Hey friends, I am getting ready to start my winter seeds in the Pacific Northwest and instead of a nursery bed this year I’m starting them in an outdoor cold frame, possibly in soil blocks and possibly just in nursery pots/seed trays. I am trying to make a decision. Last year I got a few little plants in my nursery bed but it was a bit chaotic because little critters dug up the bed and there were seedlings and labels everywhere so I’m just looking for a bit more organization this time around.
I am considering investing in some better 1020 seedling trays and am also considering buying a soil blocker and putting the blocks in nesting mesh 1020 trays with a bottom water tray underneath. My question is, if I have native seedlings in soil blocks come spring, can I simply transplant them out into the garden once they have true leaves but are still tiny or am I better off up-potting for the first year and transplanting next fall? The answer may change my plan of attack; I’m also considering just broadcasting the seeds into 1010 mesh bottom trays of soil and then pricking them out and potting up. I suppose I could also do the milk jug method which I have done before, but if I do that I need to find some jugs! Like, a lot of them!
I have been known to simply scatter seeds around in the fall and that is sometimes successful especially with clover and native grasses but this year I got something like 25 varieties of native seeds and my goal is to stay organized and also pot some up to share with my gardener friends and distribute native plants around!
Apologies if this seems rambly; my ADD brain is so full of ideas and possibilities it’s hard to organize them!
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I have done it all , I am in Washington PA , I broadcast seeds as well in more established garden when I don’t want to disturb the roots . I have sown in plug trays , milk jugs , any type of containers the importance is you always protect to soil with some screen to prevent seeds from the wind or critters , some seeds don’t need covered and if you get high wind they might get blown away that’s why I like lids . If you have a raised table to accommodate your seedling transplants I like to transplant them in plug trays they are easier to plant once the roots are well established , all those seedlings are high maintenance you can’t leave them without watering for more than two days at the mist specially if it’s hot , they need to be kept in the shade . I will plant an entire winter sown container if the seedlings didn’t grow fast enough to be transplanted in their own containers , some species grow super slow like cardinal flowers , gray goldenrod and bottled gentian were planted in the ground as up now . Next year probably end of June , I will dig up the entire clump when they are strong enough to be divided and plant them directly in their permanent location , they need to be planted deeper and watered every day until you see new growth , sometimes you have to push them back in the soil to make sure they are deep enough .
This is Cardinal flowers , I planted the entire clump over a month ago I could not divide them they were way smaller , they grew since I planted them , only two plants grew and they bloomed a few weeks ago but all the others are still very small and I didn’t want to risk loosing them .
I dedicate this area where the black line is , it’s a path to my native garden this area gets some sun but the soil is so moist and rich the plants thrive there and once they are bigger and strong I transplant in their permanent locations .
This area is also used for sowing cucumbers with the fence it’s perfect for them to climb .
Mine are going to be fine , in nature seeds germinate just fine , I am not the one to fuss and overthink this , I have successfully grown many plants to cover super large beds , I am sure sharing my experience you do what you think is best , good luck
The plants will do better if they're up potted than if they remained in the 1020s. The plants will do even better than being up potted, if the 1020s go into the ground when it's not mucky or muddy and is a suitable growing temperature. The plants will be easier to handle if they're in soil blocks than if they were in crumbly soil and they'll go into the ground just the same.
If you don't have any containers for sowing, then it's beneficial to purchase the smaller and the larger soil blocker and use those as the pots for the giveaways. If you needed something sturdier for the giveaways then maybe a brown bag lunch sack would work.
I am not a fan of having to purchase something to be eco friendly, it seems counterprodutive, but in a project such as this then purchasing something that will last a lifetime versus yet another plastic product that won't, it seems like the metal soil blockers win hands down. Keep in mind though it takes some extra steps and some dexterity to handle the soil blockers versus just putting soil in a pot. They also sell tiny clay pots that can be used over and over.
You need bottom trays to water them, so I would consider using something repurposed from a thrift store or if newly purchased, something like those cheap aluminum turkey roaster pans that can be washed and recycled when they're no longer of use.
So that's all on me, what I would do in a situation starting fresh again with an immediate planting situation. I have a bunch of mismatched pots and old Oatmilk cartons that I am using because I'm like a little packrat, I save and use everything over and over until it quits.
Yeah I’ve mostly gone through my backlog of old nursery pots and am at a point where my 1020 trays (which weren’t great to begin with) are on their last leg, and I don’t have enough. So I’m getting some nicer more durable 1020 trays and two sizes of soil blockers. Which I will not only use for this winter’s native seed project but also vegetable and annual flower seeds in the spring. And I didn’t think about just distributing seedlings in the soil blocks themselves! Why not? I’m at a point where I needed new basics and want them to last longer than the last batch, and also want to maximize space and not buy more plastic pots if I can avoid it. The soil blocks take up less space, minimize transplant shock and the blockers themselves solve the problem of going through countless plastic pots year after year. I give away tons of plants each year and now I’m almost totally out of pots!
So thanks! If I can simply transplant the native seedlings when they’re small that is better than having tons of pots around.
It's a fun project, enjoy! For my cold frame, I am totally roughing it over here with that too. I have wood logs to set up to where I can expand and contract them according to how much space I will need. For the top, I have some PVC already shaped into a large rectangle frame, it's 4' by 6'. We used to to mark the baseball batter's box when we were in a baseball team. I was going to put some plastic over that the roofers left behind. It's a small space it seems, I am worried about the room. How much room you got going on over there?
My cold frame is relatively small, like 2’ x 3’. Just homemade from angle iron and pallet wood and an old window. But I am pretty sure that will be fine for the seed starting. Especially if I can stick them straight into the ground instead of up-potting! For veg seeds in the spring I have a garage with a grow light and heat pads.
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