And They’re Off…

The spicy microgreens I seeded under the grow light are growing. Obviously the flat I put on the heating mat germinated quicker, but the second try caught up quickly and they’re pretty much the same now. Which shows that with these the heat mat isn’t worth using.

These are supposed to be ready to harvest in 10 days to 2 weeks, as soon as the first set of true leaves appears. I’m anxiously watching and waiting to see how long it takes and what they taste like. While I’d never grow enough greens for an entire salad like this, they will be nice to add a bit of green to certain dishes, like fajitas, soups, or omelets. I’m thinking of seeding a tray of cilantro microgreens for enjoying on fajitas in a few weeks.

What’s growing in your house this winter?

Fall Seed Saving

While I clean up some of the garden I save seeds to things I’d like to have more of or grow from seed. Yesterday, I was cleaning out the dahlias in the potager and saw the ligularia seeds. I grabbed a bag and my pruners and saved a few seeds. A few were also scattered around the plant to see if they’d germinate on their own.


I look forward to hopefully growing a few plants for other spaces in the garden. My garden is very large and mass plantings look best. Since it’s expensive to buy plants, I’m starting loads from seed and dividing perennials as well.
Are you collecting any seed this fall while you clean up the garden?

Bean Seed Trials

I found some old seed for the same variety of beans that I purchased fresh seed for this year. Instead of throwing it away, I decided to plant it along with the new seed to see how the old seed compared to the new.

As you can see from this photo, the old seed didn’t germinate as quickly and not as well. It’s a great illustration of the importance of starting with fresh seed and not trying to use up old seed in the garden. This is especially important if your garden is small, there’s no reason to waste space by trying to use up old seed.

Have you noticed reduced germination rates with older seed in specific varieties?

Succession Planting

This year I’m working on improving my succession planting success. I.E., I’m actually doing it. I’ve always struggled with remembering to seed plants every few weeks, mostly I forget as I’m out working in the garden. This year I’m already on my fourth flat of lettuce, my third batch of bulbing fennel, my second planting of cilantro, and there are more.

Yesterday I spent time seeding more flats of flowers and vegetables, most of them were a succession planting, some were heat loving varieties that are being seeded for the first time.


As I was looking through my seeds, I realized that I should organize the things that need seeded multiple times into their own box. Possibly even organized into folders depending on how often they need seeded. As I work I’ve been mulling over a workflow that will help make succession planting easier for me to do.

Do you succession plant? Do you have any tips/tricks for organization?

Keeping Things Organized

One thing I like to do when I seed flats is to alternate colors of plants. I find that having red lettuces in between green lettuces helps reduce confusion if plants labels ever get mixed up to fall out of the tray.

I will also plant different varieties of plants in the same tray, as long as they have similar germination times and preferred conditions it works very well to keep things organized. These are things I’ve found that work for me and help me keep things organized.

Do you have any tips that help you keep things organized when starting seeds?