I've Got A Brand New Pair of Scal-li-ons....

Arse. Swears. Filth Flarin' Filth.
Yeah, I said it.

The seedlings in trays on top of the fridge have been coming along swimmingly. The first peppers and eggplant were potted in newspaper cups I made. They were a bit big, so the next round I made smaller. I also made the mistake of sticking a greenhouse lid on them (the clear ones that come with the black plastic bases.)

and what did I discover a few nights ago? Dampening mould. Eww. And Arse.



It's been a very long time since I've had this problem with my seedlings. Years. What did I do differently? Well, I'm blaming the newspaper cups. It's the only variable.

Oh, and the coco peat (coir). any other year I've just pressed my seedlings into the starter soil, and off we went. So, I'm guessing between using newspaper, with a bit of coco peat on top of the soil, and with the lids on, it was just too damp.

ARGH. I covered them with soil the night before, and haven't watered since. The seedlings are all starting to pop out of the soil I topped, but some of the dampening mould is on some of the newspaper. I'm not sure I'm going to be able to dry out the paper fast enough, and keep the seedlings alive. The sun is nice and bright out, but it's not warm enough on the step to just put them out so that the sun can kill the mould. (they've been living on top of my fridge and lit with a flourescent lamp up nice and close.) So frustrating. But I'm hoping it'll all work out.

in other news, I've had Air Supply stuck in my head. "Making foooood..outta nothin' at all..."
(hehe. I'm not entirely sorry for sharing that little bit of nuttiness.)
I had a single clove of garlic left from a gift basket that came from my good friend Monika and her loving garden last fall. I stuck it in water to see if I could make it root, and I'm going to plunk it into the boxes somewhere out there. A total experiment.







I've also done the same thing with some Green Onions (Scallions) that we had in the fridge. The tops were shrivelled and have gone into the "It'll be soup someday" freezer bag. See how purdy they've rooted, and are coming up brand-new-green.

(oh there's another one. "I've got a brand new pair of Scal-li-ons.. you've got a brand new feed...")

Ok, that was reaching a bit.
Any thing you want to share about the dampening situation would be appreciated. Hopefully there'll be some super hero stories about saving the baby plantlets from the evil damp, instead of the dreaded "Get rid of them" that I'm figuring I'll be hearing.

~Lori