March CMGA Monthly Lecture

 

For those who were unable to attend we had a great garden talk at our monthly meeting. Stephen and Cindy Scott the owners of Terroir Seeds came and provided "Tips for Seed Starting".  I have heard several talk about this topic but learned many new ideas last night.  Stephen covered the importance of knowing your frost date in deciding to plant seeds. He provided a link (http://bit.ly/1E5sA9u) to check out your specific date.

Other topics covered were General Tips, Seed Germanination (moisture, temperature, light), Seedling Transplanting,, Seed Starting Mixes, Season Extenders, and some good tomato seeds for our short season. He added some brief remarks about seed saving, which varies according to what you are looking for (early or late season). One thing that I learned that I had not heard before was "seed orientation". If you look at a pumpkin seed there is the part that attached to the plant which is kind of flat. For speedier germination place that part down in the soil, because it is where the roots come out. It will most likely grow anyway but take longer if you put it flat on the soil. What a concept!

Terroir has 2 other links that you can print. One is a Seed Germanination Guide (http://bit.ly/1QI3wdI) and the other is a Garden Journal  (http://bit.ly/1U4aOdY) which everyone should keep for improving your garden each year. If you want to link to their web site the address is www.underwoodgardens.com. Stephen does a bi-monthly news letter that has tips for growing, info about new seeds, and some recipes for the crops you grow. If you go to the site he can add your email to the newsletter.