Planting Seeds

Its either that time of year, or there must be something in the air... either way let's plant some seed. If we reap what we sow, then we better sow some pretty good stuff.

So we've seen the scientific method from the Sheezle.  This is the haphazard made-up dirt and sunlight method.  Lets hope it works.

I bought some San Marzano tomato seeds from rareseeds.com, and they sent me a packet of cilantro for free. I thought that was cool, and it made up for paying the small shipping fee.

See the San Marzano and Cilantro packets here. Also pictured are basil and parsley.  Seed packs typically claim to yield 25 plants and cost around $2.

I bought a hex seed system and a bag of potting soil from Lowe's. They were each approx. $5.50 each. All told were at something like $20 for everything.

pictured above is the hex system (supports 72 plants) and some potting soil.

I filled up the pockets about 75 percent of the way. Then used a spray bottle to moisten the soil. I dropped a couple (2 or 3) seeds in each pocket. I then covered the seeds and misted it again.

Some packets have the instructions on the back. For example, the parsley recommended to soak them overnight so I wrapped them in a damp paper towel and will plant them tomorrow.

I found a good rear facing window for when these suckers sprout, but I was worried about the cross-member casting a shadow and the back rows of plants not getting enough sunlight, since I am not using grow lights. 

Nice southern facing window, should get plenty of sun. 

In order to milk all the sunlight I can get and mitigate the shadows being cast as the sun rises and sets, I strung together a "solar shield" out of a cardboard box and aluminum foil. I have called this setup my science project ever since.

 

The science project.

Updates and hopefully tomato sauce to come!