Sowing, picking, drying

Years ago I was given a stack of cell propagation trays by a former nursery person:

I’ve used them for growing seedlings off and on (mainly off) and they’ve sat under the house gathering dust. I was mostly using them for growing native grasses for revegetation.

I thought I’d get them out and have another go at using them for veggie seedlings. I’m using ordinary (cheap) potting mix, but sieving it through a quarter-inch sieve to get out any large chunks of pinebark.

I potted up a tray of leek seedlings which were initially sown in an ordinary seed punnet:

What I’ll also do is direct-sow seed into the cells. It will save time pricking out seedlings from a separate punnet and also reduce transplant shock. And I’ve just remembered that I have some plastic lids that fit neatly over the top. I can put seedlings of brassicas out in the sun and those dratted white butterflies can sit on the top, drool over the goodies beneath them and eat their tiny hearts out:

Having small seedlings like this makes them easier to plant, especially into my shallow wicking boxes, so avoiding having to dig a deep hole. I remember when I used the trays to grow seedlings some time ago, I used the pointy end of a garden stake to make the hole.

Still picking from the garden. Here’s a sinkful of goodies just picked:

And still trying to catch up with tomato drying after a coolish week and not enough sun. Here’s a tray of Black Cherry tomatoes ready for the Excalibur dehydrator: