Hi I'm Erin and this is our Wyoming Life
It's planting season on the ranch and
this year Erin is getting started with
lettuce the first farmers market is
april twenty ninth and she wants to have
some ready for the public most seeds
planted in the garden start in our
basement under fluorescent lights where
they germinate and grow until they are
transplanted out to the high tunnel
This is a new kind of lettuce I have never tried before its called Salanova.
It is a head lettuce that when cut has baby sized leaves
So Im super excited about it there are four different varieties that came in this mix
so today im going to plant Salanova Red Butter It comes in these little tubes there are 500
seeds and it is pelletted so it is these nice little pellets so you arent working with the
tiny tiny lettuce seeds that you normally have to deal with, that can be quite difficult.
So Ive got a standard black garden tray, you can get these at any garden stores or you
can get them online, pretty much everyplace.
Hey Grace.
Grace is going to help.
Plop the little seed down try to get it in the middle, doesnt have to be exactly in the
middle but I just do not want it over on the side.
I'm not pushing these in or anything really, im just setting it on and we will put some
dirt on top, when we are done.
The dirt in the tubes is already wet and the dirt we will be putting on top is moist, not
super wet.
You cant ring it out when you squeeze it.
And then we will sprinkle some more water on it.
I start all of my seeds in the basement, its about 65 degrees down here so when we germinate
I do want them to germinate a little warmer.
So I use some enclosed plastic greenhouses and it helps keep them warm.
Make sure you label.
Cause you'll forget.
Little garden tags, you can get them at any garden store or online.
I used these last year, make sure you cross of what it said last year.
I like to recycle them.
They were dirty.
Obviously they get dirty, I just put them in some hot water with a little bit of bleach,
to make sure you kill any bacteria on them and you wont get any bugs or anything like
that.
I did do only one seed per tube, this seed has a 99% germination rate, thats on the label.
So I'm gonna take my chances and hope they will all germinate.
Now we are going to cover the seeds with just a little bit of dirt.
I just want to cover it so you cannot see the tubes.
Right here is some dirt that Ive moistened.
Im squeezing and not water comes out.
If you can ring water out of it, its probably too wet.
So its just nice and damp.
It is a seed starting mix, is what is says on the bag.
You dont want to buy just regular potting soil.
It has bigger chunks in it.
This is just very light and easy for the seeds to move through as they germinate.
So make sure you buy something that says seed starting mix.
We are just going to sprinkle it on and lightly pat it in
* you need to do it very carefully*
Yes very careful
I dont want the seeds to work their way up.
So Ive got dirt over all of it, cant see any seeds, you can see a little bit of the tubes
poking though but nothing, pretty much everything is covered, nothing major.
Now we just take some water, we are just going to sprinkle.
Its already nice and wet.
So these will not need any water for the next four or five days.
And then we put the clear domes over the top of them and then we want to make sure that
the seed does not dry out because if it dries out during germination its game over, so I
usually will just take a spray bottle and spray the top.
We've got our clear plastic domes on both of them.
I did two trays today.
I had four different varieties of lettuce that came in that mix.
There's two green leaf lettuces and two red leaf lettuces
I just put them in, I have this little greenhouse that has a plastic cover that I got at home
depot or walmart probably.
This is where I germinate all my seeds in so you'll see this used alot during the next
few months or so when I get everything going.
I dont have seed mats, to keep the soil warm.
I do alot of seeds, when i do peppers and tomatoes, and I would use alot of mats and
I just havent invested the money in it yet.
So these work just as well because obviously the lights on, its a flourescent daylight
bulb.
Make sure you change those bulbs every two years.
but I"ll just leave the lights on for now 24 hours a day until they germinate so it
stays nice and warm in there and then I dont have to have a seed mat.
So thats it, they are going to germinate.
We should have stuff up in 3 to 4 days.
It has been a few days, 4 days actually, since I planted the lettuce and I have been checking
on it everyday because lettuce usually doesnt take very long. and today we have got little
baby lettuce.
Thank you for watching us starting lettuce seeds today.
We will be doing more of it in the next few weeks.
Im Erin and this is Grace, and this is our Wyoming life.