Peat pucks! How did we not know about these before? In previous seasons we started seeds in little pots of dirt, carefully digging them up when they were ready to transplant. But that was one more bag of dirt to buy and haul up the stairs. This year we got smart and used peat pellets.
These Jiffy peat pellets come in little sacks of 25 or so.
Each pellet is just a hard flat disc of compressed peat with netting over it.
Then you put them in a plastic tray, pour warm water on top, and the pellets expand into soft little pucks of wet peat with the netting holding them together.
Fun, right? Like those expanding sponge creatures and shapes you blew up in a sink of warm water when you were six years old.
Once the peat has expanded into a tiny sack of what looks black dirt, you press in 2-3 seeds, tamp them down, and put the tray in the sunlight.
Here are our rows of mesclun lettuces, beets, cucumbers, beans, and radishes - all quietly germinating in their peat pucks.
When the first small sprouts come up we'll pinch off the weaker ones growing in each pellet and gently water what's left as the pucks dry out. Then these can be planted directly in the ground or in larger pots, which minimizes shock to the young plants.
These are highly convenient and rather fun - is anyone else using these to start their garden this year? You can buy these at any garden center; a bag of these runs about $3. You can also buy them from the online store we featured earlier today:
• Jiffy Peat Pellets, $0.10 each at GrowOrganic
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(Images: Faith Hopler)
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Old news! Those have been around for decades. Used to use 'em to start seeds back in the 70's...
Nice to see the Jiffys getting new blood though, gotta say!
I figured I was just oblivious - I'm not a gardening expert, that's for sure!
I've heard that peat should be avoided because harvesting it destroys wetlands.
There's a nuanced, though perhaps outdated, article at
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1525/is_n3_v78/ai_13695256
that weighs peat farm preservation against biodiversity loss.
I LOVE those things! I just planted 2 dozen zinnia plants in those wonderful peat pellets. So great for planning a garden and making sure you only plant good seeds and not duds.
They're also available (from various mail-order sources) with coir instead of peat.
Also, you really can't just plant them in the ground: you need to rip off the little plastic sack. Planting them without removing it means your plant has trouble developing a good root system.
Also, it's better to keep them in the shade until they sprout. Until they have leaves, all that putting them in the sun will do is dry up the peat faster. I put plastic wrap over my seeds to keep the soil moist until they sprout, then move them to the sun.
And you're right, these are fun! I find that sprouting things always brings out the kid in me--it's amazing and fun to see the seedlings poke their heads out.
i'm using them this year. they're great. i bought the kit with the covered tray; i love that the lid kept everything moist and i didn't have to remember to water them. it's also nice to know i can buy refill bags of pellets and keep reusing the tray.
Using Peat is terrible for the environment. I made newspaper pots from this tool and it was a cinch this year. I filled them with regular soil.
I'm using them as well this year to start out my (indoor container) herb gardens.
I was wondering if it's too late to start seeds indoors in the NE (right outside of NYC). I bought a ton of seeds (tomatoes, melons, cukes, green beans) and am wondering if it's ok to put them in the ground now or if it'd still be better to start them inside.
Also, anyone have an idea on how to keep squirrels from digging in newly planted containers? They dug up some of the lettuce seedlings last night, I think they were just looking for acorns they might have buried. Maybe chicken wire caps?
I've had a far higher start rate with the dome-type starters with dirt sponges, like from Park Seed and other places. The Jiffy pots are always either too wet, too dry, they float and fall over, the roots entangle in the plastic mesh and you can't pull it off without tearing, or nothing starts in them in the first place.
I'm moving more and more away from the use of peat based products, with the exception right now of my bog garden. Peat is a very slowly renewing resource, much like oil or coal. Yes, it technically is renewable, but we have a limited available supply on hand at a given time. There are an assortment of other products and media out there which can take the place of peat in almost all instances. The only thing I've not tested it on that greatly concerns me is in my bog garden for carnivorous plants. Carnivorous plants have very particular requirements, and I'm not sure how they would react to other fluff yet.