What I Do for My Garden

I've converted the bathroom in my little apartment at school into a seed-starting greenhouse. Mainly because I didn't want to start seeds without being able to check on them regularly, and also because it has this skylight that makes it almost unbearably hot, which seeds seem to get a kick out of.

It's not too much trouble to move all the plants out of the shower so I can wash, then back in so they can enjoy the humidity, although it is getting tiresome to move the flat that is on the toilet off and on as needed.

What has not entirely sunk in is the size of the operation I'm dealing with here:

Mostly I'm keeping the pots and flats in the tub. Behind me in this photo are some more pots and another flat. Not visible is the pile of seed packets in the kitchen.

As the seedlings get big enough, I repot them into 4" pots, which is where my strong ability for denial comes in: there are 50 Jiffy pellets in that flat (or there were until I potted up three of the Hyacinth beans). There are 25 in the flat you can't see. Where, exactly, am I planning to put all these plants?

Fortunately, the weather is warming up quickly, and many of those Jiffy pellets can be planted right into the garden when they're large enough. Otherwise I would be in some real trouble.

Oh, and the things being started: nine kinds of tomato (though the Persimmons didn't come up so I have to restart), four kinds of basil, some roses, some gourds, leeks, three kinds of peppers (to be planted in SLO rather than Alameda, for peak heat), a native tree (Cercis occidentalis), an Australian tree, several bedding flowers, and Hyacinth beans vines.

Technorati Tags: plants, propagation, seeds

posted by ayse on 03/12/07