapeno seedlings.
I start them in pods at a depth of 1/4" (this year we're doing eggshell seed starting on this plant), and keep them warm, about 70 degrees.  They will sprout somewhere between 10-25 days from when you plant the seeds.  When they have three true leaves, I move them into a 3-5" pot, where they'll stay until they are about 4" high and the soil is warm outside and the danger of frost has passed.

They like the sun outside, and they like to be mildly watered, not soaked.  When the weather is very hot, it pays off to water them multiple times during the day.  Droopy leaves are a sign that you aren't watering them enough.  They are easy to grow in containers, and this is how I've grown my best jalapenos.  They need about 8-10" pots for a full sized plant, in a loam based potting mix.

Your plants will reach maturity close to 65 days.  Harvest the Jalapenos when they are green, and about 3-4" in length.  Continual harvesting will encourage more fruiting, so go out every day to check your harvest!  They will store for up to 3 weeks in the refrigerator in a paper bag.