on april 6th i planted a whole lot of our seeds for this year in seed trays and have since watched their successes and adventures in growing.

we wanted to share what we’ve experienced in their germination process, so that you can have an idea about what to expect if you plant any similar plants.

first of all, my potting mix consisted of about 2/3 peat moss and 1/3 black kow, with a little bit of vermiculite thrown in there. this is not my ideal mix (we were running low on vermiculite) but it worked fine for this occasion! the trays were watered the same day i planted the seeds and have been watered every day or every other day since then. they have been sitting outside in the sun on our driveway with a fence gate laid down on top of them so dodger doesn’t decide to sit in them (since he does love to be the center of attention).

trays

readying the trays for planting seeds!

this is the list of all of the seeds that were planted in trays on the 6th of this month, categorized by how many days they took to germinate:

4 days

  • anuenue lettuce
  • butterfly garden mix (a mix of 30+ flower types that butterflies love)
  • save the bees mix (a mix of flower types that bees love)

5 days

  • sweet valentine lettuce
  • bronze arrow lettuce
  • speckled bibb lettuce

8 days

  • thyme
  • cotton (erlene’s green cotton… beautiful and green!)
  • celosia flowers (cockscomb mix)
  • aster flowers (powder puff mix)
cotton

erlene’s green cotton… the seeds are green and the cotton will be too!

 

10 days

  • black plum tomatoes
  • san marzano tomatoes
  • black cherry tomatoes (i got these seeds from a friend years ago and i don’t actually know the same of the tomato. i call it black cherry because these cherry tomatoes have a purple flesh.)

11 days

  • oregano
  • lemon balm
  • spearmint

13 days

  • genovese basil
  • italian flat leaf parsley
  • jupiter red sweet bell peppers
  • golden california wonder sweet yellow bell peppers
  • tomatillos

no germination so far

  • rocky mountain bee plant (cleome serrulata)
  • sage
  • aji dulce peppers
  • cayenne peppers
  • jalapeño peppers

we’re still waiting to see what the few seeds that haven’t germinated will do in the future. until they germinate, they will be out in the sun, getting water and dodging dodger’s tippity toes!

our planted seed trays, taking in the sun and soaking in the water.

our planted seed trays, taking in the sun and soaking up the water.

.:.