Starting Seeds - Better Late than Never!

By Canadian Renegade

You're probably wondering what this mad man is doing hunched over a bin full of soil in his living room with a laptop in front of a coffee table.

But before we get into the specifics of that, lets go back to the beginning. Last year, amid all the confusion and stress of our premature second set of twins and getting laid off and covid, I managed to put in a modest garden at the new homestead. I'll tell you more about our garden beds in future blog posts.

Anyway, I had started all of my frost sensitive plants about 8 weeks early and was growing them in the basement under the same rack and grow light set up I am currently using for my apple trees. They grew so well that by the time it was warm enough for me to plant them out they were way too big for the newspaper pots I had grown them in.

One thing I have noticed with seedlings is that a smaller seedling that hasn't outgrown it's pot often performs as good or better than one that is much larger and root bound. There seems to be less transplant shock with the smaller plants and they usually catch up within a few weeks. So, not wanting to make the same mistake this year, I decided that starting my seedlings 6 weeks out from planting would be more optimal than the previous 8.

Of course, with all the craziness this year, which seems to be the norm now that we have two sets of twins, yard projects, house projects, permits to finalize, and chicken coops to build, I missed the 6 week deadline and didn't get around to starting the seeds until about 3 weeks before the usual planting date of May long weekend.

So I rushed it, and selected a wide assortment of squash, tomatoes, and cucumbers from my seed stash.

Some of the seeds are older, stuff I purchased back in 2013-2014 and just wanted to finally use up. Some of the squash were seeds I let the older set of twins pick earlier this year when I went seed shopping. I tried to talk them out of more squash but they both insisted on growing pumpkins; one a giant variety and the other a white skinned variety. Needless to say, we have way more pumpkins started than I have room for.

I started more tomatoes than I have room for also. One variety of tomato is from seed I saved myself back in 2008; it was simply labeled Russian. I have no idea what specific variety of Russian. The others are Manitoba and Sub-Artic, both of which did well last year and are both early bearing and determinate. I like that they don't really need staking since I am usually short on time.

I started the seeds in my usual paper towel and baggy method which usually works well and doesn't take up much room. I tend to check on them after 3-4 days at which point they are usually just starting to sprout. This time I checked on them after 3 days and they already had massive roots. It was so absurd, some of them were even starting to grow leaves! I don't remember ever having seeds sprout so fast and I am not sure why they did so this time. Even some of the old seed was quick to germinate.

So back to me hunched over in the living room. Aimee and I had planned a movie night, a rare occurrence for us, but the seeds could not wait to be planted. They were growing roots so large that if I waited any longer it would have been near impossible to pot them without breaking the tap root, which sometimes kills the plant. I also didn't want to call off movie night so I set up shop on the coffee table and potted the seeds while Aimee and I watched the movie.

This year, I didn't have time for the newspaper pots, they are a great way to recycle old newspaper. I actually like them for transplanting because the roots tend to "stop" at the edges of the pot rather then encircling the edges like in conventional pots. However, I had to resort to Solo cups this time. Perhaps not the most environmentally friendly option but they are almost the perfect size for larger plants like squash and you can re-use them many times, so it ends up being an affordable and not completely wasteful option.

The method I ended up having to employ to actually plant the seeds (almost seedlings at this point) was a bit unconventional and tedious! It involved making an oversized and deep hole with a chopstick and then carefully inserting the root into it while taking care to not break the root. I need to remind myself to just put the seeds direct in the pots next year because my germination rates seem to be fast and high and the potting process is just a time waster.

I also planted some cucumbers and tomatoes in 12 pack trays and these will probably have to be potted up at some point before being planted outside. If anything, it will be an excuse to do a newspaper pot post so that may or may not be in the works.

At the time of publishing this article, the plants have been in pots for about a week. They seem to be coming along nicely. Maybe only starting 3 weeks early will pan out and, to be honest, sometimes it is wise in our climate to wait one extra week before planting. I have noticed that occasionally we still have a frost after the May long weekend.

P.S - If you made it this far don't forget to check out our Prepper Cook-Off Challenge #4. You just might enjoy yourself and win some sweet prizes too!

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