Not So Wordless Wednesday – Recycled Seed Starting Greenhouse

Katelyn — Wed, 26 May 2010 15:28:46 +0000

You can buy a seed starting greenhouse for $4 or more to start seeds in. Or you can buy rolls in a plastic container, rinse out the container when you are done with it and start seeds in it for free. I put seed starting mix in this container, moistened it, planted the seeds and left them alone to sprout. I got a 90% germination rate. After a few days, I lifted the lid to vent the seeds. (I thought they were moldy, but on closer inspection, discovered that a few of them had roots that weren’t in the ground.) I’m pretty happy with my free plastic greenhouse.

Plastic Bakery Containers Make Great Seed Starting Greenhouses

The quail eggs still all look good. I turned them without breaking them, so I feel a bit less nervous about the whole thing.

We decided to have a bit of fun and bought peanuts from a faster maturing variety to try. I’m about done planting til later this summer, when I need to start planting fall and winter crops, but I replanted carrots where the chickens can’t swipe them and still need to do the spaghetti squash.

How is your garden growing?

Quail Eggs and Garden Update

Katelyn — Mon, 24 May 2010 17:40:58 +0000

Oh, dear. I meant to transfer my journal notes to my blog, but I kept forgetting. I’m not going to go back a month to bore you with updates that seemed tremendously exciting at the time, but I will give you a quick recap. In the ground right now, I have:

Radishes
Peas
Bush beans
Mixed lettuces
Big Boy tomatoes
Black cherry tomato
Volunteer mystery tomato seedlings (I should yank them up by their little roots, but I didn’t have any tomato diseases last year and they’re nowhere near this year’s on purpose bunch.)
Zucchini
Yellow squash
Red cabbage (I so want to try making my own sauerkraut this year!)
Butternut squash
Parsnips
Beets
White potatoes
Sweet potatoes

The sweet peppers I started indoors didn’t do well, so I may just pick up a few seedlings. I have giant pumpkin, tigger melons and spaghetti squash seeds soaking in wet paper towels to go in tomorrow. (They seem to sprout better for me if I do that first.) And I have a whole mess of stuff waiting for a late summer planting for my year round growing experiment. (Yes, I’ve been reading The Four Season Harvest book…)

My dream list, in case anyone wants to know what I want for my birthday this year:

Hardy fig tree
Rain barrel
Hoop house

A dozen of the eggs we just got. They will need to sit a few hours before starting incubation so they settle.

Now, on to today’s adventure! I got 59 quail eggs in the mail today. The kids want to hatch some chicks and I thought quail would be nice to try, as they are nice and small compared to turkeys and geese. I see that quite a few people keep them in cages out in snow covered only with a tarp, but we’re thinking about building an aviary beside the porch if they hatch so that they are well protected. We have to incubate for 17 days at 99.5-100 degrees and should turn the eggs at least twice, preferably three times, a day so it will be quite some time before we know if our adventure is successful.

How is your garden growing this year? Are you doing anything new for your sustainable living plan?

Mama On the Go » raising quail

Not So Wordless Wednesday – Recycled Seed Starting Greenhouse

Quail Eggs and Garden Update