Seed Experiments

Today was our first "real" day using our new/old approach to learning, and the morning was mostly about... seeds! There are no signs that our streak of snow flurries is going to end anytime soon (in fact, there's a winter storm watch out for tomorrow night and Thursday), but at least we can do a little puttering inside. Gareth started things off this morning when he chose to test the germination rate of some corn seeds (one of the projects from Pilgrims of the Holy Family):

Gareth: One of the things that I had to choose from was seed germination tester stuff. The stuff you needed was some paper towels, a waterproof surface, water, a spray bottle, seeds, and a warm spot. We decided to use corn seeds. You put the paper towels on the waterproof surface and then spray it with a spray bottle. Then you put the seeds on the paper towel, roll the paper towel into a tube, put it in the Ziploc bag, and put the bag in a warm spot. (We didn't have a spray bottle, so we got the paper towel wet in the sink.) You should wait 2-3 days for the seeds to sprout.

(When the seeds sprout, I plan on having him calculate the germination rate. Wish me luck.) After we got that experiment going, Gareth remembered another simple experiment we did when he was 4 or 5 and enamored of plants... We put a wet paper towel in a jar and stuck some bean seeds in the jar with it, but against the glass so we could watch the roots form and the seed sprout. (I'm not sure, but I think we got it from a book called Experiment with Plants, which I can't locate on Amazon.) It didn't take long to round up some glasses, wet paper towels, and more seeds:

Farmerboy: I planted seeds in a glass, and that was very fun. Then a bird hit the window. Then we got very cold when we went outside to see the bird. The bird was resting. And then we came back inside. Then I said, "Huh," and after we were done, I started to play. And that's it!

Yes, that's right. While we were puttering with our seeds, a bird hit the window, and I had to go outside and make sure it was okay. Katydid and Farmerboy followed me, of course, even though they were both barefoot and sick. Which probably deserves a "huh!". Katydid elaborates on the seeds and the bird:

Katydid: I planted four o'clock seeds today. We got a wet paper towel and we put it in a glass mug. We put the seeds in, on the outside of the paper towel. We hope they will sprout. (The bird that hit the window was a yellow bellied sapsucker. It was on the roof laying down, but it wasn't dead.)

Actually what happened was Katydid yelled, "There's a yellow-bellied sapsucker on the fence!" And as soon as we all looked, the bird flew straight at the dining room window. Last summer (or maybe the summer before?) a female yellow-bellied sapsucker flew into our living room window and broke her neck. I don't know why we have such bad luck with sapsuckers.

And, finally, here is a picture of Mommy's seed experiment... or, rather, I certainly hope it's not an experiment, because these are my tomato and pepper plants! (And also the broccoli, which, according to Carrots Love Tomatoes, I am not supposed to plant beside tomatoes. But we planted this tray before I got the book.)

The tray on the left has 4 different kinds of tomatoes and a hybrid broccoli mix. The other tray holds two varieties of hot pepper for salsa, plus three different kinds of sweet pepper. None of them are bells, because I was choosing varieties primarily based on early ripening and the ability to withstand cool nights.

We also have a tray of flowers and herbs on one of the *cough* china cabinets *cough cough* by the window, and the first week of May, we will have to start our okra, squash, pumpkin, watermelon, canteloupe, and cucumber plants so they get a jump on the season. (Last year I planted melon seeds outside and we got melons, but none of them had time to ripen!)

Here are the broccoli seedlings up close...

The kids helped plant these trays a little over a week ago. My pepper plants took 10 days to germinate this year, which is making me feel even worse about my late start with the seedlings. We've also had some problems with grow lights... I'd bought one last year that adheres to the wall with Velcro adhesive strips. But when I attempted to use it this year, it wouldn't stay on for more than 5 minutes. The grow lights in this picture are different than those, but the frame came out of the box mangled, and Andy had to bang it back into shape. I'm not exactly sure when gardening is supposed to save us money. Maybe if we moved to Florida, where we wouldn't have to start everything inside!