http://www.heirloomtomatoes.bizland.com/seedstarting.htm

Check out the above link!

During the early season, here in our Holladay Garden headquarters, we are busy growing nearly all of our plants from seed, before planting them in ALL of our 14+ gardens.  The work is all done here in one of our Holladay gardens.

This type of work takes a lot of attention and skill but it's so worth it.  Since we have so many gardens which require a lot of planting in a few months, it will save us a ton of money and it's such a valuable skill to learn how to do.  PLUS you know the entire history of this plant i.e. when the seed was planted, what it was fed, how it was cared for, where it grew, etc.

If you are interested in learning how to grow plants from seed, you should be helping me with this work.

It starts in February and lasts about 3 - 4 months.

Be sure and book a garden work session in Holladay if you want to help me with this work.

See our Garden Calendar for details

Why grow your own plants from seed?

• Growing plants from seed is SO much cheaper than purchasing plants from a nursery.
• Growing healthy, strong plants from seed is SO rewarding!   It's a very valuable skill to learn how to do and it takes practice to get it right!  But even growing ONE plant from seed and going through the whole process of transferring it into the garden, watching it grow then harvesting the fruit feels so amazing!  Try it, then if all else fails you can always wait until April or May to buy your plants from a nursery.

Growing plants from seed takes some skill and time.  I like to think of these little seedlings as little babies.  They both need constant attention but they are SO worth it when you see them start to grow and flourish!

• During prosperous times, it's wise to learn how to this since it may be too late if you try to start when you are in the middle of a crisis. 
• During prosperous times, when nurseries are nearby, you can afford to make a mistake and then, if necessary, purchase some plants.

If your family depends on you growing food, they may starve if you don't plan ahead, practice and perfect this skill. 

Watch this little video and then help us make these for our gardens.

We always make at least 2000 of these containers.

They come together fast and easy.

You can make these at home.

What is needed:

• newspaper
• a mold using a bottle or a 2" PVC pipe
• bowl of water
• cookie sheet or tray to put the containers on until they are dry
• big garbage bag to keep them all in once they are dry

NOTE:  We don't put the soil or seed in the container at this point.

Watch the video to see what we do with the containers once they are made.

Sorry for part of this video that is duplicated.

3300 So. C Garden

Members came over and got a lot more dirt turned, in preparation of tilling this garden soon.  If you haven't been to this garden yet, you should come!  It's very beautiful with lots of green foliage everywhere.  It's one of our largest gardens on the East side of the Salt Lake valley.

Skilled chain saw workers needed in this garden as well.  There are a bunch of branches down that need to be cut up and moved out of the way.  The homeowner will be getting a large garbage bin so we can remove smaller stuff.  Larger pieces will make great firewood.

Taylorsville Garden

Last night we got black plastic mulch on all of the plants - 33 pepper plants and 53 tomato plants.  We are growing a wide variety of both crops! 

We also cut strips of black plastic for all 24 rows.  As of June 2, five rows are planted.  Each row is 66 ft. long!

Did I mention this is our largest garden?  It feels like we could feed all of Taylorsville from just this garden alone!

Holladay A Garden

Carman is an amazing, patient, detailed woman....

who is working the back end of our entire garden system.  She sits at a table in the early evening, in my backyard, several times a week and plants seeds and/or transplants seedlings into larger containers until they are large enough to go out into one of the gardens.

FYI:  Similar to human babies, seeds and seedlings demand a LOT of a tedious, daily attention.  A BIG thanks to Carman for having the patience to do this kind of work.  I don't have the personality or patience to do this kind of seedling work.   Anyone who wants to sit at a table and watch OR work with Carman as she does this detailed important work, let me know.  Come and even watch her in action and learn how we care for these tiny plants.

In our INSIDE Holladay Garden Greenhouse (approx. 5000 So. 3000 E., Holladay UT  84117)

• Seed swap - Have any extra seeds you want to donate?  We appreciate ANY donations!  Currently, we especially need more peas.
• Make small organic containers (we need approx. 1200 of these made.  You can make these at home once you know how we do this.)  Older children are really good at helping with this project.
• Plant seeds indoors in our organic containers i.e lettuce, spinach, broccoli, Swiss Chard, etc.  We need members who are willing to keep a tray of seedlings in a warm place i.e on top of a freezer, etc. for about 1 week.  They needed to be sprayed with water daily to keep them warm and moist.  No sunlight is necessary for about 1 week until they sprout.  Kids love being involved with this project since it's a GREAT science experiment!
• Grow seeds indoors before putting them outside in the gardens - We need members who have grow lights inside their home OR have SOUTH FACING windows so they can get sunlight for approx. 2 - 4 weeks.  They needed to be sprayed with water daily to keep them moist.  Kids love being involved with this project since it's a GREAT science experiment!

In our OUTSIDE Holladay Garden, up the street from the greenhouse (approx. 5000 So. 3000 E., Holladay UT  84117)

• Cleaning up and preparing for our largest spring crop:  Peas!  We call it the "Pea Plantations"!  We start with our Holladay Garden first, which all of our other gardens are patterned after. Those working outside during January/February should prepare for mud!  The work includes cleaning up and straightening our plots and vertical fences, getting rid of leftover winter debris, etc.  Small troughs need to be made close to the fences, for the peas, which will be planted by mid February.  In our gardens that don't currently  have vertical fences for peas to climb on, we'll demo how to create simple organic vertical fences.  Peas love to climb so our early spring gardens are very VERTICAL! 

TOOLS needed:

Bring a rake, spade, small shovel, bucket, gloves, grocery bags to put muddy shoes in OR put bags over your shoes before entering a muddy garden area.  Dress in layers.  Bring a water bottle and snack whenever you come.  No worries if you don't have tools or gloves, we have extra.