Seed Starts Saturday

The rain we have been promised all week by the weather guessers?  It could start tomorrow please!  Have oodles of babies and seed trays out under the bushes for mother nature to water with goodness.

Started today - in an 18 cell recycled nursery tray:
6 Burgundy Okra
6 Mammoth Dill
3 Rat Tail Radish
3 Spicy Globe Basil

Our Christmas tree twig arrived finally - I knew in my mind that it was going to be small; but seeing it up close and personal - no way can I put that out in the back yard until it gets taller.  It's not even up to the doggies withers yet.  Tropic Beauty Peach - from Chestnut Hill Tree Farm.  This, and the Chickasaw Plum both came in beautiful condition and wonderfully packaged.  

And ...... dun ta dun ....... drum roll please!  NASA - we have - wait for it - culantro seed sprouting!

Yes, I know, in south Florida it is practically a weed.  I don't have it self sowing yet; am trying though.  New improved bed in progress.

The first challenge of culantra seed collecting?  Recognizing the 'flowers' and seed heads.  I never saw a typical flower; what you see is a longish spike with six small leafish looking things at the end with an itsy-bitsy cone shaped seed pod in the middle.  Like this.

When the spike/stem turn brown and the leafs and seed pod turn brown is time to harvest the seed.  Warning - they are incredibly small.  Like a downsized spec of dust.  I held the baggie under each little brown spiky cone and rubbed and let the seeds and chaff fall in the bag.  Since this is for my own use I didn't worry about the chaff.

Crummy camera phone photo - one of these days I'll get the real camera out and get some bonafide pictures.  Hopefully this gives the idea.

I read that culantro seed is short lived; I don't know about that.  I can say that it is picky as heck to germinate.  I also read that it doesn't care to be transplanted; so I used a recycled produce container - strawberries probably - with drainage holes on the bottom.  The plan is to cut the container off and plant the soil block.

I used regular potting soil with a layer of vermiculite on top.  I had not yet found small vermiculite - so this is the supersized course grade.  Next time around; super fine baby grade.

This has been in process for months - since the middle of November.  The first few seeds germinated quickly outside; then drowned after a rainstorm.  Note!  Does not like super damp conditions.  Then we set around and did nothing.  Bottom heat via hot water heater?  Nope.  Nose to nose with the flourescent lamps?  Nope.  Move it out to the top of the garden heater aka electrical box?  Nope.  Set it on the ground right beside (buddy'd up with) the garden heater with a south east exposure?  We have a launch!

OK, maybe it was just finally time .....  They are suppose to take about 3 weeks to germinate, and should be ready to plant out in 8 weeks.  Care must be taken when planting them out to not disturb the tap roots.

Since it is suppose to be raining; I brought the tub back inside and put them snug up to the fluorescent lamps.  I'll take them back out when they get a bit of growth to them.  In the mean time; they get misted several times a day.

At our place at least; culantro is most happy growing under the oak trees with an east exposure of direct morning sun and dappled light mid day on.  We harvest individual leaf's rather than cutting the entire rosette, as it will continue to grow from that rosette.  The mature plants probably like the falling oak leaf mulch but I suspect that might be part of the problem with our lack of self seeding.  The new bed is in the exact same location; just framed.  And layered in really neato soft stuff.  And I'll keep a regular routine to broadcasting black cow or peat to keep some light stuff on top to encourage volunteer seeding.  Oh, and no special protection beyond the oak tree canopy for freeze damage - and as you can see they are happy.

And if the dang blasted cat-brier that I've painstakingly dug out of here for the past two years comes back - I think I'll ask NASA to just bomb them already.  This time last year I had a crater where this bed will be that was almost three feet deep and a good six feet long and wide.  It's been setting fallow for a year; and I've only (only she says!) dug out 2 additional cat-brier spuds, so knock-knock that its clean of nematodes and spuds.

I'll probably start another container or maybe two of culantro seedlings.  This time around, I'll try one tray with the super fine vermiculite and one tray with sheet moss.  I've got an experiment going right now with sheet moss lining the bottom of a bakery plastic clamshell and it is working nicely - I think.

Today as I harvest greens for dinner, I find myself thinking about what I want to let go to seed to collect and save and what I should be starting from seed for the next season.  Interesting and fun ....

And yes, it finally rained.  Slow and steady - just what the garden needed.

Today is Seed Sowing Saturday at the Home Garden!  Drop by and give Dave a shout out won't you?