Since we are limiting our grocery shopping to once every 10 days, I’m beginning to crave more fresh leafy greens. Outside, my beds are still frozen and the temperature drops to -4C during the night. The exception is a few thawed spots that get full sun and are backed up against a south-facing wall.
I plan to direct sow leafy greens under cloches in those hotspots very soon. Meanwhile, I’ve done something I’ve never done this early before – started leafy greens from seeds intended to be planted out way before our last frost date.
seed selection – 5 leafy greens
- Amerikaanse Roodrand (30d to mature)
- Green salad bowl (45d to mature)
- Komatsuna mustard spinach (3od to mature)
- Red salad bowl
- Rhubarb chard (60d to mature)
sowing
The chard went into an old bonsai pot I had laying around. Simply scoped up some reclaimed soil from the mini greenhouse and sterilized it with boiling water. The pot had pretty large drainage holes, so I fitted a coffee filter at the bottom to prevent the soil from escaping.
I sprinkled the loose-leaf salads and the spinach into swelled discs of peat and compost respectively. I’m trying out the organic compost discs (3cm) stacked in the center and hope that they will prove to be equal or better than the peat discs (4.5cm). They’re all snuggled together in an old plastic box that used to contain store-bought cookies. Almost look like a bunch of chocolate truffles with the vermiculite sprinkled on top, don’t you think?
and now we wait
While I wait for these seeds to germinate and sprout, I look forward to tasting my hydroponic crop soon.
