Grow Carrots in Your Boots! Book Review of: Growing Stuff

Growing Stuff  An Alternative Guide to Gardening will charm anyone with a sense of fun and a love of gardening.  The book contains creative projects on growing vegetables, herbs and flowers.  Most gardening projects in this book require few tools, are easy to do and inexpensive.   Both novice and experienced gardeners can discover numerous innovative ideas in the short and original articles.

The Projects

The projects presented are extremely creative and will delight experienced to novice gardeners.  Northern gardeners will find a wide variety of projects that can be used for indoor winter vegetable gardens such as growing carrots in boots, growing vegetables in containers and raising herbs in teapots.  For teachers there are easy classroom projects like “Cartoon Cress” and “Mini Window Garden”, using recycled containers and fast sprouting seeds like water cress or sprouting seeds.   Instructions are short; one or two pages, easy to understand and nicely illustrated.

The book begins by offering a basic explanation of soils, plants, containers and composting. A third of the book is really a vegetable gardening planting guide on starting a vegetable garden indoors.  The balance of the book touches on growing herbs, flowers and unusually plants like living stones and carnivorous plants.

Conclusion

Growing Stuff is one of the most enjoyable gardening books I read in years.   This book is a standout in terms of creativity, layout and illustrations.  Its simplicity is refreshing.  The ideas presented are practical and can be used for gardening indoors, on balconies and in containers.  Flipping through the projects, I kept thinking “What a great idea, now why didn’t I think of that?”   And… it’s a lot of fun – especially with the two feet of snow at my doorstep.

Testing Vegetable Seeds for Germination

Can you use last year’s vegetable seeds for this year’s veggie garden? In 99.9% of the cases, I say “Yes, you can. You go gardener!” Most vegetable seeds keep for a year or two and even longer with no problems. The older the seeds get, the less viable they become, or the less they will tend to germinate. To avoid wasting time planting vegetable seeds that just won’t grow, it’s best to test for germination if your seeds are older than two years.

Vegetable Seed Germination Test

We use a very simple method to determine the viability of our older vegetable seeds. We simply take our seeds, place them between sheets of moist paper towel, place the damp paper towel into a plastic sandwich bag and place the sandwich bag in a warm location. After about 5 to 10 days, we count the number of seeds that have sprouted, and use that as our guide to calculate the germination rate.

Step 1: Read the seed package information
Read the vegetable seed package to determine the days to germination, and whether to germinate the seeds in a dark or a light spot. If the package suggests a planting depth, then the seeds will usually do best in a warm dark spot. If the package states that the seeds need light to germinate, make sure to place them in a warm spot that receives indirect light.






Step 2: Gather your testing supplies
Next you need to gather your supplies. For the seed test you’ll need the following:
• 10 seeds for testing
• Paper towels
• Plastic sandwich bag
• Ball Point Pen
Once you have all your supplies, you are ready to start the seed test.

Step 3: Setting up the seed for testing
Tear off a sheet of paper towel and fold it into a square. Write the name of the seed to be tested and the expected germination date on the paper towel. Dampen the paper towel. The paper towel should be just damp, but not dripping. Be careful not to over wet the paper towel as this will cause the seeds to rot. Open the towel and place 10 seeds on it. Fold the paper towel into quarters, ensuring that the seeds are well covered by the paper towel. Place the paper towel with the seeds into a sandwich bag and seal the bag. Place the bag in a warm (60 to 70 degree), but not hot area.

Step 4: Checking the seed for germination
Check on the seeds every one or two days. If the paper towel starts drying out, add a few drops of water to the towel. After about 5 to 10 days the first seeds will start developing little white roots.

Once you’ve reached the germination date, open the paper towel and count the number of seeds that have developed roots. Divide the number of germinated seeds, by the number of seeds you started with, and then multiply the answer by 100 to calculate your germination rate.

Example: Pepper Seed Germination Test
6 germinated seeds divided by 10 test seeds = .6 multiplied by 100 = 60%. Therefore the germination test gives me a result of 60% germination. That means that just over half of my seeds can be expected to germinate.

Conclusion
At 60% it’s still worthwhile planting the seeds. Since only about ½ the seeds will germinate, you’d just use twice as many seeds when you actually plant in the garden. If the germination rate goes below 30%, you’ll have to triple the number of seeds you actually plant, as only 1 in every 3 seeds will germinate. Doing a seed test before you actually plant the seeds ensures that you use enough seeds to get a decent crop of fresh vegetables for your garden.

Happy Veggie Gardening
Annie Rose

Ordering Vegetable Seeds

With spring approaching, it’s time to order those vegetable seeds without delay. At this time of year the seed houses are going to be flooded with orders in the next little while. Getting your order in as early as possible ensures that you get first dibs on the vegetable seeds you want and need.

Your Vegetable Garden Plan should be complete, so you’ll know what you are planning to grow and how much that space will take. Check your existing seeds by doing a germination test, to ensure that the seeds are still viable. There’s nothing worse than planting rows of beans, only to have a couple of plants come up. Been there, done that.

When deciding which seeds to purchase, stick to seeds that are known performers. If you’ve kept garden journals, consulting the journals is a great first step. Your soil and growing conditions are unique, and a journal is the very best way to determine what does and does not work for you. Once you’ve ensured that you have an adequate supply of the old favorites, consult the vegetable gardening web sites for your locality and growing zones to see what other varieties work in your area.

It’s a great practice to try out several new types or breeds of vegetables for vegetable garden. Check out the new AAS winners in the vegetable category. Different types of seeds add novelty and interest to your vegetable garden, and you might just discover a new great performer for your particular growing conditions.

If you stay away from treated vegetable seeds like we do, make sure that you order sufficient quantities of seeds like beans, which can fail to germinate if growing conditions are too cold or wet. Crop failures happen to even the most experienced of growers, and you should expect the occasional failure in your own vegetable garden.

Purchase your seeds only from reputable seed houses. With vegetable seeds, expect to pay a fair price for disease-free good quality seed. The fastest way to get your seed orders into the seed houses is to place the order via their web sites. If ordering via the web makes you nervous, most seed companies support ordering by either Fax or snail mail as well.

And then comes the really hard part, waiting for that seed order to arrive!

Happy Gardening