Making Progress

Three weeks after our first seeding, all have germinated successfully. We kept the flat upstairs in the loft – moving it into direct sunlight once the first few seedlings sprouted.

A week after planting the seeds (on March 14th), Brian and I went to Moab and Betsy came over twice over 5 days to water the flat. Thanks, Betsy! The last things to sprout (out of the first batch of plantings,) were the jalapeño peppers around March 28th. Most seedlings sprouted between 2 and 10 days. We’ve been careful to keep the flat very moist. I was concerned we might be watering too frequently – setting ourselves up for mold – until Kacie told me that water should soak through the flats every time you water. We water enough for very small puddles to form under the slots.

On March 31st, we thinned our flat, snipping the stems of all by the best looking seedling in each slot. It seemed like such a waste! But, we planted way more seeds than we can possibly house expecting much more loss than we’ve experienced. Unfortunately, not 2 hours after we thinned out the flat, Brian sat on it, crushing a good 1/3 of the flat. Ha! He pointed out that I left the flat on the couch. Opps.

After some reseeding to replace the worst-off plants, our flat is looking clean and healthy. We seeded a few more greens, too: Red and Green Leaf lettuce, Spinach, more Arugula, Mache and the Mesclun mix.