Seedling in newspaper pot

As I mentioned in Saturday’s article, one of my favorite containers for seedlings is a newspaper pot I make myself.

Newspaper pots are just good, all the way around.  They’re biodegradeable, and can be placed right into your garden, without repotting or disturbing the plant.  As the newspaper breaks down, it nourishes your soil.

Surprisingly, the pot holds up to watering on your windowsill very well.  I’ve never had a pot break down before I planted it in my garden.  Once there, though, it breaks down very quickly.

While it’s on your windowsill, roots will grow right through the paper, so you never need to worry about stunting the growth of your seedling because the roots are cramped.

You can find directions online for making these, and you don’t have to have anything special.  I did buy a wooden mold, though, to make mine, and I think it was a very good purchase.  With the mold, you don’t need to use glue or tape to hold the bottom of the pot together. The mold is made out of wood and comes in two pieces.

Wooden mold

To make a pot, you just cut a strip of newspaper, wrap it around the mold, fold over the bottom, then give the bottom of the mold a firm twist.  I’ve made these for years and usually pick an evening in front of the TV to crank them out.  I can make about 50 pots in an hour.

Best part of newspaper pots?  At the end of seed-starting time, there’s nothing to store!  No containers to clean, and no need to find room for anything except this little wooden mold.

One of the first articles I wrote for The Roanoke Times was on newspaper pots, so if you’d like to learn more, check it out.

Photo courtesty kbowenwriter/Flickr

Tomorrow night, there’s a gardening workshop at Hahn Horticulture Garden at Virginia Tech.

Holly Scoggins is doing a workshop on Seed Starting and Saving.  Join Holly for an info-packed seminar on how to get the most out of your vegetable and  flower seeds. Holly will cover seed saving and storage, strategies to enhance  germination, and care of seedlings. Bonus: take home seeds and other goodies to  get started!  Holly is an Associate  Professor, teaches courses in the Dept. of Horticulture and is the Director of  the Hahn Horticulture Garden. [Must pre-register; attendance limited to 25]

Thursday, February 21, 6:00  p.m. – 7:30 p.m.  at the Peggy Lee Hahn Garden  Pavilion.  $15 Friends of the  Garden/$20 general public.

Learn more.

Radish sprouts, ready to harvest

The radish sprouts are ready to harvest.

You can see from the second picture that roots did grow somewhat through the bottom of the vessel.

The third photo shows the small seed insert removed, and the roots are clearly growing down through that.  So, my memory was wrong.  They do grow through the insert.

They taste great!  Peppery without any trace of bitterness.  Some of these are definitely going on a sandwich for lunch!

Roots growing through bottom of vessel.

Insert removed; roots growing through bottom of insert.

Sprouter, small seed insert, and radish seeds.

In response to wd’s questions, I’m sprouting some radish seeds so you can get an idea of what sprouting small seeds is like.

The first photo shows the sprouter I use.  It came with an insert for smaller seeds.  The pack of seeds is lying next to it, and I put a quarter in the shot so you can get an idea of how big the slits are in the strainer.

The second photo shows the seeds in the sprouter, ready to soak overnight.  Tomorrow morning, I’ll drain and rinse the seeds, and rinse them daily until the sprouts are ready to harvest.

I’ll post more photos this week as they sprout, including photos of the root system.  Radish seeds sprout quickly, so stay tuned.

Radish seeds in sprouter.ds.

Vessel, insert and lid

This is what our sprouter looks like.  It’s a plastic vessel that holds water, an insert (shown upside down) for draining and a lid.  We ordered it online, not sure where from, but my husband thinks it cost about $8.

We had one of the three tier sprouters before this one.  The nice thing about those is that you can sprout multiple seeds, that take different lengths of time to sprout, all at the same time.  The downside, though, is that we found the trays weren’t tall enough for some of the seeds and the sprouts would get squashed, or it would stunt their growth.

Insert is in vessel, seeds are being poured in

Sprouts are ready to harvest

Photo courtesy Charles Haynes/Flickr

There are a lot of sources online for sprouters and seeds but if you’re looking for a source for information, as well as supplies, sproutpeople.org  is a good resource.

They have detailed growing instructions for virtually any type of sprouting seed – well, as much detail as you need for this easy project.  Seriously, the time you put into reading about sprouting a seed will be roughly equivalent to the time you send actually sprouting the seed.

They carry a lot of seed mixes too, and these are a really good way to up the flavor of sprouts.  A lot of people think of alfalfa sprouts when you mention sprouts, but those sprouts are amongst the blandest you can grow, and are definitely not a personal favorite of mine.

Other sprouts have a lot more flavor.  Radish sprouts, for example, taste like a full-grown radish.  We also like mustard, broccoli, clover and mung, of course.

The seed mixes are also a great way to go.  The Peasant Mix has a mixture of 8 lentils.  San Francisco Mix has mung, peanut, 4 lentils, 4 peas, 2-3 garbanzos, and adzuki.

Keep your seeds in the freezer and they last a very long time.  We’ve had some mixtures for years and they still sprout fine.  The seed packs go a long way, too.

Tomorrow I’ll post some photos of our sprouter and the seeds we’ve been sprouting this week.

Photo courttesy conskeptical/Flickr

Those of us who like to grow what we eat can spend winter months longing for truly fresh produce. Although most edibles can be difficult to grow indoors with only a sunny windowsill for light, there are some options that will please the gardener and cook alike.

Growing sprouts can be one of the easiest edible projects around. With a wide variety of seeds available, the home gardener can grow sprouts from traditional to exotic.

Read full article.

Photo courtesy urbanfoodwarrior/Flickr

This is a little far away for us, but thought I’d mention it anyway.  The State Arboretum of Virginia is having their third annual seed exchange on Saturday, January 26 at the Blandy Experimental Farm in Clarke County.  It will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and is free.Michael Neese (Community seed exchange and garden organizer) will be on hand to offer advice about gardening and composting. This is a free event offering lots of fun and fellowship and door prizes each hour.

The event is sponsored by Our Shop under the Arch at the State Arboretum of Virginia. Call Donna Downing (540-667-3778) or Pam DeBergh (540-667-9016) for additional information. Bring seeds, roots, or plants from your garden to share with others. Please, no species that are included on the list of invasive species .

About the Arboretum:
The State Arboretum of Virginia is part of historic Blandy Experimental Farm, a research field station for the University of Virginia’s Department of Environmental Sciences. Blandy Experimental Farm is on Route 50 in Clarke County, about 10 miles east of Winchester and 20 miles west of Middleburg. See directions and a calendar of events .

I have a stack of seed catalogs that I look at, but I do like to give preference to seed companies that are located in our general area, if possible.  Although they may or may not grow their seeds in the same area that they are located, they usually carry only seeds that grow well in this region.  Plus, they often have trial gardens to test their seeds and ensure they do grow well in our region.

Some varieties grow well everywhere, but since others do well in particular climates, I figure I have the best chance of success if the seed has been tested in a garden with a similar climate as mine.

Seed packet size is also a big thing for me.  For many veggies, I just want to grow a couple of plants, so would rather buy several small packets than one big one.  I’ve ruled out buying seed from some companies just because I know a big part of the packet will end up going to waste.

Cost enters into it too.  I’ve discovered I’m a pushover for any seed packet that remotely interests me and costs under $2.  But if you have to add huge shipping costs on top, I’m not going to bother ordering it.  I tend to order those seeds that are unique and that I can’t buy from a local store, then add in others only until it pushes me into an additional shipping charge.

I have a special place in my stack of catalogs for Seed Savers Exchange.  I like the idea that they are committed to saving heirlooms, and that members keep those plants in existence. They are often the best source for those hard-to find heirlooms.

Photo courtesy slgckgc/Flickr

The article I wrote Saturday talked about OP and F1 codes used after a plant name.  OP refers to open-pollinated plants and F1 are hybrids.

You often see other letter codes after the name, and these also mean that the seed is a hybrid.  Here are the differences between three varieties of corn seed: su, se, and sh2.

Su is a normal sugary hybrid.  The flavor is sweet and creamy, and the ears don’t store very well.  Once you harvest these ears, you should eat them within a couple of days.  They tend not to cross-pollinate, so you don’t need to worry about it cross-pollinating with a neighbor’s crop.

Se is a sugary enhanced hybrid.  It has very tender, smooth kernels, and a buttery texture.  It has a longer harvest period than an su hybrid, and will also not cross-pollinate easily.

Sh2 is a supersweet hybrid with a gene that enhances the sweetness of the corn.  Kernels are firm, juicy and crisp.  Sh2 does not have as creamy a texture as se or su, but it holds its flavor for up to 10 days after harvest, making them a good choice for commercial growers.  Sh2 cross-pollinates easily with other corn varieties, so you need to plant it at least 25 feet away from other corn.

BTW, I noticed my neighbor’s forsythia bush was budded this morning!  Obviously this warm weather is having an effect!