Winter Melon Seedlings

I gave all of my previous Winter Melon Seedlings (total of 4) to my Mother.

This was one of the reasons why I use so many APS-6 units to germinate a new batch of Winter Melon seedlings.

Today, I transplanted the seedlings into 6 inch round containers.  Below is a picture of them lined up in a row.

Seed Starting Round 3 Scorecard

Well the APS-6 units made a big difference in Winter Melon and Kabocha seed germination!  The APS-6 cells are twice as deep as the APS-24 cells, and it looks like the bigger seeds need the extra depth. 

Out of 24 cells (4 APS-6 units), I got 14 seeds to germinate (58%).  However, 1 APS-6 unit did not germinate any seeds.  It could have been that Algae got to this APS-6 unit before seeds could germinate, or it could have been that I somehow forgot to put any seeds in this unit.  Discounting the seeds in this APS-6 unit, I got 14 out of 18 cells to germinate for a germination rate of 78%.

Next year, I will only use the APS-24 units for Cherry Tomato seeds and use the APS-6 units for the Winter Melon and pumpkin seeds.

Building a Raised Bed Part 1

I wanted to add another Raised Bed to my garden before the season starts.

I was not happy with the look of the Plastic Raised Bed that I bought from Gardener's Supply Company.

The area that I want to put the raised bed is small (2 feet x 4 feet), so using Cement Garden Blocks would take too much room. So, that left wood as the medium for building the Raised Bed.

I did some research on the Internet and Cedar looked like the preferred wood to use. It is naturally water resistant and would last many years.

I thought about going to my local Big Box hardware store and buying Cedar 2 x 4s. However, I don't have a tools to properly cut the wood and from what I read, creating corners that line up and stay lined up over time is difficult.

I looked on the Internet for prefabricated Cedar Raised Beds that I could just assemble. The best deal that I could find was from Natural Yards.com. They had a nice sale when I bought the Raised Bed Kit in December and since they are located in Oregon, the shipping wasn't too bad.

Even though Cedar is water resistant, the wood will turn a dull gray if left untreated in just a few months. One of the reasons I chose wood was because of how it looks, so I had to find a way to treat the wood. Since, I will be using this Raised Bed to grow Cherry Tomatoes, I wanted to treat the wood with something safe and non toxic. I don't want any harmful chemicals to leach into the soil. Unfortunately, that eliminated all of the wood finishes and stains at the local Big Box store.

I looked at the Internet and there were several natural finishes available. I chose to use Bioshield Aqua Resin. I bought a 0.75 liter of Cedar Stain. Hopefully it will last several years before I have to restain.

The Raised Bed kit arrived in early January, but the Cedar stain was out of stock, so I had to wait until February before I could assemble the Raised Bed.

For part 2 see this blog entry.