PLANTING TIPS

• Protect transplanted seedlings
• Will your seeds germinate?
• Make your own seed tapes!
• When's the best time to transplant?
• Grow long-season food in a short-season climate

Test seeds for germination rate  Ugh!  What’s worse than doing all that work to plant a garden and finding nothing comes up?  If your seeds are too old or haven’t been stored right, that’s exactly what can happen.  Before you put those seeds you’ve saved or traded into the ground, test them for germination rate.   Take several sheets of paper towels and moisten with water from a spray bottle.  Sprinkle a few seeds over the paper towels and roll up or cover with another layer of moist paper towels.  Put the whole thing  in a plastic bag and punch some holes in the bag. Place the bag in a warm, dark spot.  Check periodically to make sure the paper towels don’t dry out.   You can keep them moist by spritzing water into the bag.  Within a week to 10 days, the majority of seeds you tested  should sprout, giving you an idea of the germination rate of this batch of seeds.

Make your own seed tapes  If you’ve ever used seed tapes, you know they’re a quick and easy way to plant your garden.  You also know they can  cost significantly more than plain seed and you can’t always find the seeds YOU want to plant on tape.  That's no problem!  You can make your own!

Cut newspaper or thin paper towels into strips about an inch wide.  (Use only black and white pages – the colored print can contain and emit toxins)  Mix ¼ cup water with 1 cup flour to make a ‘glue.’  Glue the seeds to the strips with the spacing recommended on the seed packet.  Let dry overnight.  Use a trowel (or spoon if you tend to garden on the fly) to make a trench in the soil and lay your seed tape with the seed side up.  Give it a good soaking, cover with soil, and water again.

Transplant on a cloudy day  All those seedlings you lovingly grew or bought will do much better if you transplant them at the right time.  Harden them off by setting them outside during the day for a day or two, then try to transplant them on a cloudy day so the leaves won’t wilt and their roots can settle a bit before they get to work.  If it looks like sunshine all the time, you lucky duck, put them out early in the morning or late in the afternoon.

Make the season longer (Razzleberry) Razz lives in Alaska, where the growing season is short, but she still grows some long-season foods. How? She sprouts them before she plants them and then plants the sprouts right into the soil at the end of May. She also uses inoculant on her peas and beans.