July 22nd, 2009
Today I started my garden. Behold:
This is thyme, in seed form. It’s hiding there under 3mm of dirt (give or take – how precise can you be at those measurements?). Also:
The first of what I hope to be a few waves of lettuce, also as seeds, also in 3mm of dirt. I bought the basil as a proper plant as the store didn’t have basil seeds and I really wanted some. Once the deck planters are finished (tomorrow the guy says – I have heard this before so I am not holding my breath), it will be transplanted. The seeds will stay indoors until they have sprouted and been hardened off – this last means a gradual transition to outdoors with greater and greater exposures to outside daily until they can tolerate a full day in the different climate. I am not sure why a plant needs this but my book advised it so I will do it.
It also advised that those peat pots are often contaminated with the eggs of some kind of worm that is harmful, so I dampened and microwaved them for 2 minutes to sterilize them.
I also bought other seeds that apparently do best when planted directly into their outdoor soil without the fuss of indoor seeding and transplanting, which will go in the ground soon. We’ll have radishes, lettuce, green onions (scallions), and herbs. It’s the wrong time of year to start the herbs but I’m going for it anyway.
Potential problems: I am starting with very few seeds and therefore very few seedlings, which means any failures will essentially wipe out my whole crop. I will make a duplicate set of these guys in about a week as backup, but I don’t have the garden space for a million plants so I can’t just plant fifty. I also don’t want to throw away perfectly good plants because I oversowed and haven’t the space.
I don’t know how much to water these guys. I guess I’ll try to keep ‘em damp but apparently the leading cause of seed failure is overwatering, so… I dunno, I’ll wing it.
Potential boons: I bought regular looking seeds but wickedly good soil, which I then mixed with about 20% by volume worm castings. This is a euphemism for worm poop. It apparently is great for all soil but particularly seedlings, where it retains moisture but also aids drainage so you get the right level of dampness, and slowly releases nutrients so the baby plants don’t burn but also don’t starve. And it looks like teeny, tiny turds! But it has no smell and feels neat. Even if it does nothing for my seeds it is fun to handle.
I have great sun and my main challenge will be providing enough shade for the lettuce, which needs only partial sun when sown this time of year.
So this is the very beginning of my little garden! I must say I feel quite affectionately attached to it already.