Growing at the Speed of Life - A Year in the Life of My First Kitchen Garden

that clay pots are too expensive for this phase and

take up too much storage space out of season.)

■ Potting Soil: Purchase a good potting soil from

your garden center. Alternatively, you can sterilize

garden soil. Place the soil in an aluminum foil

roasting pan to 3 inches in depth, cover with foil,

and bake at 200ºF for 20 minutes—at which point

all disease and seeds are dead, and your soil is ready

to use without contaminants, weeds, or other un­

wanted seeds. Or place the garden soil in about 2-pound batches in an unsealed

plastic roasting bag , and microwave each bag for 3 minutes. It’ll create a horrid

smell, but it is fast and effective. Before planting, do a porosity test. Start with

damp soil in a small pot. Add water to the top of the pot and count slowly to fi ve.

If the water drains in 3–4 seconds, the soil is too porous. If it takes 7–8 seconds,

it’s too dense. That’s one reason I like to use the Coco-Coir: it drains perfectly

every time, and it’s more like the consistency of the raised-bed soil, into which

the seedlings will be transplanted.

■ Planting Depth: The rule of thumb is the smaller the seed, the shallower the

planting depth. That means that the seeds should be planted at a depth of about

two to three times their width.

■ Watering: Keep the planted seeds moistened by misting, not fl ooding, until

just gently dampened. I have a 2-quart misting jar that pumps up a small pressure

and does the job very well. I’ve added a timer mister system (see page 34), so we’ll

see how this pans out. Frequent misting also prevents the thin layer of soil that

covers the seeds from drying out, which robs the soil of the moisture it needs to

give the seeds a good start.

■ Drainage: All my pots and trays have drain holes, allowing for the regular mist­

ing (twice a day) not to accumulate and permitting the seeds to breath. I found this

30 • GROWING AT THE SPEED OF LIFE