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Re: New with introduction and questions on starting seeds

Ed Flynn for at least a few years.

> If you foresee a
>long term situation, I would concentrate on preparing/improving your soil, keeping
>in mind that you can do much harm to it if it has not dried out enough.
Not be at all rude, as I imagine you have much more experience than I
do, but I'm not sure that we *can* improve our soil. We are currently
clearing a garden space. At the moment, it has a little bit of brush,
some saplings (1" - 2" in diameter) and a couple of larger trees
(about 1' - 1 1/2'). The ground is covered with about 2" of leaves
from this fall. Underneath that is 1-2" of forest matt, and underneath
that the decomposed leaves and vegetation from many years of normal
forest floor breakdown. There are rather a lot of tree roots which no
doubt will be back breaking to break up, but I can dig down in the
soil with my fingers about 4-6" with no trouble. When I get a handful
of soil and squeeze it in a fist, it forms together, but quickly falls
apart. It doesn't clump. It's very light, and a dark grey/brown. It's
hard to describe. It looks, more or less, like decomposed leaves.. at
least that is the thought I had.  
From what I have read in Mel's book, this is supposed to be the
perfect gardening soil. And other than that, we don't have the money
to buy much more than what we already have. I just ordered his book
from amazon.com as I imagine the library will want their copy back and
I felt like I was splurging. We are growing food so that we have food
to eat. Otherwise we may not (have food to eat). Basically we're
homesteading. We've put everything we have into our land and getting
us here, and there isn't anything left.
Our garden plot-to-be is south facing, and very well drained.
Actually, all the land around here, other than the road, is well
drained. We don't seem to get any puddles, even after days of rain. It
is also sloping to the south, so I will need to raise the front ends
of my beds, terracing it. Other than that, they won't be raised.

If my current soil is not adequate, what is ther that I can add to it
that I can find in the forest? We have a neighbour with a stables who
has offered free horse manure. Other than that, we have some
decomposing trees, some of which now look like soil - all black and
rich looking, and others which are still a bit more like wood, but
extremely crumbly.
Also, as we were planning on having a garden last year, but couldn't,
I had gone to the trouble of digging a couple of beds and mulching
them with straw and leaves for the whole year. We've decided that
those beds are not in a good position for our garden and that it would
be better to do it right in a better location, so we'll likely move
the straw/composted straw and soil over to the new site.
We will also be mulching our beds.

>But you can always get your basic
>plants from commercial growers  and they are likely to be better  timed to your
>seasonal needs this first year.
At this time, that's not an option as we don't have the money to buy
plants. Thank you, however, for the suggestion.

>        I don't have my seed starting info at hand, but this seems awfully early
>for zone 7'ers. And don't forget that you can have a Fall crop for cabbage.
According to Mel's book, cabbage and broccoli seeds should be started
12 weeks before the last spring frost. That would be today for my
area.

>        Most seeds don't need light to germinate  (lettuce does)  .... keeping
>things around 70F is desirable but you will get germination at lower temperatures,
>though taking longer to germinate. The problem is having enough light after
>germination. Working, as you will be, in a trailer, I frankly don't like your
>chances. 
Is it possible to set them outside during the day? It gets rather warm
in the sun here in the day, certainly nowhere near freezing.

>I think that you will find that you do better with smaller trays ... starting each
>type of veggie in its own discrete tray. The reason is that they will germinate at
>different times and their needs will be different.        I often cut down larger
>trays with scissors to meet my needs. I stick my trays into plastic bags after
>inserting a few of those plastic plant  markers into the soil to hold the plastic
>away from the emerging plant.
Good idea, thanks. What I meant was that I have enough for right now.

Thank you for the advice. I appreciate it.

Dara


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