This year is the first time I've ever tried gardening so I'm a complete newbie to it and I was wondering: how are you supposed to plant in grid down? Because of my limited knowledge, you obtain your plants from (where I live) the local farming store, and they are already planted in soil in a plastic bowl to which you take it home and plant it in your garden. Obviously, you can't store these plants on a shelf for years. I'm curious to how you would continue to grow plants without these stores providing them. I know I can purchase seeds, but right now I have tomatoes, squash, zucchini, okra and lettuce, all of which came in these type of plastic bowls and not bags of seeds.
Start your plants from seeds. Use heirloom seeds so they breed true and you can save seeds for next year's planting.
Germinate your seeds in Dixie-cups. It helps to scratch/cut into the side of the seed so that the water can soak in -- you're giving the seed some help by doing so. https://www.gardeners.com/how-to/how-to-start-seeds/5062.html https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/ga...d-starting-how-to-germinate-seeds-at-home.htm The above article is good in that it differentiates sprouting from getting the sprouts to put down roots. Wet paper towels can get seeds to sprout, then you can move them into a growing medium.
If you are going to start from seeds you need either a hotbox or a small greenhouse to start them in. The little plants are very fragile and need protection. the reason for the greenhouse or hot box is so that you can start your seeds early before it is time to plant your garden. that way once you are safely past the worry of a frost you get to start your garden with well-established plants. You don't want to use hybrid plants because either the seeds are not viable or they will not be the same plant that you harvested the seeds from. They don't reproduce a hybrid plant and what you get may not be a very healthy plant. the quality and taste of the old heritage plants is phenomenal. those plants were bred over time for people to grow and eat them. The tomatoes for example that you get in the stores were bred for volume of production and to be tough to make them easier to ship and have a better shelf life in the stores. he heritage tomatoes are bred for a specific use. Some are meaty and some are juicier. The juicy ones are for making tomato sauce and such while the meaty ones are slicers for eating in salads and as just sliced tomatoes. In both types TASTE and appearance were most important along with hardiness. Tomatoes don't have to be red!! there are yellow and even black varieties. Try a Black Krim Tomatoe they are great producers and taste amazing. A hot box is just a little miniature greenhouse for starting your seeds. We used one that was made with railroad cross ties stacked 2 high with a patio door panel on top. To keep it warm we put a couple of light bulbs in that warmed it at hight. Eventually, we moved up to a small greenhouse with heaters. In the greenhouse, you can have seeds starting on one side and then reset them into little pots so that they can grow bigger before planting.
I think everyone has a slightly different method of gardening so don't worry if you can't follow someone's directions exactly. As a new gardener I presume you won't have a hot box, cold frame or greenhouse which is still fine, many people just start seeds on a south facing windowsill. Start with peat seed trays or make little compostable seed pots from paper etc. I like this because then you do not disturb the roots when moving the plant outside or to a bigger pot. Once your more used to it you can use plastic or wood etc. Get a good starting soil mix, it really does help. Most people keep their plants indoors or the greenhouse until they are ready to transplant and then harden them off, which is carefully getting them used to being outside unprotected. Usually by putting them outside for a few hours at a time and slowly extending their outside time. If your plants outgrow the little seed starter trays before the weather is suitable outside you can put them in bigger pots to keep growing. The trickiest part with starting seeds in your house is ensuring they get adequate light. And water - not too little but not drowning either.
For this method I'll have to get into solar energy, which is something I planned on anyway. Thanks for all that info!
No, I don't have either, however I do plan on eventually getting into solar power so that I can continue to grow post-disaster. Appreciate you taking the time to share!
Well at least you starting to learn something about gardening and at least own sufficient property for planting anything. Myself doesn't have the slightest clue how to do gardening let alone farming. My usual practice is just throw the seed in the general direction where I intend for the plant to grow and asking the blessing from the goddess of fertility to make it grow, and they usually grow into a big tree as expected.
We save the cardboard cylinders from toilet paper. you cut them in half and sort of fold the bottom closed and use those for seed starting cup. When we plant we open the bottom and plant the cylinder with the plant into a larger pot. When the tube gets wet it turns into mush and the roots run right through it. We do a lot of reusing and repurposing things.
early marksmen . welcome to gardening, I find it truly relaxing , go and get your hand dirty , it feels great. get some books on gardening ,
I'm working on modifications to my waterbarrel system. Working on a solution to water overflow. Just the other evening we had such a downpour that an empty barrel went to massive overflow by morning. What to do? I am placing an outer container about the rain-barrel. I'm using a liner for a garden waterfall pool as the wide catch for barrel overflow. I'm building a platform inside this catch, this pool, this water-trough, whatever the crap you wanna call it for the purpose of setting the original rain barrel. So, a monsoon thunder storm visits and overflows my rain barrel. Well, now the overflow water has a second container to catch it. Both barrel and outer "pond" containers have spigots. I can drain the water out of the overflow pond out to the garden when needed. When the pond is empty, one closes the overflow catch spigot, then open the barrel's lower spigot to drain the barrel into the overflow pond. This results in an empty barrel for more rain to be caught and a pond to be drained during times when the rains do not come. Could I have used a series of overflow barrels? Sure. Old geezer's mind has never been normal. I doubt that this shocks anyone. Droughts here are rare. However, I've seen the ground so dry that the earth cracks and the cracks be so wide as to allow me to stick my fingers down into them. Why use clean water when roof runoff is there for the catching?! The sun has found a cloud or three. Time to say farewell to thee. Off I go to plumb my yard. Soon return vows the foolish bard. .
To control mosquitoes, pour cheap veggie oil onto the water -- oil rises. Insects breathe via a tracheal system. Oil occludes the tracheal system = mosquito larvae die. Veggie oil is not toxic to plants nor people ... seems not to have killed me quite yet, anyway.
