Day 1
Well, I guess today can be considered Day1. The seeds were sown yesterday, Sunday 22nd January, so from now on that day will be referred to as Day 0. Below is an account of what I did yesterday...
I began by finding the seeds that I'd bought on eBay in 2005. I realised that I also had a whole load of seeds from last year's chilli crop. However, I decided that what I really wanted to do was grow new varieties this year. Consequently, the seeds taken from last year's chillies were thrown in the garden. With any luck they'll grow anyway - perhaps even mutate with the tomato plants and form some sort of ToMacco-esque super plant.
Anyway.... the next stage was to find something to plant my seeds
in. Last year I used one seed tray which I covered with a pane of glass to keep the humidity in the soil. This seemed to work fine, but in 2006 I plan to sow even more seeds that in 2005, in the hope that I'll be able to select even healthier seedlings for re-potting later. So, at my mother's suggestion, I used some cheapo Tupperware style containers that I had once bought for use in my camper van, but had been sat in her cupboard for years. The good thing with these is that I have plenty of them and that they each come with their own lid - ideal for retaining humidity after watering.
I filled all 10 containers almost to the top with ordinary compost, divided each one into two sections
with a cardboard divider, and then watered the soil. I then took care to label each pot, in large indelible ink, with the number of the container and the variety of the seeds that I intended to plant there. Details of the chilli varieties can be found in the next post.
The number of seeds that I have for each variety varies greatly. I found that I had space in each half-container for nine seeds. I, therefore, planted nine sees of each variety in each section unless I found that nine seeds amounted to more that 80% of my total supply. I have kept some seeds back, just in case this planting is somehow spoiled and a second attempt needs to be made later, in the spring. The seeds were buried 50mm deep and covered with a sprinkling of compost.
The containers were then watered again, partially covered by their lids, and place in the warmest place in the house - next to the boiler in the kitchen. Now we wait. And water.
I began by finding the seeds that I'd bought on eBay in 2005. I realised that I also had a whole load of seeds from last year's chilli crop. However, I decided that what I really wanted to do was grow new varieties this year. Consequently, the seeds taken from last year's chillies were thrown in the garden. With any luck they'll grow anyway - perhaps even mutate with the tomato plants and form some sort of ToMacco-esque super plant.
Anyway.... the next stage was to find something to plant my seeds
in. Last year I used one seed tray which I covered with a pane of glass to keep the humidity in the soil. This seemed to work fine, but in 2006 I plan to sow even more seeds that in 2005, in the hope that I'll be able to select even healthier seedlings for re-potting later. So, at my mother's suggestion, I used some cheapo Tupperware style containers that I had once bought for use in my camper van, but had been sat in her cupboard for years. The good thing with these is that I have plenty of them and that they each come with their own lid - ideal for retaining humidity after watering.I filled all 10 containers almost to the top with ordinary compost, divided each one into two sections
with a cardboard divider, and then watered the soil. I then took care to label each pot, in large indelible ink, with the number of the container and the variety of the seeds that I intended to plant there. Details of the chilli varieties can be found in the next post.The number of seeds that I have for each variety varies greatly. I found that I had space in each half-container for nine seeds. I, therefore, planted nine sees of each variety in each section unless I found that nine seeds amounted to more that 80% of my total supply. I have kept some seeds back, just in case this planting is somehow spoiled and a second attempt needs to be made later, in the spring. The seeds were buried 50mm deep and covered with a sprinkling of compost.
The containers were then watered again, partially covered by their lids, and place in the warmest place in the house - next to the boiler in the kitchen. Now we wait. And water.
posted by Anonymous at 22:28
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