Seed germination results

I am about half way through the seed germination experiment.  Already trends are appearing in the data.  So far, I've germinated seeds at three temperatures: 75, 65 and 55.  On really hot days I want to crawl into the growth chambers and hang out with a book until it's cooler.  Hopefully there won't be many more hot days this year.   

The maximum number of seeds at each temperature is 50.  So, for defender lettuce at 75 degrees all the seeds germinated by the third day.  As the temperature decreased it took longer for seeds to germinate, and germination was spread over a number of days.  This is useful because it tells a grower or farmer that they don't need to heat their greenhouse all the way to 75 or 65 degrees to have good germination of lettuce seeds.

The pictures on the right don't show what I'm seeing when I count germinated seeds - but they are far prettier.

Tokyo bekana shows a slightly different trend.  Days to germination is similar for seeds sown at 75 and 65 degrees.  At 55 degrees seeds take much longer to germinate, and the percentage of seeds that germinated is much lower.  (You can't tell this from the graph, but it's true.)  So, how is this useful data?  It shows that temperatures lower than 55 degrees will result in poor and lengthy germination compared to warmer temperatures for tokyo bekana.  Eventually I'll add fuel price in as a component to this study, but not until I'm done collecting data.

why fall is a bad time to start vegetables

I am getting all excited about growing lettuces and new varieties of greens that I haven't seen before but now is just is not the time.  It is still warm enough out but the real issue is lack of light.  At this time of year - late fall - five o'clock comes around and it is dark as midnight.  This affects plants just as it affects people.   Less than ten hours of sunlight significantly decreases the amount of growing leafy greens will do.

These little spinach plants illustrate this idea.  They were planted over a month ago and have a nice warm growing space inside a cold frame but grow very slowly because day-length has been decreasing.  Combating this dilemma is simple but requires a bit of planning (or planting!) ahead.  Greens and some other vegetables planted in late August and early September will have had ample time to reach maturity by now and will continue to "hang out" in the garden for a long time even when days are short and the nights get chilly.

Kale is a perfect example of cool hardy vegetable that will live in the garden.  Just make sure you plant extra at then end of summer.   Most cool hardy vegetables can survive light frosts.  Further protection from cold frames and row covers can help stretch the season a bit longer.  Cooler temperatures increase sugar and nutrient levels in vegetable making them even tastier.

plant profile: spinach

Spinach is my favorite green.  


It is not fast growing like some of the brassicas.  Nor does it have sexy colored viens like swiss chard or red russian kale.  Harvesting spinach can be a true labor of love when each leaf has to be cut individually.  Despite all of this, spinach is great.  No, it's beyond great - it is one really cool plant.  Here's why:

~ Spinach is a diecious crop meaning there are male and female plants.  In the absence of any male pollen producing plants female flowers can ‘revert’ to become pollen-producing flowers, enabling continuation of the sexual reproduction cycle.  

~ Spinach is one of the hardiest leaf crops. It grows best in sandy, porous soil but can adapt to a wide range of soils.  Spinach germinates best in cool soil and can germinate at temperatures as low as 35 degrees Fahrenheit.  

~ Spinach can grow at very low temperatures.  Other leafy crops can tolerate the cold but will not grow.  Spinach grown in the cold has higher concentrations of nutrients like vitamin C as well as higher sugar levels.