Garden Update May 2014

Well it has been a really cold spring.
Then we went on a vacation and left the seeds in the charge of a house sitter, so a few more than usual bit the dust (not enough water).  Now that we have been back a few days I thought that despite today's snow I could do a quick status update by way of a few photos, here we go:

Below - I sow my seeds into Jiffy Pellets -I get 36 pellets for 3.99 at Canadian Tire.  Then the pellets go into a tray, that gets labeled, and covered with a translucent dome, and the tray goes on top of a heat pad.  Due to prolonged cold - even with the heat pad - several seeds just never emerged.

Once the seeds germinate and the first leaves emerge I transfer the peat pellet out of the domed incubation tray up to my grow light tray.  Here the grow lights shine 16 hours a day to strengthen the seedlings - this is the key to making sure to avoid weak and leggy seedlings - seedlings that are too weak and end up toppling over under their own weight.  After a week under the grow lights the roots tend to be escaping the seed pellet and it is time to transplant into pots.

My typical set up post-seedling transplant is shown here.  I transplant the jiffy pellet and seeding into a small reusable green pot, theses are .49c each at Apache Seeds. I think  this is the 4th year I have used them.  I use a soil-less mix that is sterile - again often sourced at Canadian Tire, taking care to make sure the bag says 'suitable for edible crops' because lots of potting soils are NOT suitable for edible crops.  These are full of chemicals, heavy metals etc.

 Here is another look at the interim potting set up. The plants will stay in these pots until roots come out the bottom drain holes and the weather is warm enough to place them outside.  Typically this means they get transplanted into their permanent pots or garden plots in early June in Edmonton.