Seeds are amazing little things: a fragile promise of new life compressed into a neat, efficient package.
With such appeal, it’s easy to get carried away when confronted with the seemingly endless variety of seed packets available. Like a kid in a candy store. Even with my entirely reasonable seed purchasing habits, I’ve still managed to amass a small hoard.
Some are seeds I’ve tried my hand at growing (with varying degrees of success) but still have leftovers. Others are entirely new and untested (and procrastinated!).
I’ve chosen a few from each category to sow in my “Deep-Root Seedstarting System” from Gardener’s. I can only hope that enough of my seeds are still viable to make this experiment worthwhile!
The Seeds
The seed-starting “system” is essentially a 15 compartment tray with a water reservoir and dome cover to keep the little ecosystem moist and warm.
Peppers were the primary catalyst for this indoor seed-starting venture, so they account for the majority of the tray: three compartments each of three different peppers.
Peppers
The pepper varieties are Shishito, Fushimi, and one hand-labeled as Korean.
The shishitos are the oldest seeds. The original, overzealous attempt was also my first try at starting seeds indoors. I ended up with way more plants than I needed but planted them all in the garden anyway! I’ve evolved a more practical approach since then.
The Fushimi peppers are the newest purchase, from Kitazawa Seed Co., and the pepper I have the most interest in seeing succeed. These are mild, sweet peppers, perfect for my delicate palate!
The Korean pepper seeds actually came from Korea, by way of my mother-in-law. Apparently, these are seeds of the pepper variety commonly used in kimchi, which is a staple ferment in my household. Without any packaging to verify this, we’ll just have to wait and see on this one. Oddly, these seeds are hot pink. I assume they were dyed this color.
Flower and Herbs
I split the remaining compartments between Greek Yevani basil and sweet alyssum ‘Oriental Nights.’ The more common varieties of basil and sweet alyssum have been happily self-propagating in my garden, but these two have been unsuccessful as direct-sowings in the garden.
In addition to the seed tray, I used three of the CowPots I’d been hoarding to sow dill ‘Tetra’, another herb I’ve had difficulty getting established. The dill pots now reside in my little Ikea “Socker” greenhouse. I have no idea if they will be happy here, and I fear it may be too warm for dill now anyway, but here’s hoping!
My gardening motto: here’s hoping!
Leave a Reply