Baby Plants, Baby!

Back here, The Boy and I planted a bunch of seeds in our newspaper pots and as promised, here's an update! Well... some are growing. So far basil, 2 types of tomato, mesclun, cilantro, spinach, zinnia, snapdragon, cosmos, marigold, nasturtium, and a flower garden mix have all germinated and are growing nicely.

Still nothing from the cucumber, rosemary, petunia, ageratum. All of these are older seeds, so naturally they will take longer to break out of their seed coats... We quickly planted them without special treatment, so I may have to crack open my propagation book to see if any need to be coaxed into germinating. The petunia seeds are an experiment. I harvested them myself eons ago so I have no idea if they're even viable. We'll just have to wait and see...

The little plants are so cute. So fragile and green. At this stage, once you've got actual green babies on your hands, you have to be careful not to over-water them. You don't want them "damping-off", dear no. Damping Off is a collection of sly, shifty, and pretty much invisible fungi that flourish under warm, moist conditions and will kill new little plant babies if given the chance. How rude! Germinating seeds have to be kept moist it's true, but once germinated, ease off on the watering and the seedlings should be fine.

Here's the link to my handy newspaper pot plant video again in case you missed it the first time.

Edited to Add:  Please note that I've used black and white newspaper to make the pots as black ink is made of soy and safe to use around edibles. Coloured newspapers should be avoided as the ink may contain some toxins.

Have a brilliant day!

♥M

Saturday Morning Sowing

Remember my little video for making newspaper plant pots? On Saturday morning, The Boy and I actually put our pots to use by gum.

We smooshed moist potting soil into them..

Wrote-up some labels using old cut up mini-blinds...

Snuggled them up nice and cozy into a couple of deep foam meat trays...

Sowed some seed...

Sprinkled a little soil and water on them. And finally... placed them in a sunny window.

Now for the hard part... Waiting.

Hrm.

This is a true test of my patience. I like to cheer them on whenever I walk by that particular window. A little "You can do it! Grow babies, grow!" never hurt, am I right? I'll keep you posted on their progress...

Edited to Add on 3 Apr 2012:  Please note that I've used black and white newspaper to make the pots as black ink is made of soy and safe to use around edibles. Coloured newspapers should be avoided as the ink may contain some toxins.

You have a great day now.

♥M

Playing With Video

Guess what... I made a wee how-to test video. Eep. It's my very first. The concept is NOT original or nothing. In fact, you've probably seen this particular idea done at least 500 times in as many ways. But I needed some newspaper plant pots 'cause seeding time is like, tomorrow. So while I was at it, I thought I'd try pulling together a video to see where my video-making skills are at.

I was able to do all the recording myself which was good. But as things stand now, I'll be needing substantial practice where video-editing is concerned. I got a ton of help from Lo on that front, thank Pete. I couldn't have pulled off this cute first video project without his expert help.

Lo walked me through the basics of the "Adobe Premiere" editing software. I learned how to import my video, add music, make the title card, work with fade-ins and "dissolves", and add credits. It was fun to see it come together but GOSH, there's a lot to know! Luckily Lo is a very sweet and patient man. Opposites attract don't you know. He must've answered a good 200 questions from me yesterday, poor thing.  I kinda felt bad for him sort of but not really... Needless to say, it took a little while. At the end, he did some magical data-management-type-stuff that went in one eye and out the other too. We may have to review that section twice or thrice. But, you know? I did learn stuff. And I'm pleased with my first "solo" effort.

So here's my take on an old standard. The newspaper plant pot...

Edited to Add on 3 Apr 2012:  Please note that I've used black and white newspaper to make the pots as black ink is made of soy and safe to use around edibles. Coloured newspapers should be avoided as the ink may contain some toxins.

Thanks for taking a peek!

♥M