Seed germination test.

While thinking about what to grow this year, I remembered that several years ago I grabbed a number of seed packets out of a 'free' pile at a chicken keeping workshop.

I went and found the packets - quite a few of them - and saw that they were all stamped with "03". So that means I've got at least a dozen 7-year-old seed packets on my hands.

Rather than just throwing them all out, I thought I may as well do a quick test to see if they were still viable. I started with the radishes, thinking that if the seeds were in fact still good, I could try an early planting.

I assembled the necessary components; seeds, paper towels, plastic bag, and plant mister.

I sprinkled about a dozen seeds on the moistened paper towel, folded it up, placed it into the plastic bag, and waited.

Less than 48 hours later I took a peak and much to my surprise found that every single seed had sprouted!

A little bit of research has since told me that radishes are known for their high germination rates - but 100% germination of 7-year-old seeds is still really impressive!

Finding all the seeds so happy, I went and popped the sprouted seeds into the prepared raised bed next to the lettuce seeds that had been planted a few days before.

No signs of green yet - hopefully I'm not pushing my luck too much planting them this early!

The first seeds are in!

Yesterday I planted a pinch of the salad greens seeds under the cloche. Hopefully I'm not starting too early, but they claim to be able to germinate at temperatures as low as 40 degrees and my soil is already at 50 degrees.

I woke up this morning to find that the plastic cover of the cloche had blown off - but today is sunny and lovely so far, so I don't think any harm was done.

The seeds are supposed to germinate in just a couple of days, so I should know soon if the conditions were favorable enough for them.

Spinach, Salad, and Peas, oh my.

Today was sunny almost all day, the perfect day for playing in the garden.

We started the day by heading to Portland Nursery and picking up a few things. I got a four packets of seed; spinach, salad green, snap peas, and snow peas. I'm especially eager to try the snow peas - every garden book and blog about the Pacific NW talks about Oregon Sugar Pod II, so I'm looking forward to see if they do well for me.

I also picked up some pea inoculant, a soil thermometer, organic fertilizer, garden soil and compost. Sadly our new composter won't be producing usable compost for at least a few weeks, but the way it's going, it might even take a few months.

When I got home I used the thermometer right away and it told me that the soil in our yard was 50 degrees! Much warmer than I expected, and also just about what all the seeds I purchased require.

I filled the raised bed in the back yard with one bag of the garden soil and mixed in some fertilizer. As I was working on this, I began to think that that bed might be better used for the spinach and salad greens, and the gardening book I've been using - growing vegetables west of the cascades - recommends starting spinach and salad greens under cover in February.

We had some plastic left over from winterizing the chickens, so I ran over to Home Depot for a few lengths of pvc, and soon after we had a cloche! Hopefully I can plant some seeds tomorrow.

My husband made me two 2x2 beds for our parking strip, and I think that's where I'll plant the peas. I may make cloches for them as well. The peas should be done producing by the time I can plant summer squash, so that rotation should work out perfectly.