Home > 2009 - Journal > A New Era

A New Era

Most of our early starts failed to germinate. We believe this was due in part to insufficient moisture, as the swiss chard finally germinated after we watered heavily. There may also have been a problem with the compost-based potting soil pH, as it turns out that our pH meter is worse than useless.

The swiss chard, and a second wave of radish, germinated nicely after heavy watering. However we then lost about one seedling per night. We finally tracked the problem down to a lone earwig, which was biting the young shoots just below the first leaflet. Since sending the earwig to meet its maker we have lost no further seedlings – but all that we have left of the early starts is four radishes.

Today we planted the main wave of starts, about two weeks before we take them to Seattle. In all we planted four seed trays of 72 cells each, most with two seeds per cell. I’ll create separate posts with the precise details. We used a premium commercial potting soil this time.

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