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About 5 years ago I started to try to grow food to eat. After the first year with small successes, I decided to start from seed indoors rather than buy starter plants. This little 47 second video captures the birth of a seed. Once I advanced from tomato plants to okra, squash, greens, and sugar baby watermelons, I gained confidence that I could indeed cultivate an organic garden from which to nourish my health and have food left over for family, friends and freezing.
This is not to say that over the years I have not made many mistakes. Gardening like life, includes challenges or mistakes.I like to look at them as lessons. But if you want to start with seeds. I suggest you buy a seedling mixture that is absent of fungi or bacteria to avoid the possibility of rot or bacteria growth. Secondly, find a place in your home where seedlings can get warmth, some light and the don’t worry. The seedlings will do their thing. The on ly thing you can do wrong is NOT give them enough water, warmth or light. This is where your relationship with your plants and the earth begins.
In this post I just want to share my feelings of expectation and joy that I experience when I am engaged in the seed germinating process. Understanding germination is almost a spiritual experience. You become a witness to your food’s beginning. Knowing that I can help sustain my own life by eating what I grow is empowering.
When I am lost with a seemingly huge problem in life, gardening helps me move forward. Understanding that like the seeds, everything I need is inside of me. Just like in nature. I don’t think most of us truly understand how hard a seedling works to become a vegetable.
On the 13th of April I planted garden beans, romaine lettuce, russian kale, sumter cucumbers and sugar baby watermelon seeds. All of these seeds are supposed to take an average of 55 days except for the watermelon, which is estimated at 65 days.
The romaine lettuce seeds were supposed to take between 2-15 days to germinate. But as you can see from the image above, they have not only germinated, but it is now almost time to take these to the garage to harden them off before planting outside. The package suggests all of these should not go outside until May. Given the unpredictability of the weather along the Jersey Shore, perhaps I should follow these instructions. Before actually putting them into the ground it is recommended that they either stay in the garage or on deck to acclimate them to the ground and outside air temperatures. So I am taking them to the garage.
Can you believe that these little seedlings have already shed their coats and will once day produce organic cucumbers.
Jen says
Very timely for me – I JUST started sunflowers and daisies from seed yesterday 🙂 very excited to see my seedlings start popping up.
Patricia A Patton says
Let me know how it goes. I cannot plant them outside until this rain stops. My starters are more than 4 inches tall.