Live and learn

This year more than usual is riding on my plant propagation. As part of an ongoing quest to publicize my book, The Sustainable-Enough Garden, I'm planning to participate in our local farmer's market, selling gift baskets for gardeners that contain six-packs of herbs and edible flowers, along with the book and other fun items. I'm starting more seeds indoors than usual, and I'm worrying about them more. If I can't produce the seedlings, then what?

Purple and green basil--will they be ready for market?

    I’m learning first hand that production growing is fraught with many pitfalls. What’s enough water, and what’s too much? Exactly when should I plant each variety to have little plants the right size by June 30, the first market date, and through the summer?

Tarragon cuttings are doing well (left), but only one of 24 seeds I planted germinated (right). Why?

Transitioning the seedlings outdoors to “harden off” will be an anxious experience with many questions regarding correct timing. This growing is like mothering, with all its uncertainty and need for constant vigilance.

    This week I came back from eight days on vacation away from my seedlings fearing heavy attrition. Would they have wilted and died without watering? I’d moved all the seedlings to the basement, figuring they’d need less water in a cool space where evaporation would be slower. 

     I followed the advice of one of my gardening heroines, Thalassa Cruso, for getting houseplants through times when no one’s at home to water. She recommends covering them with plastic sheeting to minimize evaporation. I adapted this for my seedlings by using some rigid clear plastic covers sized to fit over the seed trays. 

A clear plastic cover made for the seed tray is convenient

When I ran out of those, I cut open old dry-cleaning bags to drape over the little plants.

A repurposed clear plastic bag works too

    In the bottom of each tray, under the six-packs that hold the seedlings, I’d already placed a layer of capillary matting, absorbent synthetic fabric that gradually releases water to the pots.  I made sure to water the growing medium and soak the capillary matting before I left town.

Spongy fabric absorbs water and releases it gradually

    As soon as I got home, I pulled off the plastic to check on the little plants. Most of them were fine. I was surprised to find that the growing medium was still moist in many of the six-packs, and much of the matting was still wet. Moss or algae was growing on the surface of the growing mix in some of the pots. That showed how humid it had stayed inside the plastic enclosure, but it didn't seem to be doing any harm.  

    I’d managed to kill some cuttings I’d taken from a rosemary plant I brought indoors last fall. I’d left these uncovered because I thought they’d rot under the plastic, and I hadn’t set their six-pack on wet matting either. Unsurprisingly in retrospect, four of the six dried up, dropped their leaves and died.

News flash! Plants need water to survive

    Lots of questions remain. Clearly farming requires expertise and experience that I don’t have. Even if my farmer’s market project fails, I’m bound to learn a lot this year.

It's spring! Cornelian cherry (Cornus mas) blooming at last