Small Package, Small Seeds

Monday morning I had a list of fun things to do on my day off. One of which was visiting the Mother Earth Gardens in the Longfellow neighborhood in Minneapolis. Mother Earth Gardens is a wonderful resource; here's what they say about themselves: "At Mother Earth Gardens we strive to provide you with beautiful plants and products, but a central part of our mission is also to choose plants and products that have been grown, produced and delivered in a sustainable manner."

It was time to get the supplies for starting my seeds indoors when they arrived. I arrived with my shopping list.

I set out to purchase:
1) Seeds for cilantro, basil and chives.
2) Seed starting soil.
3) Starter pots.

In talking with the very knowledgeable staff at Mother Earth Gardens, I learned some key information: I could start my herbs in the same pots I intended to grow them and to get the seeds to germinate and sprout into strong plants they need 16 hours of light. I needed to purchase a grow light. I turned down the offer of the grow light at Mother Earth Gardens and headed to the hardware store. This is where things got interesting. I went to the light aisle seeking a 24" fluorescent light fixture which I could easily hang and install grow-light bulbs in. The saleswoman assured me the fixture she was selling me wasn't that complicated and that I could handle it. I figured that it wasn't anything instructions and a phone call to my Dad couldn't get me through. Yeah, right! The fixture I purchased contained no cord to simply plug in, nor were the light sockets installed. It needed to be directly wired into something or other...this puppy was completely out of my league.

Back to the hardware store to get something less complicated. I found the perfect tool and installed it on the cart in our sun room. It did require me to use a drill, but no problem there.

The "Bergers OM 1" soil I got earlier that day needed to be moistened. I readied the herb pots with the help of my able bodied assistant, Mr. Mabel Boots.
After the herbs were ready to go the mail had come.
Our wonderful Mail person delivered a small padded envelope from Decorah, IA...some place called the "Seed Savers Exchange". At long last my seeds had arrived! The seeds for my tomato plants (two types), peppers and onions have been started in a biodegradable green house kit.
The best thing about that kit is that the starter pots can be placed directly into my Square Foot Garden.

I checked the seeds about every two hours yesterday. Nothing happened. Gardening doesn't lend itself to instant gratification. There should be some sprouts this weekend, though. My Peace Lily is finally blooming and my Christmas Cactus is having another run of blossoms.

Beets, Onion & Peppers- oh my!

My seeds are paid for and are en route from Iowa. I purchased heirloom seeds from the Seed Savers Exchange, a company founded in 1975. Their mission sums up their work like so: "Seed Savers' mission is to save the world's diverse but endangered garden heritage for future generations." Need I say more?

Here's a run down of the goods coming my way:

1) Early Blood Turnip (Beets)
2) Borehanna, Yellow (Onions)
3) Ancho Gigantea (Peppers)
4) Cherokee Purple (Tomatoes)
5) Cherry Roma (Cherry Tomatoes)

Saturday I continued with my reading of the Square Foot Gardening book. I mapped out my plot and now know that I have some extra room. In addition to the crops above, I'll have potatoes and spinach. Maybe one other crop as well.

Here's my square foot garden as I see it:

We are experiencing some beautiful weather here in St. Paul. It was 61 degrees fahrenheit yesterday. 99.5% of the snow is melted. This evening, I walked over to my plot to see how the garden looks not blanketed in snow. I'm happy to report that there is some action! Wood chips have been delivered. These will pave the aisles between the plots. I also discovered that my fellow farmers at the Oxford-Dayton Urban Farm employ the square foot gardening method too!




My seeds should arrive later this week. I intend to have the appropriate seeds started indoors before the Wisconsin Badgers Basketball team makes it to the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tourney. The others will go right in the ground when the time is right...I imagine after the final four sometime.