Seed Starting as MOTHER's Gardeners Do It

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Many growers strive to give their starts as much as 16 hours of sunlight a day, because if the plants don't get adequate light, they'll become spindly, leggy, and weak. They may even fall over. Interestingly enough, one partial antidote for low-light troubles is to grow your plants in a cooler environment. Since their growth rate will thereby be slightly reduced, they'll be less likely to be starved for illumination.

BREAKFAST-LUNCH-DINNER!

If you're going to keep the plants in the same tray until set-out time, you should occasionally provide some form of supplement al fertilization for the seedlings to help them prosper during their long weeks in the planting trays. Diluted fish emulsion is a common commercial amendment. Walker and Olivia, though, use homegrown nutrient-rich teas made from stinging nettle, comfrey, or very well aged compost. Each of these is made by simply steeping its name ingredient in water for several days (chop and bruise either kind of soaking plant with a spade). Don't overfertilize: A diluted supplement every five days or so should be plenty. The Abels recommend not using any manure tea. That solution, they say, might promote disproportionate growth (because of its high nitrogen content) or encourage damping-off.

In addition, thin your plants as necessary to keep them from getting too crowded (leaves barely touching is the ideal density).

As we noted before, the Abels prick out their seedlings to another flat to grow for a period before setting them out in the garden. Our growers do this as soon as the seedlings set their first true leaves (the very first bits of greenery to appear on a new sprout are the temporary seed leaves).

The gardeners utilize 4"- to 6"-deep flats instead of 3" ones-for prick-outs in order to give the growing roots plenty of room. You see, if the roots strike bottom, they're likely to think it's time to flower and go to seed. Well-known biointensive pioneer John Jeavons recalls that he once reared some shallow-trayed broccoli seedlings that produced heads the size of a little fingernail! To avoid any such problems, the Abels will even clip off the ends of exceptionally long roots to keep them from getting squished in the bottoms of their new trays.

Walker and Olivia also use a richer soil mix for their transplants than the plain 5-4-2 mix they advise for seed trays. Seeds carry a good deal of the nutrients needed to start off, and are encouraged to grow longer roots when grown in a lean mix . . . but seedlings need more to eat. The Abels recommend a mix made up of 5 spadefuls of leaf mold, 4 spadefuls of good garden soil, 2 spadefuls of sharp sand, and 2 spadefuls of compost . . . with an additional 2 handfuls of bonemeal. (Again, because of their heavy clay soil, they actually use 3 parts of sand instead of 2.) In addition, seed trays that will hold tomatoes, blue flowers, or brassicas-such as broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, collards, and Brussels sprouts-get a layer of dried eggshell chips sprinkled on the leaf mold in the bottom of the flat, to provide those particular seedlings with the extra calcium that they thrive on.

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