Containerted's 2016 startup

[SharonRossy]

Lovely! Makes me want to start mine!! And you're right about the dense planting. After watching the video a few times, it made less fearful about separating the seedlings.
Ted, I hope you are feeling well and are back on your feet, which by the looks of things, you are!

[ContainerTed]

Sharon, thanks for the kind words. I'm still gaining my strength and stamina, but the future looks bright. It had better. This year's garden will be my largest ever.

[AlittleSalt]

Ted, I was watering my peppers today and thought, I need to buy some mini-blinds. My old ones that wouldn't hurt to be replaced are dark green - but they'll work. I have some silver sharpies that I use to mark numbers on the black seed cells. I use MS Excel and a numbering system with the seed cells.

I like the idea of the mini-blind markers in the cells. That way I can continue using Excel and have the mini-blind marker to eventually stake out with the plants. I've heard most of my life - that the first thing to go is the memory, well that happened years ago. The more things I have reminding me what is what and where - the better.

The largest garden yet - I understand. Same here.

[SharonRossy]

Talking about minds, and losing memory, not to hijack the thread, but I reviewed Craig's dense planting videos and the one thing that really struck me was when he moved the seedling tray to the heating mat and none of the trays had I.D.tags. I was in awe of how would he remember what seeds he planted in which cell? Unless he has them taped to the side. Wow, that would be the end for me, lol!

[ginger2778]

Originally Posted by SharonRossy

Talking about minds, and losing memory, not to hijack the thread, but I reviewed Craig's dense planting videos and the one thing that really struck me was when he moved the seedling tray to the heating mat and none of the trays had I.D.tags. I was in awe of how would he remember what seeds he planted in which cell? Unless he has them taped to the side. Wow, that would be the end for me, lol!

I think he had a mapped out grid on paper. Not sure, because its bern a few years since I watched.

[sjamesNorway]

Here's how I keep track of mine. It's originally an Excel file, but was rejected here as invalid. Very easy to do in Excel. I have 3x4 cell trays (marked A - F). The colors are the variety colors. I used 2 shades for the red varieties to make it easier to see the demarcations.

[ContainerTed]

Good morning, everybody. I just got done reviewing my three trays and discovered that everything is normal. By that, I mean that the time to germination for the various varieties is proving that seed age makes a difference.

Tray #1 --- All but three are up. Seed age for the three are 8, 8, and 11 years old.

Tray #2 --- 51 are up. The remaining ones are at least 7 years old and a few are in the 10 year old category.

Tray #3 --- Just started but has some seeds going back to 2008.

I'm using my squirt bottle to keep the top of the mix damp. The liquid in it is a small pinch of MG crystals to a 2 liter soda bottle. That little bit of nutrients in the bottle definitely seems to be helping.

[ContainerTed]

Here's some close ups of the action on the top of the mix. The pictures are:

1. Tray #1

2. My squeeze bottle and slightly fert'd supply of water

3. This never gets old to me

4. It like being a "dad" all over again.

Enjoy. That last one is one that may get released this year. That's 100% germination after 4 days.

[sjamesNorway]

Originally Posted by ContainerTed

Sharon, thanks for the kind words. I'm still gaining my strength and stamina, but the future looks bright. It had better. This year's garden will be my largest ever.

Good to hear you're on the mend, Ted. RT will sap your strength, but I imagine growing tomatoes is great therapy for you.