Hi I'm Erin.
Longer days are returning to the ranch and soon warmer temps will be here.
It's time to fill the high tunnel to the brim with green.
But first we need to get some seeds in the dirt.
Gardening season 2018 starts in the basement on Our Wyoming Life
Hi and thanks for joining me today on Our Wyoming Life.
Long before we can harvest crops and take them to farmers market we have to sow the
seed.
Seedlings are the beginning of our cash crop and every plant that we will transplant outside
starts here in the basement.
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escape the ordinary.
Starting seeds is something that I look forward to every year.
Spring is coming and it's time to get back to work.
This has been our first winter of year round gardening so we haven't really had a break
from the crops but the winter growing actually doesn't take a lot of time.
A little water, harvest once a month for market and we're good to go.
Every January the itch to plant returns.
The seed catalogs are piling up and the hope of a successful garden season is on our minds.
We're still months away from planting summer crops like tomatoes and peppers but our winter
gardening can transition into spring gardening.
Crops like lettuce, kale, broccoli and cauliflower can be moved out to the high tunnel before
too long.
This winter and spring gardening is something that we're still very new at and not many
people are trying.
There's still a big risk that we won't be successful.
But the potential rewards are far greater than the risk so it's time to dig out the
bags of dirt, black trays, turn on the grow lights and get our hands dirty.
Everything that we do here today can be done by anyone.
Hundreds of heads of lettuce is probably a bit too much for the average family but the
concepts are the same.
If you're growing for just your family just scale everything down.
Or go hog wild and share your seedlings with your neighbors.
Before any seeds can be planted we need to clean all of our trays and plugs.
Soap, hot water and a little bleach are all that's needed.
The plugs get a scrub with a brush, rinsed and then we're good to go.
If we don't clean our hardware we run the risk of pests and funguses affecting our seedlings
growth.
All of our seedlings get started in a seed starting potting mix.
Its super lightweight and the tiny plants can push through it very easily.
When it's emptied from the bag it's very dry.
It's easier to work with once it's been wet down.
This way the seeds won't float away in our trays or plugs when we try to water the dirt.
It's takes a lot of water to get all the soil wet.
We just keep adding and mixing until all the soil is damp but not soaking wet.
Plugs have been placed into the standard 10x20 black gardening tray.
Now the soil can be added.
Big scoops of dirt are dumped into the tray and pushed into the plugs.
Now the soil needs to be packed in.
We just push it down into the plug and then more dirt can be added.
We want to leave enough room at the top to place the seeds in and cover with a light
sprinkling of more soil.
Once our trays are all filled we move down to the basement.
This is our seed starting area.
We have lights hanging above the tables and we use small greenhouses with lights for germination.
Starting seeds can be as complicated or as simple as you like.
You can buy expensive grow lights or fluorescent daylight bulbs from your local hardware store.
We go the simple route and for the last 4 years it has worked great for us.
The first seeds to be planted today are Salanova lettuce.
We have 4 different varieties.
2 green and 2 red.
When they're harvested and mixed together it creates this amazing lettuce blend.
This is our second year growing Salanova and we couldn't be happier with it.
It's a pelleted lettuce seed, which makes handling and planting much easier.
One seed per plug is all that's needed.
Germination with salanova is extremely high and we've found we don't need to place
more than one seed in each plug.
3 trays of salanova are planted today.
Each tray holds 105 plugs.
315 heads of lettuce in total.
Our customers are going to be very happy with the abundance of lettuce we will have for
them in a few months.
Broccoli and cauliflower are next.
These seeds are very tiny and not pelleted.
They also are the same color as our starting soil mix and pretty impossible to see once
they're placed into the plugs.
This tray will be split with broccoli and cauliflower.
We've labeled all of our trays so far as we've planted, but lettuce is lettuce and
if they get mixed up not that big of a deal.
Broccoli and cauliflower though will look very similar until they start producing heads.
Therefore it's essential we label the seedlings.
Labeling will be much appreciated when it's time to go plant in the high tunnel.
Their germination rate isn't quite as high as the lettuce so more than one seed can be
placed in each plug.
Once they come up and get their second set of leaves we can thin them out.
Last but not least and almost forgotten is kale.
I actually forgot that I had these seeds.
They could have been planted into the same plugs as the lettuce but since the kale seeds
were forgotten another plug tray wasn't ready.
Luckily these small germination trays that are used for tomatoes and peppers were clean
and ready to go.
Dirt is added to the tray and then more tiny dark seeds can be sprinkled on top.
Now it's time to cover all of the seeds.
Everything we planted today needs just a small amount of dirt placed on top.
More of our damp seed starting mix can be used.
Just sprinkle it into the tray and spread it evenly over the seeds.
Trays can now be moved into the small greenhouses we use for germination.
Clear domes are placed on top of the black trays.
They help keep it humid and prevent the seed coat from drying out during germination.
Now that the greenhouse is full we zip it up and the lights will be left on 24 hours
a day until the seedlings emerge.
The heat from the lights will warm the soil just enough to help ensure a good germination
rate.
Every vegetable you eat started as a tiny seed.
If you bought that vegetable from a local farmer at your local farmers' market it
might have had a similar beginning as what we you saw here today.
But regardless of where it came from that seed had to be placed into the soil, watered
and taken care of.
Farmers' all of the world work every day to feed us.
It's an important job that often gets taken for granted and overlooked.
We don't have to think about it.
We just go to the grocery store and buy whatever fruits and vegetables we want regardless of
what time of the year it is.
I want to encourage everyone to try and grow your own vegetables this year or that the
next time you have the opportunity go to your local market and seek out a small local grower
and try some of their produce.
It will be fresher than anything you've ever purchased from the grocery store.
Plus shopping local with small businesses has a drastically different effect on your
local economy then spending your money at the big box stores.
When I first started growing if I hadn't had a few regular customers that stuck with
me I don't know if I would be growing as much as I am today.
Every dollar spent with me in the beginning encouraged me to keep going.
And I still feel that way.
Every time I have the opportunity to sell fresh local produce it helps me to grow the
next crop and to not give up even though sometimes the odds are against me.
If you're considering growing your own garden this year now is the time to plan and prepare.
Seeds are showing up in hardware store, catalogs are being delivered in the mail and there's
still plenty of time to get your garden spot ready.
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You can come along with us and explore the ranch life and see more of the journey from
seed to farmers market and escape the ordinary with Our Wyoming Life.
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