Garden project for a wet winter day: Desktop moss garden

Posted on February 6, 2014 by missinghenrymitchell

I’ve always loved moss. Nothing else has such lush texture and color yet requires so little in the way of care. And since February’s damp gray misery persists, I decided to bring some nature indoors.

I assembled my materials:

an old bread loaf pan that has seen better days
a drill to make a drainage hole in the pan
soil
moss (some tufts harvested from my garden, and some which grew in place of my spinach).
a plant misting bottle.

While mosses require a damp environment to grow, I’m hesitant to try growing it in a container without a drainage hole. I want moss, not mold. So I began by drilling a hole in the pan. Most regular wood bits will also drill metal and plastic. I can’t tell the size of the bit; the marking has worn off.

Incidentally, if you let go of the pan as you drill, you immediately acquire an unwieldy metal propeller. It’s better to do this when no one is around to be injured.

The hole is drilled, but it’s a bit rough. I took it out to the shed to find a file to smooth it down.

I had planned to use potting soil, similar to what had grown the moss in the first place. But on my walk to the shed, I observed more moss growing on my shady, damp clay ground. And I thought, why not give it what it likes?

This is my naturally-existing backyard ~~soil~~ substrate. Its pH typically ranges somewhere around 4.5 to 4.8, so I don’t expect to need to “improve” the soil here with yogurt, buttermilk, or any other acidic additive typically recommended for starting moss. The clay is quite dense, and when smoothed out, it might be mistaken (from a certain distance) for peanut butter gelato.

I want the final product to look a bit like a loaf of moss, so this isn’t enough soil. I mixed in some discarded potting soil to build up the level.

It was already adequately wet, so I simply mounded it into a hilled loaf shape and compressed it well.

This is the moss that grew where my dead spinach seeds did not. After 3 months, it is well established and peels off in a thin sheet.

What does it take to plant moss? Simply pat it firmly into place, and mist.

Mosses are ancient, nonvascular plants. They photosynthesize and take in water and nutrients through their leaves, but reproduce by spores. Rhizoids, not roots, anchor mosses to their growing substrate.

There are three kinds of moss planted here, two of which I harvested from my garden. I don’t know the identities of any of them, but I’ll try to find out. I will keep the moss moist with a daily misting. Normally I’d consider a daily task like misting a tedious chore, but I’ll keep the pan and the mister on my desk and will give it a simple spray each morning as I begin work. Over the next 3 months, it should establish itself and begin to spread. I’ll share photos as it comes along.

Seed viability, part 3: Planting seedlings embedded in paper toweling

Posted on January 16, 2014 by missinghenrymitchell

The easy sprouts have been potted up, and now it is time to tackle the ingrown ones.

Now, the good thing about seedlings growing through their germinating substrate (the paper towel) is that, if you can be trusted with a pair of scissors and have sharp ones to hand (does anyone besides tailors ever have sharp scissors?), you can trim yourself a little seed mat by which to handle the seedling, making transplanting relatively risk-free. Or you can use a box cutter, if you have a sharp blade and clean it first with a bit of rubbing alcohol.

How to Pot Up Seedlings That Have Grown Through Paper Towels

1. As before, prepare a seed flat with moistened, sterile seed-starting mixture. This flat, incidentally, is an upcycled Chinese food take-out container, and it is perfect for such a task.

2. Taking care not to cut off the root (which may have tiny root hairs emerging from it), guide the blade of the knife or scissors between the sprouted seeds. Cut a small section of towel to support the seedling:

3. Carefully cut individual seed mats out of the towel. Hold the towel up to a light to help you find the space between the roots.

4. Plant the seedlings, giving adequate space to each one. Don’t overcrowd the flat. Gently firm the roots against the soil.

The seed capsules on the soil surface fell off during the planting process. These are not additional, fresh seeds planted in the flat, which would overcrowd the plants.

5. Top the seedlings off with fresh seed-starting mix, up to the base of the seed leaves.

6. Water gently, using a rose on a watering can or the spray function of a faucet or squirt bottle, and set in a bright, warm space.

Keep an eye on the seedlings, in whatever form they were potted up, and do not allow them to dry out. Bottom-watering is best: Set the flat in a shallow dish of water and allow the water to wick up through the drainage holes in the bottom of the flat. Once the seedlings have developed one or two sets of true leaves, they may be potted up again.

Seed viability, part 2: Potting up the sprouts

Posted on January 14, 2014 by missinghenrymitchell

I began the germination test on my hollyhock seeds on January 7. Yesterday, I opened up the bag to find ‘The Watchman’ ready for duty.

From your test, gently unfold the paper towel and see what’s happening. The photo above shows an excellent germination rate, and indicates the seed is still quite viable. In fact, of the 17 seeds I tested, 15 sprouted (88% germination rate, or 15/17). I’ve opened up towels to find the seeds exactly as I left them, which is depressing until you remember that that means you must purchase fresh seed.

What to do with them now? Keep them going. And here is a tip: They don’t care to grow on in paper towels. Pot them up!

Potting up bag-germinated seedlings

The seedlings at this stage have only their cotyledons, or seed leaves. Any handling of these seedlings must be done by grasping (gently!) the leaves, not the stem (more properly, the hypocotyl). And to slightly complicate matters, some of the roots have grown through the layer of paper towel.

1. Prepare a seed flat as you would if you were sowing fresh seed (which, clearly, you are). Use a clean container and fill it with sterile seed-starting mix. Moisten the mix and tamp it down well.

A clean seed pan filled with moistened, sterile seed-starting mix.

2. Grasp the seed leaves and pull slowly, firmly, but gently. Some of the seedlings may be just beginning to penetrate the paper towel, in which case you may be able to free them entirely. They’ll look a bit like bean sprouts you might find on a salad bar.

3. Make a slit or trench in the seed flat using a spoon or knife. Your finger will work just as well. Lay the seedling into the trench up to where the leaves fork from the stem.

4. Gently firm the soil back over the stem and root. Follow the same procedure for additional seedlings, but don’t overcrowd the flat. I’ve allowed six seedlings to a flat 3 inches wide by 6 inches long. None of the roots overlap.

5. Keep the flat warm (65-70 degrees) and well lit, either in a sunny windowsill or under a grow light. A fine dusting of sand, vermiculite, or even chicken grit can help to fend off damping-off.

In one more post, I’ll show you how to pot up those seedlings that refuse to release their security paper towel.

Checking seed viability

Posted on January 13, 2014 by missinghenrymitchell

If, like me, you have flower and vegetable seeds older than your children, it’s not a bad idea to test their viability prior to sowing them. Better to know now whether you’re in for heartbreak, and need to place an emergency seed order with your favorite catalogue.

Seed viability

Seed viability is another term for the likelihood of a packet of seed to germinate. Seeds are living things, and different plant seeds may be viable for longer than others. Onion seed, for example, is generally understood to be viable for one year, while some melons may be viable for longer than 4 years. But these are rules of thumb; if kept in proper conditions, meaning low light, low temperature (but above freezing), and low humidity, seed may remain viable for many years past their average.

A simple way to test seed viability

To test whether those seeds you found in the back of the storage shed are viable, gather together the following supplies:

The seed packet
Paper toweling
Plastic sandwich bag with zippable closure, or a clear plastic container with a lid.
Misting bottle of clean water
Masking tape and pen or pencil

1. Lay out a sheet of paper toweling and empty a portion of the seeds onto the towel. Ten seeds, or a multiple of 10 for small seeds, makes for convenient estimating.

2. Lightly mist the seeds and the paper towel with water.

3. Fold the towel in half, and then in half again.

4. Lightly mist the folded towel one more time.

5. Slide the folded towel into the sandwich bag or plastic container, and label it using the masking tape. Note the seed contents and the date on which you prepared the sample.

I’m testing three varieties of hollyhock seed: a “colorful single mixture”; ‘The Watchman,’ a black-flowered strain, and ‘Indian Spring.’

6. Keep the bag or container in a warm place, but out of direct sunlight. I test mine on a corner of the kitchen counter. I also keep the bags for additional seed tests.

After a few days, you’ll be able to check the germination rate. I’ll show you how in a separate post.

Happy gardening accidents: Growing moss

Posted on January 9, 2014 by missinghenrymitchell

I sowed spinach seeds in early November. They didn’t germinate, and as the holidays drew near I left the seed flat alone in favor of other responsibilities.

I came back to it this week, intending to sow another round of early spring greens and my first round of summer vegetables.

Baby moss is growing in the flat.

This isn’t terribly surprising–after all, commercial seed starting mix often contains a high percentage of highly acidic peat moss, and acid soil combined with regular moisture typically yields moss.

While many people view moss as something to eradicate from the lawn, I love its texture, its character, and its ease of maintenance. I know very little about different species of mosses but am so intrigued by this happy gardening accident that I’m going to do a bit of research and nurture this plant along. I have a low brick wall in the shade that needs some aging.