Day 10: Planting a Radish

Our seeds and seed starter kit arrived while we were in Rhode Island (marveling at my parents' in-ground garden space and germinated sprouts in their sun room). We made quick time of getting the seeds started on Tuesday night.

If you've never dreamed of creating an indoor greenhouse before, look no further than this $20 kit that you can pick up in a big-box home improvement store (or order direct from Burpees). All it takes to get 72 (well, 144 if you do 2 per cell) seed started is some warm water and a space with adequate light.



first, you take about a gazillion cups of warm water and fill each cell (containing what I deem a "soil cell- basically soil that's been freeze-dried and vacuum packed into a vitamin-sized pod) until the soil cell expands. Remember those awesome dinosaurs that magically grew before your eyes when you added water? Same idea. Except less paleozoic nostalgia.



Once the cells have expanded, it's best to fluff them with a fork and to make sure the soil then fills the compartments. We noticed that not all of the cells expanded evenly, so we had to go back and touch up and assist their proper expansion.



Now, the really fun part! First we took the back of the soil fluffing fork and made 1/4-1/2" deep slits in the soil for the seeds. Adding the seeds is not as daunting as you'd think. Bill thought that it would take forever, mostly because the seeds are microscopic in nature and his hands are, well, large enough to palm a beach ball. I remembered a trick that my dad uses, which is to put the seeds in a dixie cup (we graduated to a real glass), and pinch one or two seeds against the side of the glass to get the right amount for each seed hole.

One of the best things about this particular kit is that it's SELF WATERING. It has a funky absorbent mat that sits on a platform, and the soil cells rest on top of the mat. We filled the entire container with water, up to the top of the platform, and the magic of cohesion-adhesion does the rest. It will be interesting to see how long we can go before we have to add more water.



Not even 5 minutes after topping our contraption off, we noticed some sweet condensation. Greenhouse effect: achieved.

The seeds we planted inside (as opposed to outside at a much later date): Dill, cukes, summer squash, zucchini, capsicum peppers, sweet italian red peppers, carrots, radishes (a late addition to our roster, thanks to Bill), brandywine and amish red tomatoes (from seeds that I had saved from my deck adventure last year, brussel sprouts, and shallots.

Up next: the outdoor adventure begins!