Dirt and snow

With this lovely scene outside, and it is indeed lovely, we've now entered an ironic opportunity to demonstrate starting seeds inside for an eventual outdoor garden.

Much has happened since the last blog post; we're moving! We will no longer be a third floor homestead of sorts but rather a duplex-based operation. The mentality of the blog will be similar because the new space will be a bit smaller yet more efficient with the space it does offer. Among the benefits of the trade are a bit of garden space in a proper yard along with a screened-in porch.

As for today, we're starting the seeds indoors in order to make the most of the time between planting and the beginning of harvest. Though I've called this a demonstration, perhaps a better term would be documentation. This is quite truly an experiment to verify what we've read in books and have gathered from our experiments thus far regarding indoor gardening.

To begin, we look at the last average frost date for Kansas City which is April 10-15. This date is important because your plants are well-suited to planting either in containers or in the ground at certain intervals before, at, or after this date. Each plant will differ so consult instructions from books or from the seed packets themselves.

The empty containers you see here have served very well in the indoor garden but would have done better if they were drainable. For seed starting, they should serve the purpose well.

Counting back from the date of last average frost, it's time to start the flower and pepper seeds! Again, this date varies a bit from source to source but the purpose is the get the sort of preliminary growing out of the way so that when the time comes to put the plant in the place in which it is to mature, you are starting with a real plant, not seeds. This allows you to make use of otherwise useless months as far as growing is concerned.

This is a potting mix from the hardware store which has fertilizer already in it. We have no dirt to speak of three stories up so options are limited. Regular dirt should be fine if you have it and compost or vermicompost would be even better.

These are pepper seeds, that is, seeds found inside every pepper I've ever seen. These were purchased rather than harvested for two reasons. First, the instructions on the packets are very valuable to beginning gardeners. Second, without knowing the breed of plant, it is possible you are eating a hybrid whose seeds are not as likely to produce like heirloom seeds. Hybrids have advantages over heirlooms in that they are often more likely to resist disease and can produce much fruit. The disadvantage is that they do not produce seeds of equal quality and, through breeding, modern heirlooms can also attain a great resistance to disease, though often not as great as a hybrid, yet with reproducibility far out matching hybrids. This is as I understand it, seek resources more credible than I if you wish to learn more.

In contrast to the large pepper seeds, these are the flower seeds. Cascade of Color seeds to be precise.

Though the picture is misleading, this is what it looked like to bury the pepper seeds.

At last, the seeds are in their pots in the window awaiting sunlight. The bean plant which is in a hanging pot just out of the picture has since been destroyed by the cat. It was a fun and educational experiment but certainly not worth doing indoors against a north-facing window.

We've since elected to use a recently packed up bookshelf for the few remaining weeks before the move. This location is warmer than the currently frosty window against which the plants once resided and is more cat-proof.

His attention to the plants has been captured here. He's cute, but ever vigilant for an opportunity to completely destroy a plant in minutes. The photo below shows an attempt to keep him from bothering us at night. Because this method failed; I've been forced to consider an electric fence or perhaps a contracted security officer to man the water gun.