Another Round of Seeds, Restarting the Indoor Grow Room

June 11, 2020

I got the seeds out, and the containers out, and went for another round of starts. I don’t know what to expect here, and if I’ll be transplanting all of these, or if they’ll all die! I think I have a better method, learning all the time…

I filled up two squares of hemp fiber with seeds to try microgreens again. I used almost one pouch of Pea Early Perfection, and almost one pouch of Radish Cherry Giant, which is 1/4 of the tray total. I intend to put down more seeds in a week, and more in a week, and hopefully just have a weekly rotating microgreens setup going. Wishful thinking, I think.

I filled up four egg containers:

1. Lettuce Gormet Mix | Lettuce Lolla Rosa
2. Cilantro | Rosemary | Garlic Chives
3. Pak Choi, Kale Premier, Kale Blue Vates
4. French Mesclun | Mesclun Spicy Mix

With four small 2″ square containers, I seeded Sunflower Russian Something.

Then I evened out the rest of the seed starter soil mix I bough way back when, and put in four little rows of spinach.

Finally, I tweezered in Arugula Slow Bolt seeds into the foam net pots, and those are sitting in the hydroponic tray in an inch of water. I would love to figure out how to grow with the hydro setup. I got it for something, right?? Years ago!

In the grow room is the hydro container, the microgreen tray, and a tray with #1 and #3 and the Sunflowers.

Outside on the front porch are trays #2 and #4 and the spinach.

I also put #2 bin compost – leaves mixed in with sod square remnants and two years old compost – on the back lot potato box, on the whole outer side of the main plot, and a few other random spots in the main plot. I have a lot more mulching to do… I think it is a good thing to do.

This morning, I transplanted all of the indoor herb sprouts to containers on the front porch. I really hope those take, but it is so much easier to tend to them than transplants and seeds in the main plot. Gah, I need a better watering system. Or more knowledge.

I hope I get a lot of seed starts in this latest round of sowing because I think I’ll want to fill in empty spots in the main plot as soon as possible!

Otherwise, things are looking good. Small bugs on the potato leaves but I don’t think the tiny holes will be a big deal so I am going to just monitor. Mustard Greens comin’ in good, arugula looks awesome. Swiss chard is doing really good but has some brownish soggy spots on many of the leaves. Spinach is growing well, too, but similar brown spots on some leaves. Less that 5% overall, really. Lettuce is coming in nice, but slow. Pak Choi is looking great. Peas are fun to watch. Lentils don’t seem to be growing very fast. Beans and quinoa are kind of stunted, seemingly, but it has been cold this week, much colder than the week before. Still, the soil seems dry. I am so confused about watering…

None of the French Mesclun, and few of the herbs in the herb row have sprouted at all. It is defeating. Maybe I haven’t waited long enough? Maybe they’re duds. Either way, I will likely be reseeding lettuce seeds soon. Tomorrow is three weeks for all those seeds.

Berries are ho hum, tomatoes and peppers are just chillin’. Onions look fine, carrots look good but a big open spot should get resown. Kale is holding its own. Big kale is fun to watch and I’m really excited for seeds! I think they’ll be round black seeds.