Yeah I'm starting to think I'm gonna go the PVC pipe and canopy route for just the winter. Summers here in south texas get crazy hot, upper 90s/low 100s at night. I'm worried about air circulation and scorching the plants even if the vents are open. With a PVC canopy I could just put it up in the winter and use some kind of heater to keep the plants going if I can. Might even try to make some kind of rail so I can slide the canopy out of the way then deploy it really quick if I need to. I have no clue how big I'm gonna make this thing. I have 72 seed pods on the way and I wanna use all of them. I imagine it's gonna need to be huge.
yeah you weren't kidding about that. We've had an absolute ton of rain here, and the combo of pests and mold completely took out my small basil plants over about a day. Fortunately we don't really use basil so I'm not terribly upset. I was also seeing some kind of mold growing on the sprouting strawberry plants which I do care about. Neem oil and copper fungicide just arrived though so I got that mixed up and on them quick. I'll probably let the basil just die off and plant some more cilantro in its place.
another random question: I'm assuming y'all keep your seeds for multiple years? What do you store them in and how long do they keep?
Obviously newer/fresher is better, but I've had no problem easily germinating seeds that are 4-5years old. I've germinated stuff way older than that and their viability starts to diminish a bit over time, but storage wasn't ideal over that period either. Cooler (not frozen) temps are best for storage, ideally like a fridge drawer, stored in such a way that they do not get damp in any way. Personally, I have a shoebox full of seeds that I keep in a cabinet in the house, which stays at normal room temps, nothing too hot or cold. It probably knocks a few years off their overall viability but again, no problems with germinating seeds 5 or more years old.
I keep mine in a ziploc freezer bag with a couple of small dessicant bags to keep the moisture out. So far they’ve lasted three years. This year was the first year I noticed a few not germinating properly so I reordered a bunch if new ones.
That's what I've done for seeds I saved myself. Just since you have to dry them out and I'm never 100% confident that they are all the way dry, I store seeds I've saved in airtight containers with a desiccant pack. Seems to work pretty well. Humidity is not your friend when it comes to seed saving. Think cooler and dryer.
I put all seeds whether bought or saved in a bottom crisper drawer of the refrigerator. Cold and dry prolongs seed life.
Seeds are amazing in how long they stay dormant, ready to pop out. I had frisbee hibiscus seeds given to me by my aunt in 1999 that I broadcast seeded in the backyard garden about 3 years ago. Not all, but a good chunk of them came up. Maybe half of them. The slugs ended up eating most of them in the end but it was fun while it lasted.
yeah that's what I'm hoping. Looking at this from a mainly financial perspective, more of a farm rather than garden or hobby, though if it wasn't fun I wouldn't do it. We go through an absolute shit ton of produce each week. I should make up the initial investment of time and equipment pretty quick, within a few months at least. Certainly within the year. If anything carries over to the next year it's a bonus. Seeds from myseedneeds have been significantly delayed, but whatever. Still massive storms down here and temps fluctuating wildly. I'm getting delivery soon though of seeds for two plants I have a lot of real world experience cooking with: 1) toothache herb . Not only are they beautiful, but the leaves have a mildly numbing effect so you can rub them on bug bites or chew them (where the name comes from). They go great in salads and cocktails as well.. Also getting some epazote seeds. Kinda like oregano fucked a mint leaf then had an affair with some other spices. Used in mexican and central american cuisine all the time. A really cool side-effect of it is that it has some serious anti-gas properties, so it's found in re-fried beans all the time. Leaves make for a good tea too.
for anyone encountering some of the same stuff as me, here's what I ended up using for a seed organizer. Less than $10 on amazon in an amazon basics expanding file folder and some cheap adhesive name tags to label. There's also some good ideas here.
Seed germination will drop with storage and there are all sorts of recommendations for storing long term. That said, I make my living germinating seeds and growing plants... and I comfortably just store seed in a closet from one year to the next. Germination rates can drop but in general, the reality is most of the time it's so marginal that it doesn't make any difference.
Do you know the dark magic required to grow cilantro properly? I've tried so many things over the years and they always come up so gangly and weak...
Put out grass seed for about 5k square feet. Gonna expand my territory a bit. Not sure if technically gardening or not but it involves seeds. All the other seeds are supposed to arrive today. Better late than never to get a start on it I figure. Especially since temps have been dropping at night to the low 40s/upper 30s again,
That would be a great Spring promo for PornHub. My "Cinderella's Carriage" pumpkins could have been planted a lot later, they're coming up like gangbusters so I'll be putting them in some bigger containers until I can get them in the ground. The two varieties of eggplant I have aren't sprouting for shit, so I'll try again I guess. My heirloom tomatoes are doing well also. I planted multiple seeds per pot, and have some extra pots still so I'll try and transplant them rather than just pluck and toss them.
I'm curious to see how my cherry tomatoes do. I absolutely hate tomatoes, but my wife and kids eat probably $10-12 a week of them. Easy decision on cost saving. How many cherry tomato plants do you think I should plant for 3-4 people who eat them basically every/every other day?