Gardening From Scratch

By Jos Van Hage

Starting plants from seed is a fun and rewarding past time. Not only is it a fun hobby but it is also cost effective and gives the gardener a much larger selection.

The selection of seeds is much larger than that of bedding plants, so as a gardener you can choose varieties and species of plants that you would not otherwise be able to grow.

With such a large selection it is often hard to just choose one variety, so we end up buying a few varieties of the same thing and having too much seed left over at the end of the season.

McKenzie seeds have something that should help alleviate this problem. They have combined different varieties of one thing and then put the individual varieties into one package giving you a good selection.

There is the pepper collection which contains 5 different varieties of seeds which are the ‘California Wonder’, ‘Red Bell’, and ‘Mini Bell’, bell peppers, and the ‘Super Chili Hybrid’ and ‘Jalapeno Jalapa Hybrid’ both of which are hot!

Also available is the Tomato collection. This collection contains ‘Golden Queen’, ‘Bush Beefsteak’, ‘Roma’, ‘Sweet Cherry’ and ‘Christmas Grape’ tomatoes giving the gardener a good selection of tomatoes for many uses.

There is also a Basil collection which consists of ‘Lemon’, ‘Purple’, ‘Sweet’, ‘Thai’, and ‘Cinnamon’ Basils.

A flower collection is also on the seed rack and this contains 3 different colors (Orange, Red, and Yellow) of the ‘Disco’ variety of Marigolds which are the French dwarf type. To have 3 separate colors that are not mixed makes it easier to design a landscape.

Another great feature that McKenzie has done on the Pepper, Tomato, and Basil collections is how to plant the seeds. They have pre-spaced a small number of seeds onto a biodegradable disc that is made of the same material used in seed tapes except now it looks like a tea bag.

By following 3 basic steps you can start to grow your own vegetables. You can use a 4-inch sized pot and fill it with a good quality potting soil. Water the soil and then lay one disc on top. Next cover (3 mm depth) the seed disc and water it lightly and then place it in a well lit area or under grow lights.

Continue to do the same thing for the remaining seed discs. Do not let it dry out, but also do not keep it soaking, and in a few days depending on the variety, you should start to see young seedlings emerge from the soil.

On the peppers and tomatoes you will want to thin out the young seedlings and later transplant the plants into either larger pots or into the garden. The basil can remain in the 4-inch pot and you can harvest your fresh basil to use in your favorite recipes.  

You could also use a large container or a seed tray and space the seed discs if you want.

Tomatoes and peppers take a long time to grow before harvest and so should be started in the next few weeks.

Marigolds can be started towards the middle of March and the basil can be started now if you plan on growing it indoors!

- Jos

Jos Van Hage  owns two  Art Knapp Garden Centres in Prince George:

• Highway 97 North at  Northwood Pulpmill Road
• Highway 16 West at Kimball Road
  

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