It has started….Seed Starting 2011
I’ve officially started the 2011 gardening season. I started 1 flat of onion seeds so far and some celery seeds. Most seed starting guides will tell you to start your onions and celery a month later than this, usually mid-late February. I find that these do much better if started earlier. Onions can be planted outside early as they can take some cold weather. I have found that my celery does much better if I plant it earlier rather than later.
I’ll be starting a few more flats of onions this week when I have some time, and I’ll probably start a few little containers of herbs that I want to be of decent size when when spring comes. This year I’m experimenting with soil blocks. I think I’m going to be doing some experiments to see how they compare to cell flats, they’re certainly cheaper.
What is the first thing you typically start for your garden?
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Time to Start Spring Cleaning
Yesterday afternoon I took down all the Christmas decorations both inside and out. It’s always sad to do this as the house seems empty and bare afterwards. I miss the warm glow of the light in the evenings and the smell of pine in the house. For me this signals the start of spring cleaning.
All of the Christmas decorations were taken down, cleaned, organized and put into boxes. I try to make sure everything goes back in great condition so that it’s quick and easy to put up next year. It was the perfect day, sunny and bright. That made the outside work seem warmer than the 18 that it was, and it made cleaning the living a much sunnier task.
All of the fresh pine garland and the tree get put outside on the brush pile. They provide great habitat for snakes, rabbits and other animals. We have a pile that we’ve been building since we bought our house. It’s out back by the edge of the woods by the compost piles. It’s important provide this kind of habitat for animals in your garden. I keep hoping for a big black snake to move into mine.
Now that Christmas is down, it’s time to start moving furniture, cleaning the floors, and getting all those spring cleaning chores checked off the list. I like to get my spring cleaning done in winter, spring can get awfully busy around here with maple sugaring and seed starting.
Do you spring clean? When do you start?
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Quote of the Day: John Ruskin
“Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather.”
I try to savor each kind of weather in it’s season, it is wonderful living in an area with four distinct seasons. At the moment, we’re in winter, and that means snow. I love the snow, if it’s going to be cold I want there to be snow on the ground. I don’t go out and play in it like I did when I was a kid, I can distinctly remember the joy playing in the snow brought . Mr Chiots spent some time out in the snow with our nieces & nephew on Friday and took some photos while he was out.
Kids sure know how to relish the weather, especially snow! I think as an adult I relish rain the most.
What kind of weather do you remember relishing as a kid?
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My Seed Organizing Method
Many of you wanted to hear a little more my seed organization system. I didn’t used to be organized in this area, until last year I kept my seeds in a plastic bin. I had amassed so many seed that it took me while to sort through them every time I needed something. I decided to come up with a more organized solution.
After much thought, I finally I set up the system I’m currently using and I really like it. I made these small folders from some extra folders I had in the office. I simply cut them to size to fit the box I was using for my seeds (which is from IKEA). I cut each folder in half on the normal fold line, then I cut it to width retaining the tab in the location I wanted (of course I alternated them as you can see in the box view). Then I folded those in half and I had a folder the perfect size for my box.
Next I set up and printed up these charts to put on the fronts of the folders. These keep track of the things I have inside the folder so I can see at quick glance what varieties are inside.
I have tweaked it a bit since I set it up. I now have added subcategories to a few of the kinds of seeds I have lots of and for the different seasons that I grow them in. So I have categories for: spring greens, summer greens, fall greens. This particularly helps with my winter gardening as I have all the varieties that are good for fall/winter separated out so they’re quick to find. I also have folders for flowers I need to start extra early like globe amaranth and others that take 120 days to flower.
You may have noticed that I also paperclip or butterfly clip the folders closed (it also attaches the info card), I find this makes them easier to take in and out, no seed packets sliding out of the folders.
To help keep my seeds viable for longer I store my seed box in the basement where it’s cool. I also save those little silica gel packets and put them in the boxes to absorb extra moisture. I plan on replacing them with some activated bamboo charcoal as soon as I order some.
This system is working very well for me. It sure saves me a lot of time when I’m planting seeds. I have actually set up another box to store my larger packets of seeds and cover crops separately. All I need to come up with now is a great garden journal that I can use to keep track of all of my other planting notes. I’m hoping to incorporate that into my new blog redesign so you can see it as well in case you’re interested.
How do you store your seeds? Any great tips for us? Any great tips on setting up a garden journal?
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We all know that without winter’s dim afternoons we couldn’t have summer’s brilliant evenings.
“Wabigokoro asks us to pay close attention to nature’s cycles of growth, decay, and rebirth, to follow the rhythm of the seasons as they ebb and flow. We all know that without winter’s dim afternoons we couldn’t have summer’s brilliant evenings. Sometimes though, as the days grow smaller and a sad but certain sense of rest envelopes the earth, it’s hard not to wish summer could last forever. The oaks and maples shed their leaves and give their mighty souls a respite from production. Yet deep into midwinter, we humans continue to churn through our daily routines, asking ourselves to muster up the same vigor we had during the long days of June.”
Robyn Griggs Lawrence (The Wabi-Sabi House: The Japanese Art of Imperfect Beauty)
