Starting Vegetables from Johnny's Selected Seeds
We're preparing for this year's growing season here at my Bedford, New York farm - my gardeners are busy starting all the many vegetables and flowers from seed.
Many of our vegetable seeds and other supplies are from Johnny’s Selected Seeds in central Maine - a company I’ve been using for quite some time. Starting from seed isn’t difficult. They can be planted closely together in seed starting trays and then pulled apart when they're ready to move into larger pots or outdoors.
Enjoy these photos.
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- This time of year my head house tables are often filled with seeds ready to be planted in trays. Johnny’s Selected Seeds is a privately held, employee-owned organic seed producer. Johnny’s offers hundreds of varieties of organic vegetable, herb, flower, fruit and farm seeds that are known to be strong, dependable growers.
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- Remember all the beautiful vegetables my gardeners and I grew last year in this giant half-acre space? Lots of them were grown from Johnny’s Selected Seeds. Together with nutrient-rich soil, we grew our best crops ever.
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- Among them – this beautiful cauliflower. Most are familiar with the white varieties, but cauliflower also grows in yellow-orange, purple, and even green.
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- We grew tons of broccoli – perfect heads of delicious and nutritious broccoli.
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- An of course cabbage – Savoy cabbage, green cabbage, red cabbage, Napa cabbage, etc.
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- Seeds are started in trays like these. These can be saved from year to year, so don’t throw them away after the season. Seed starting trays are available in all sizes and formations.
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- Here’s a tray of cabbage that was started a few weeks ago. Fortunately, my greenhouse is large and can accommodate lots of seed starting.
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- And here is the same tray last week. When the seedlings are a few inches tall, and have reached their “true leaf” stage, which is when each seedling has sprouted a second set of leaves, it’s time for a process called selective thinning.
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- Ryan carefully inspects the seedlings to determine the strongest ones. Always look for fleshy leaves, upright stems, and center positioning in the space. The smaller, weaker, more spindly looking seedlings are removed, leaving only the stronger ones to mature.
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- Using a widger, Ryan carefully loosens the soil around the healthy seedling and lifts it out of the cell. The widger from Johnny’s also helps to avoid damage to the plant’s leaves or roots.
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- This seedling is very healthy – its leaves are bright green and the plant has a strong stem and root system.
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- These pots are bigger and will accommodate the growing plants. Always save plastic pots for this purpose – they can be used time after time. The purpose of transplanting is to provide enough room – overcrowding can stress the tender, young sprouts. Ryan fills them all with soil mix.
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- He places the seedling in the pot and gently firms up the surrounding soil. Avoid handling the seedling by its stems, which can bruise easily. Here, there is lots of room to mature and plants won’t have to compete for nutrients. These seedlings will remain in these pots until they are ready to be planted outdoors.
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- Markers are transferred from tray to pot or made again. Keeping plants well-identified through the seeding process helps Ryan keep track of what varieties do best here at my farm.
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- ‘Tiara’ produces beautiful, hefty, round heads packed with mildly sweet leaves that are excellent for cooking or fresh use.
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- Seeds are planted at different times depending on their maturity durations. On this day, Ryan also starts some peppers.
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- He places markers in the tray to identify the varieties.
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- Using his fingers, Ryan makes a hole in each cell, and then drops seeds into each one.
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- Seeds will germinate in seven to 10 days in optimal temperature and lighting environments, which is 50 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit under bright light. Then they will get selectively thinned in the same way the cabbage was done.
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- Once the entire tray is seeded, the cells are covered up with another layer of soil mix.
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- And then the tray is placed in our Urban Cultivator growing system – it has water, temperature and humidity all set-up in a refrigerator like unit. What seeds are you starting?
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