Well, first an update on the Monster Monster egg. Yep, she was a double yolker all right!
We got a yummy lunch of scrambled eggs on toast (sorry Frugalites - it was bought bread - but a local baker!!) out of this and just one more egg - for the two of us. Oh and sorry - I forgot to take photos of it once it was all cooked up. My God it was good though. So thank you Keema and keep up the good work. She's only missed one day since that post - all pretty consistent around the 78g mark. The other two lay about 5 a week each. I'm keeping a tally so I can look back over the years. We got about 51/2 dozen in September. You can see how I'm progressing in my quest to build a food forest too by clicking on the Harvest Diary tab at the top of this page :)
And now for the lessons. Every journey towards growing your own food is full of lessons, and I've just learnt a big one. Don't let your seed trays dry out and DO use good seed raising mix. All of the gardening gurus in books and in Blogland say so, but little Miss Greenie got a bit over-confident didn't she?
You might remember me blogging about asking my daughter to make a mercy dash to check on the chooks and water the seedlings? Well, if they were already seedlings they made it, and if they were in the good seed raising mix in the bucket - they came up anyway, but those I potted with a mix of seed raising mix, and soil from the gardener - NADA! Well, that's unfair, I have three rockmelons, two sweetcorn, two zucchini (but I don't reckon one of them will last) a couple of struggling leeks and a few purple Basil - oh! a one tomato! That's it - out of 20 punnets!
I'm bowed but not beaten. So, all that soil will be unceremoniously tossed into a little nook in the garden to see if anything eventuates. Meantime, I will pick myself up, dust myself off, and start all over again.
This time, I'm going to plant some in punnets and some straight into the ground - and see what happens. This can be the beginning of my planting diary, which I will also put on the tabs at the top so you can see what's happening.
Wish me luck! I've heard from a few blog-friends, like Our Gang of 7 and Outback Tania that they struggle too with planting seeds into punnets. What about you - any secrets to share?
Take care
Greenie x
We got a yummy lunch of scrambled eggs on toast (sorry Frugalites - it was bought bread - but a local baker!!) out of this and just one more egg - for the two of us. Oh and sorry - I forgot to take photos of it once it was all cooked up. My God it was good though. So thank you Keema and keep up the good work. She's only missed one day since that post - all pretty consistent around the 78g mark. The other two lay about 5 a week each. I'm keeping a tally so I can look back over the years. We got about 51/2 dozen in September. You can see how I'm progressing in my quest to build a food forest too by clicking on the Harvest Diary tab at the top of this page :)
And now for the lessons. Every journey towards growing your own food is full of lessons, and I've just learnt a big one. Don't let your seed trays dry out and DO use good seed raising mix. All of the gardening gurus in books and in Blogland say so, but little Miss Greenie got a bit over-confident didn't she?
You might remember me blogging about asking my daughter to make a mercy dash to check on the chooks and water the seedlings? Well, if they were already seedlings they made it, and if they were in the good seed raising mix in the bucket - they came up anyway, but those I potted with a mix of seed raising mix, and soil from the gardener - NADA! Well, that's unfair, I have three rockmelons, two sweetcorn, two zucchini (but I don't reckon one of them will last) a couple of struggling leeks and a few purple Basil - oh! a one tomato! That's it - out of 20 punnets!
I'm bowed but not beaten. So, all that soil will be unceremoniously tossed into a little nook in the garden to see if anything eventuates. Meantime, I will pick myself up, dust myself off, and start all over again.
This time, I'm going to plant some in punnets and some straight into the ground - and see what happens. This can be the beginning of my planting diary, which I will also put on the tabs at the top so you can see what's happening.
Wish me luck! I've heard from a few blog-friends, like Our Gang of 7 and Outback Tania that they struggle too with planting seeds into punnets. What about you - any secrets to share?
Take care
Greenie x
I don't plant into punnets. Ever. Or buy seedlings in punnets. (Well rarely anyhow, and I always regret it) Besides being way too risky - as you found out, one late watering, one harsh day and they are gone - it also leads to problems when you come to plant out with seedling roots so crowded and tangled that you have to break them to separate.
ReplyDeleteMy tried and true method is to seeds into a polystyrene box full of seed raising mix of creek sand and mowed old cow pats or old compost. The kind of box you can pick up out the back of supermarkets. It's a lot of mix (relatively), but I prick the seedlings out and use the same box of mix over and over. I prick them out when they are tiny - just at the two leaf stage - when they suffer almost no transplant shock, and transplant into pots full of a very nice mix of compost, worm castings and sand. I figure, if you are going to feed your seedlings compost at some stage, why not now, in pots as seedlings. I can then keep them in the shadehouse, well watered and protected, till they are 15 cm or so tall, then plant them out without needing to separate them or damage roots at all. And I can ditch the ones that are least vigorous (and recycle the potting mix) and avoid wasting precious garden space on them.
(And look at the colour of those yolks! Not just big but beautiful!)
ReplyDeleteThanks so much Linda - great tip, and I remember seeing on your blog recently you use plastic spoons for seed markers too! Inspired!
ReplyDeleteOK then, I'll try three methods - god knows I have acres of seeds, and plenty of room coming up in the garden.
The funny thing is, when I went out this morning, there were beans, watermelon, tomato and lettuce seeds all emerging! They must have heard the threat! LOL :)
And my out of sate parsnips are thriving under the apple tree too! Things is looking up!
Thanks again for your encouragement Linda
Greenie x
Greetings from the UK, and Welcome to the Blogosphere. Looking forward to following your antics!
ReplyDeleteI noticed that Hazel Dene had used her kitchen tongs to transplant her seedlings but I suppose that only works when they are growing well apart from others, does that make sense?
ReplyDeleteHave a wonderful weekend,
coffeee/Sue