Thursday, February 26, 2009

~ Seed Starting ~
















Yipee ~~ I finally received my seeds Monday , so today I started all the cold weather crops. I have been saving egg cartons for awhile , I was saving them for my future eggs , but remembered when I was in elementary school , how we used them to start seeds , so I' m starting some of my seeds in them this year , better for the environment and the plants.

I saved the egg shells , washed them , let them dry , placed the shells back in the cardboard holder and punched holes in the bottom of each shell. I put potting soil in each shell , planted the seeds , then I used a spray bottle to dampen the soil. I covered them with plastic wrap ( the last box of wrap I intend to buy ~ hate the stuff ) to help keep them moist , then I put the cardboard sleeve over them to keep them dark. I'll keep them in my spare bedroom until they sprout , then I'll move them to basement and put them under lights.
I did an internet search about starting seeds in egg shells , found this article , http://www.pallensmith.com/index.php?id=1052. The wonderful thing about this process is you can plant the egg shells or card board holders and not worry about root damage , plus the shells add nutrients.
I started 2 types of cabbages , Early Round Dutch Cabbage and Red Acre Cabbage , Di Cicco Broccoli , Catskill Brussel Sprouts , Iceberg Lettuce and Paris White Cas Lettuce (Romaine Lettuce ). I've never started these type seeds , hope they do well.
The weather has been wonderful today , did a load of wash and hung it out to dry. DH and K Gray moved my raised beds to their permanent location , plan to work on those the weekend. The chicks are doing well , they've adjusted to the coop. The guineas decided to become totally free range yesterday , they didn't stay in the coop last night , found them a nice roosting spot , high up in the trees . I would prefer they stay in the coop overnight , but not much you can do , if they want come down from the trees.
~ Green Blessings ~
JoyceAnn

3 comments:

Flassie's Fil'a said...

I've watched Pallen Smith on PBS.
Cool.

I have to tell you I use to buy eggs sometimes at a farm and they had to stop using recycled egg cartons because of the chance of salmonella poisoning if you are going to use for eggs. You might check into it if your going to use them for egg storage.

But for using in planting it must be a different story.

There is a PM at Violettes for you.

God Bless You and Yours!!!

JoyceAnn said...

I guess their could be a problem with salmonella poisoning , but I'm not to worried about it since I won't be selling the eggs. If an egg breaks or the carton gets dirty , I will burn them.

~ Blessings ~
JoyceAnn

Flassie's Fil'a said...

Oh, Ok. I never did get sick off them when they didn't have rules put on them.

Now I understand the breakage in
the carton would cause a problem.

God Bless You and Yours!!!