Seeding

Hooray, hooray! 

The Bachelor's Buttons have germinated!

Yes, we may have a serious Nor'easter heading our way tomorrow. But the starts are warm and cozy in the greenhouse, and seeding is well underway.

A lovely morning seeding with friends at True Calling Farm.
This is their first year in action, too!

Check out these Bachelor's Button and Carnation seeds. They're so wonderfully different from one another.

Each spring, when I put my hands into the soil for the first time, I'm filled with such joy. So much hope lies nestled within each of these seeds! And so, I try to give them the best possible conditions for germination: light, warmth, moisture, air circulation, and excellent potting mix from Vermont Compost.

I'm planting exclusively in soil blocks this year, as a means to reduce my plastic use and save space on starts with low germination rates. It's been fun experimenting with this system. Do I bottom watering or mist? What will "potting up" be like? How can I best keep these little mini-blocks moist and upright? Check out two trays of lisianthus below- over 600 starts in two standard trays!

Two trays of lisianthus varieties- with a sprinkle of vermiculite to mitigate algae growth!

I hope you all stay warm during the coming storm. Spring really is coming, I promise!

Cheers,

Stacy