The time has come to get my hands dirty! I was fortunate enough to have the help of my grandfather who has many years of experience planting gardens and crops. He gave me some great tips for planting seeds. Here is a website full of great quick tips for planting a garden. This resource was super helpful as it suggested to plant the seeds in dry and packed dirt instead of wet dirt and to be aware of how much sunlight each plant needs as some plants require more/less sunlight. Below I will share the step by step process of how I planted my mini garden.
This diagram of planting seeds is a great visual to explain how to plant the seeds properly and evenly in the dirt. I will be following this exact process when planting the lettuce and radish seeds.
Step 1: Filling the pots with dirt
I filled 2 pots with Miracle Grow dirt, which contains nutrients and “plant food”. This is supposed to help the seeds grow quicker. This first is best suited for indoor or outdoor plants including vegetable seeds. Once I poured the dirt into each pot, I packed and levelled the dirt to be even.
Step 2: Reading seed packages
Next, I read the planting instructions for the seeds I was about to plant. I chose to plant two vegetables including radishes and lettuce. Both of these vegetables are supposed to be quick vegetables to plant in gardens so I thought they would be the best option for this project as we only have a limited amount of time for this learning project.
Step 3: Seed planting
Each seed package had specific directions for distance and space between each seed. My grandpa suggested I use a pencil as a measuring tool to create the spacing and holes for each seed. After all the holes were created using the pencil, I put about 2-3 seeds in each hole. This way, at least one seed should survive from each hole and turn into a plant. After dropping the seeds into the holes, I gently covered all the holes with dirt. I followed the same process for both types of seeds (radishes and lettuce).
Step 4: Watering seeds
Finally, I moistened the dirt and watered the seeds with a spray bottle. I first tried to water the pots with a glass of water but the dirt was heavily packed and did not allow the water to drain into the dirt, it more so laid on the top of the dirt, which did not give the seeds any water. So, I tried a spray bottle, which was a much better option for providing moisture to the dirt and seeds. Once the pots were watered, I set the pots on plastic covers in case of water drainage and set the pots in the window to catch some sunlight!
My goals for this week:
>Research how to care for lettuce and radishes
>Check outside temperature daily and move garden outside/inside depending on weather
>Check moisture in the garden dirt daily and water as needed