This packet of amaranth came with 13,500 seeds. Really.
Seeds are new this year to me, and it could still be a bit of a wash, but with 13,500 seeds I may as well take the Mrs. Amaranth-seed approach and scatter, scatter, scatter.
I potted them up in old soda bottles, a la mr. brown thumb's ghetto greenhouse, along with a few other seeds.
Roughly two weeks later and they look pretty good. The seedlings already have a deep red tinge to their leaves:
Now comes the hard part. The few times in the past I attempted growing from seed, I usually reached the germination and tiny little seedling stage.
Then something happens.
Once it was rot, a few times an inexplicable wilt.
Usually it could be connected to neglect on my part, but sometimes it was a mystery.
So I'm trying again this year. Here's my recipe:
ghetto greenhouse
some peat pots
(both in a tray that can hold water)
mister
warm on kitchen radiator
damp damp damp
spritz spritz spritz
move to sunny back porch
take lids off
bless with more spritz spritz spritz
If any actually bloom this year, I'll be happy. If not, I may have to stoop to artificial lights and the rest of the deal.
1 comment:
The secret boils down to two things:
1) soil should be "moist," which is not the same thing as wet.
2) growing conditions: cool and bright, with gentle air movement.
Achieving (2) is easier said than done, of course.
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