I no longer post to this blog but
you can check out the new BA Farm Blog at:
http://realveggiesfarm.blogspot.com

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

How I Start My Seeds

So here is how I start all my seeds. I pretty much start all my seeds the same way. The only exceptions would be things like vines which I start in pots instead of flats, certain types of seeds that do not need to be covered with dirt, and a few other exceptions.
Below is a list of some things you may need:
Seed Starting Dirt
Warm Water
Popsicle Sticks - for marking
Gloves (if you don't want to get your hands dirty, I don't use gloves for anything but that's just me.)
Container to plant in - I use flats, but you can use just about anything, just poke some holes in the bottom for drainage.
Seeds (of coarse!)
Spray bottle
Sphagnum Moss
Cling Wrap
Tiny hair clips (come in handy for keeping the cling wrap from touching the dirt.)

1. First thing I do is wet my dirt, before planting, with warm water. Just be sure not to get too wet.

2. Once dirt is wet I transfer the dirt into the flat I will be planting in, you can use whatever you wish to plant in some people use styrofoam cups, any kind of used food containers, you can use your imagination. I am not a fan of peat pots or pellets, to me they seem to be difficult to keep from getting too wet and too dry. If you do use peat pots or pellets be sure to tear off some of the pot or netting before planting because you could end up with a problem like this.

3. Then I pat down the dirt.

4. I use popsicle sticks to mark my rows and varieties planted.

5. After I place the popsicle sticks where my rows will be, I use another popsicle stick to make my rows. For seeds that do not need to be covered, I sometimes just scatter the seeds in their area without making rows, and mark the section with a popsicle stick in the dirt as a divider.

6. Place the seeds in the rows.

7. Cover the seeds, by pushing extra dirt on sides of rows over seeds. If you are unsure of how much to cover the seeds it is always better to not over cover the seeds. For most of my seeds I either just barely cover (1/4" on package) or do not cover at all (1/8" on package). If the package states to cover with a 1/8" of dirt I do not cover with dirt at all and just cover with sphagnum moss. If it states to not cover at all I do not cover with dirt or sphagnum moss.

8. Pat down the dirt after covering the seeds.

9. Once I have all my seeds planted, I then cover with a layer of sphagnum moss.

10. Spray with a spray bottle to wet sphagnum moss, spray slowly at first the sphagnum moss will fly everywhere if you don't.

11. I then cover with cling wrap, and use tiny hair clips to keep the cling wrap form touching the dirt. Check every day some seeds will come up within a couple of days. When the seedlings begin to pop up I remove the cling wrap. If some varieties come up and others have not I will sometimes put a plastic dome on the flat for a couple of days to give the unsprouted seeds some more time with extra warmth. You do not want the seedlings to be touching the plastic, so remove once they get to tall.

I place my flats under lights right away. Most seeds do not need light to sprout but the lights give them extra warmth that can greatly speed up the germination process. If the instructions on the package say do not cover the seeds chances are those seeds need light to germinate.

The seeds that I planted in the above flat were cherry tomato seeds. I will be sure to post a picture once they have sprouted and as they grow.


There are so many different methods to start seeds. Everyone has there own way that works best for them. You are going to be starting seeds of your own, happy seed starting!
Now back to work, planting more seeds.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

A Very Wet BA Farm

On Thursday, I decided to take a walk around and take some pictures. It was not easy everything was mostly muck, my boots and pants were pretty muddy by the time I was done with my walk. Here are some of the pictures I took.

Looking at the front gardens, lots of water and some snow still remaining


At least there is some sign of life, bulbs popping up from under the leaves


Picture of what use to be collards and kale, surrounded by snow and water


The creek full from all the melting snow


Although it may look like a creek, this water is just draining into the creek


The pond beginning to thaw
(it is now, two days after this picture was taken, mostly thawed)

We are suppose to get more rain, hopefully not too much. We now have our plastic and a lot of what we need to get started on building our new hoop house. If the weather ever gets better, and things dry out a little, so we are not just playing around in muck, we can start working on the hoop house. I am going to try and take as many pictures as possible when we start to work on it, but it is hard to do when there is a lot of work to focus on.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Seed Starting

I just thought that I would post an seed starting update, since I have been spending so much time lately working on the website and I do not want to neglect my blog.

Broccoli, Cauliflower, Cabbage and Brussels Sprouts Seedlings

I have lots and lots of broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, and brussels sprouts started. I may have over did it a little, oh well nothing new. I have moved these two flats outside my greenhouse (that is in the basement) where it is cooler (around 60 degrees at the highest). They grow better there than in the greenhouse where it is much warmer (around 70 degrees at the lowest). I do start them in the greenhouse though, I think all seeds start better when the temperature is higher, no matter what kind.

I will be starting my eggplant, some peppers along with some other things today or tomorrow. They all will be started in the greenhouse in the basement and the eggplant will be started on the heat mat since they like it warm.