Friday, June 10, 2011

Seed Germination Update

Cardboard greenhouse seems to be working. Except for eggplant and pepper, other veggies sprouted well. Ideally I should have waited for true leaves to appear before I blog on update. But I could not resist the temptation once I clicked a couple of pictures.

                                  
                                          Vegetable            %Germination       Day(s)
                                          Tomatoes                   100%                  5 days
                                          Cucumber                    20%                  5 days [seeds were more than two years old]
                                          Lady's Finger             100%                   3 days
                                          Brinjal (egg plant)           0%                   9 days so far
                                          Pepper                            0%                  9 days so far
                                          French Beans             100%                  3 days
                                          Cauliflower                    80%                  7 days
                                          Broccoli                      100%                   6 days
                                          Coriander                        0%                  4 days so far


Broccoli (after 9 days)


French Beans (after 9 days)

Coriander breathing inside the dome. Yet to show up.

So far I have watered the seedlings only twice. Coco-peat and newspaper are holding the moisture.  

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Broccoli - Second chance

Yesterday I have given myself second chance to grow broccoli. When I had tried it for first time, it took more than 20 days to germinate, but could not sustain.


Waiting on refrigerator top for germination.


Seed starting mix = Cocopeat + sand

Seed Starting in mini green house

I have made a mini green house out of carton box to start with tomato, cucumber, lady's finger, brinjal. pepper, french beans and cauliflower. Day 0 pictures are shown below.




Used coco-peat as seed starting mix. Added handful of sands and 4 crushed egg shells. Addition of sand and egg shells was completely instinctive. Whether it worked or not, will update. Instead of seed tray, I used newspaper pots. Its very easy to make and biodegradable. There plenty of videos explaining how to make these.

All seeds and coco-peat were sourced from lalbagh, Bangalore. 

I found herbs - Finally

After searching for months online for someone who sells culinary herbs like rosemary, thyme etc, I finally found a shop in Bangalore who sell herb seedlings (Not seeds). I managed to get rosemary, thyme, lavender, peppermint and sage. Not bad to start with a small herbal garden. What I read online, it is easier to propagate herbs than starting it with seed. Once these little guys settle down in the container I assign to them and thrive well in the provided space, I can go on to experiment with herb propagation.