Project: Sprout & About

I am happy and excited to announce the start of the Sprout part of the project! Things had been on short pause for about a week since I fell sick after all that hustling outdoors. Later, and while I was recovering, I was busy with family things, and I couldn’t get my head around writing – at all. But now I am back, and the game is on, and the seeds have been sown! (That escalated quickly, hahaha.) And believe me, I have had so much fun studying companion planting and plants in general, picking the seeds for the greenhouse, and finally sowing them in these little coconut coils.
I wouldn’t even know where to start with everything 🙂
I will just try to keep this one simple and short. Alrighty!

What Seeds Did I Pick?

Since the beginning, I had thought that I would go as organic as I could with gardening. Everything from the seeds I would use to how I would care for the plants with natural fertilizers and so on. This, of course, is an ambitious goal, and to start with, not all the seeds I got were organic, but that’s also fine. I will not get grey hair because of this.

While reading about plants, I came across the concept of companion planting, and it made so much sense. Simply, the idea is to put certain plants together either in the same pot or just near each other so that they can ‘work together’ and help them grow better. Some attract pollinators and beneficial bugs, while others work as repellents from pests with their strong smells. Some plant friends improve the quality of the soil for other plants around them. All in all, it is very fascinating how nature works – it’s amazing ❤
Let’s stay on track. The reason I talk about this is that it has guided me in choosing the seeds for this project. Looking at the seed stand in the supermarket, I tried to find the “good fits” considering aspects like:

a) what I would like to eat this year
b) what will work together (companion planting)
and c) what are my abilities and capabilities in growing certain seeds

Finally, in the picture below are the seeds I came home with.

First Sprout Experiments

Time to introduce some sprout talking.
The Sprout journey started already about two weeks ago, just before I got sick. As I was getting informed about the different plants, I couldn’t keep my fingers off the dirt any longer. My first experiments were one hot pepper and one chili (it’s the post’s main picture). To my surprise, those buddies took off super well. Seeing that I had SUCCEEDED IN SPROUTING TWO CHILIS got me even more excited. That was a great motivator to keep going. There was no turning back.

Since the 16th of March, I have planted some more seeds. I spent hours reading and focusing on setting these buddies off to a good start. I was wondering if I should have planted more of each of them in case not all will germinate..
But what they did get was a lot of love ❤ I am sure that goes a long way.

At this point, I feel I must repeat something (like I tend to do); this project is one big experiment and an adventure to the unknown, alright 😃 I am doing a lot of curious experimenting. However, when I was sowing, I tried to respect the seed-specific sowing times. Hence, why I didn’t start with all the seeds at once. The rest will have to wait until next month, as hard as it might be for me to wait.

So be patient. Good things take time.
That’s the lesson I have learned from sprouts, I just need to remind myself of it sometimes.

The supermarket where I got the seeds also sold these coconut coir beds (or coco peats) for sowing. Obviously, I have never seen nor tried these before, but they are said to be a sustainable and seedling-friendly option. (As I am writing this, I ask myself whether this was an organic option, too? Or not? Oh boy…). I honestly find them cute and quite easy to work with. You just add some water so they expand and get moist.

I do recognize that such a small seedbed might not be ideal for all seeds, especially for the bigger seeds like watermelon or peas, but hey, you never know. It might as well work if I just move them to a new home soon after sprouting 😊 So far, at least my chilis have enjoyed growing in them.

Next, I will get my hands on cleaning the greenhouse again. I want to also post about plant updates as soon as something pops up.

It’s Sprout´ing & About´ing now my friends! ❤

Hear you later!