They may not be necessary to everyone, but they are to me. Nasturtiums are my idea of the perfect plant--edible, ornamental with pretty leaves and spectacular flowers, easy to root from cuttings, easy to grow, and they vine. Something else that is necessary for me is that my plants grow as fast as possible. The suggested germination time for nasturtiums is 2 weeks. That is too long for me.
These two plants are just one week young. I sprouted them from seed using the Sproutman's hemp bag. First I cut a nick in the side of each seed, then soaked them in filtered room temperature water for a few hours. Then I put them in the hemp bag and dipped the bag into a bowl of filtered water for a few seconds, then placed it in a colander and let the water drip back down into the bowl. Twice a day I repeated the dipping and draining until both roots and stems were visible coming out of the seed. Then I removed them from the hemp bag and put them in the contraption pictured above, which is a DanActive yogurt container with the neck cut off and drain holes punched in the bottom, inserted into a small glass with pebbles in the bottom to facilitate drainage. I set this contraption on the grow surface of one of my AeroGardens to give the teeny plants enough heat and light, but also because I like to watch the magic of their little leaves unfurling.
The most exciting thing about AeroGardening is that is allows us to grow things at eye-level with sufficient illumination that we can see the details. This is the first time I have put a micro-planter with soil under an AeroGarden's grow lamps. What made this possible is the cleanliness of Scott's MiracleGro Moisture Control Potting Soil, which is made with CocoNoir. Since this soil is nutrient-rich, I may well get a lot of foliage in lieu of flowers. That is OK, because I will be taking cuttings and starting more plants before I want these to start flowering.
I blog about nasturtiums in the following posts:
Still in the drinkable yogurt bottle:
Next I moved it into one of those foil-lined soy milk containers, which I converted to an upsidedown planter. Photo coming soon.
