Germination Notes
Every year I watch closely as I start seeds, taking note of germination rates for new seed and old seed. Lettuce is one of those things that I started buying fresh each year after noticing reduced germination from even year old seed. This year, I purchased a few new varieties to try.
I noticed that one variety in particular has not germinated at all – zero seeds have germinated. With other varieties I have around 95% germination rate. Instead of writing them off (or writing the company), I decided to give them another go. Yesterday I seeded three more soil blocks of ‘Alkindus’ lettuce. I’ll keep my eye on them, if I don’t get any germination this time around I’ll definitely write the company and see if they’ve had similar complaints. Since I had such great germination of all other varieties in the flat, I know it’s not the conditions.
Do you have certain seed you buy fresh each year? Have you noticed decreased germination rates in old seed?
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Clearing Space
Well, I’m still having some computer problems. I took all sorts of photos this weekend for posts this week and I can’t get my photo program to even open on my desktop. That means you’ll have to make do with cell phone images until I can get the problem figured out.
This weekend marked the official goodbye to the red maple that was overshadowing the potager. It was a nice tree, though it was planted in the wrong spot. It wasn’t filling out properly because it was being crowded by a few large white pine trees and it was sucking up nutrients and water from the lettuce and other things growing in the potager. The good thing is, the tree will be used to keep us warm next winter. It also makes way for me to finally get the potager hedges, walls, and other things finished.
Are there any projects you’re finally getting around to completing after years of having them on your list?
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A Few Good Books
This winter I’ve been reading a ton of books, partly it’s because I’ve been flying back and forth to Ohio quite a bit. I’m also making a concerted effort to read a lot of the books on my must read list.
Most recently, I read ‘The Sounds of Gravel‘, a memoir by a woman who escaped a polygamist group in Mexico when she was a teenager. It was heartbreaking, and so captivating I read it in two sittings. I’ll definitely be loaning it out to friends, in fact I already have a few people on the borrowing list. I’ve moved on to ‘Come, Tell Me How You Live: An Archeological Memoir‘ by Agatha Christie, which I decided to read after finishing ‘The Woman on the Orient Express‘, a historical fiction based on Agatha Christie’s life after her divorce from her first husband.
Have you read any good books recently?
