2015 Indoor Seed Propagation

In early 2015, I was looking ahead to the season and wanting to improve on my seed starting setup. The previous year I tried out a kitchen window for propagation, and saw a lot of leggy seedlings and quite a few die-offs as well. I wanted to step up my seed propagation game.

I carved out a little space in the apartment for a shelf unit for this purpose. Assembled more or less inexpensively from basic Metro-style wire shelving, it took a few trips to a few stores to collect what I wanted.

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The Shishito Nation Propagation Station

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2015 Outdoor Direct Seed Sowing

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Preparing to direct sow about half of our crops, the other half being transplants

Outdoor seed sowing is a whole different ballgame from transplanting seedlings. Done around the same point in the season, this process is a lot simpler. There are no stems to break and no peat pots to knock over. The hardest part is planning it out and assembling all of the correct seed packets.

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2014 Seed Propagation and Sowing

It’s part of my philosophy of growing food that starting the seeds is a critical and beautiful part of the process, not to be skipped in favor of buying seedlings.

It’s also fraught with danger!

My first attempt to start indoors in my new location was an intentional experiment. I live in the city, on the ground floor. My kitchen window faces the back yard, south-facing, but is shielded on the left and right by exterior walls. At best I get an hour of direct sun in the spring coming through that window.

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Newly germinated seedlings

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