Some like it hot..

..but kombucha scoby likes it just above room temperature.

I think I killed it by putting it on the heat mat.  I'll just keep it on the table top near the mat from now on.  In the end I'll make a fleece jacket for it, as the hat was letting in a bit too much light.  For now it just has a blanket though.

On a happier note, I discovered the heat mat is the perfect temperature for proving bread dough.

Not just for lizards!

My new heat mat is a real success!  It is designed for reptiles, but the one I bought will fit perfectly under two full size seed trays.  It gets wonderfully warm, just right for germinating chillis.  I've put a piece of cardboard under it to protect the table, and will experiment with coverings for the top when I need to vary the amount of heat coming through. 

Under the bear hat is some kombucha scoby, which needs warm dark conditions to develop successfully.  I knew it was only a matter of time before it was discovered in the airing cupboard, especially as it was beginning to smell gorgeously yeasty in there, just like freshly baked bread.  I think it will do much better protected by a bear anyway. 

Kombucha is a health drink that is very good for the immune system, and for detoxing the body.  Here is a really good guide to making your own:

http://www.paprikahead.com/2009/07/how-to-brew-your-own-kombucha-from.html

Fungus gnats!

I love the internet.  I googled 'tiny hopping black fly', and within a few seconds had found its true name.  My uninvited guests are fungus gnats.  I can imagine this is what the lady in the Rumplestiltskin fairy tale felt like after she'd discovered him shouting his name in the woods. 

They aren't actually directly harmful to the plant, they just infest the earth with their eggs.  I like to give my plants a clean living environment, and egg infested earth doesn't sound like it will benefit the healthy growth vibe in my happy orange propagator, so I'm glad I've got the cayenne spray. 

Here's the useful article I found about fungus gnats:

http://whatdoino-steve.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/tiny-black-bugs-fruit-flies-or-fungus.html

Uninvited guests

The chilli seedlings are now having to contend with tiny black hopping flies.  I don't know what species they are, but they look like they might be sap suckers.  The sight of them sent me into a panic, and I am sorry to say I reached for the 'Ultimate Bug Killer'.  It doesn't say what's in the bottle, so I presume it's not organic.  I felt very ashamed afterwards, like I had fallen off the wagon, but it was a gut instinct.  I'd just put those seedlings into a lovely orange protected environment, after their drought ordeal, and now this. 

Burdened with guilt, I searched online for an organic insecticide and found an interesting recipe:

1 bulb of garlic
1 small onion
1 tbsp. (14.8 ml) of red cayenne pepper
30ml liquid soap 
1 litre water

Mince the onion and garlic and mix with the water.
Add the cayenne pepper and allow the solution to sit for 1 hour.
Add the soap and mix the solution well.
When the suds subside strain the solution into a spray bottle. Refrigerate the solution with the spices for up to 2 weeks

It is a wonderful burnt orange colour, and looks and smells like it means business. 

Wyrd byth ful araed

Or, to translate very loosely from the Anglo Saxon, you can't argue with fate. 

I think I have to face the fact that my Maris Widgeon wheat is not germinating.  I have no idea what happened to it.  It didn't even sprout as far as I am aware.  There is the odd little thread of green sticking up here and there in my 'field', but not the healthy emerald mat that my friend Brian has in his plot.  He grows Triticale for his chickens.  It is a similar long stemmed wheat, which I may have to resort to if my crop has failed. 

I particularly wanted to grow Maris Widgeon as it is the wheat traditionally used in corn dolly making, which is what I intend to do with it.  I'm not giving up though. Nature has thrown down the gauntlet, and I will take up the challenge.  I kept some grain back, aware of the likelihood of failure from last year's experience, and have now sown a small deep tray of grain which I will nurture in very controlled conditions in my garden. 

 

I considered stratifying the grain, in other words creating winter conditions for it, and thereby inducing the embryo to sprout.  It should be cold enough outside anyway though, but I don't know if the period of cold left before things warm up for the spring will be long enough now.  Sometimes nature totally bewilders me.  Wish me luck!

There is a really good guide to stratification here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stratification_(botany)

Raising the dead

Oh dear.  I went on a skiing holiday, only to find the mountains were suffering from climate change, and there was no snow.  When I returned, I discovered that my chilli seedlings had been trying desperately to survive through their own little climate change that I had thoughtlessly created for them in the heated propagator.

I had been in two minds about what to do - I could leave the lids off so they wouldn't succumb to damping off but might perish from drought, or I could keep the lids propped up, and risk creating ideal conditions for the damping off fungus to develop.  I decided to take off the lids, as it was so cold and damp outside I didn't think they would dry out. 

It was a game of chance, and unfortunately Lady Luck was not with me.  She was probably skiing somewhere exclusive and high altitude like Meribel, where there was plenty of snow. 

I admire how efficiently those seedlings must have adapted to the dryness, somehow clinging on to the remaining moisture for as long as they could.  It was a sorry sight that greeted me - seedlings draped over the sides of their trays, or prone on the earth, like dying soldiers in the desert.  I think one day later and I wouldn't have been able to revive them.  It was remarkable how quick their recovery was; in a day many that had seemingly expired were literally rising up from the dead as the water once more pumped through their cells.  I've had to resow the chilli willy variety though.

Anyway, it has taught me a lesson.  I've now bought some very glamorous propagators with vents in the lids, and plan to buy a heated mat to put underneath, so I can vary temperature according to their and my needs. 

So here they are in their new home, a little the worse for wear, but surviving nevertheless.

frogpig

I am fascinated by medieval hybrid creatures in illuminated manuscripts.  For example:



Today I'm sure I encountered one in the allotments.  Everywhere was frozen, and there was thick ice on the baths.  As I walked down the avenue leading to my plot I heard the most curious noise, a cross between a grunt and a croaking sound.

It was a wild earthy sound, with a feeling of raw energy about it.  It reminded me of when I encountered a muntjak in the woods whilst resting one day.  He was asserting his claim on the land by stamping his hoof, and it reverberated through the earth.  There was a more generous, almost kindly quality to the frogpig's declaration though.  It was rudely encouraging. 

I couldn't work out where it was coming from, so it seemed to be a rather otherworldly presence, as if created by a creature in the astral realms.  I began to imagine what this creature would look like, and came up with this:

My attempt has made me respect the skill of those medieval illuminators; in particular their ability to draw smooth curves.  Maybe I should try a quill next time. 

A more down to earth explanation of the noise would be that there was water escaping from its icy bonds in the frozen pipes connecting the baths to the pump. 

Life light up

The birds are singing much more confidently today, as if they can sense the worse is over weather wise, at least for the time being.  It is certainly a beautiful sunny day today, and the developing seedlings in the greenhouse are soaking it all up with their new leaves. 

My chilli seedlings are becoming more of a presence in their place on the heated propagator, and the broad beans are pushing their heads through the cold soil in their tray on the greenhouse bench.  It is quite difficult to maintain the right moisture levels at this time when seeds have germinated but are only just developing their seed leaves.  I have given the chilli seedlings partial exposure to the air so they don't suffer from damping off, which is a fungus that kills developing seedlings in a damp environment. 

Now I have to be careful not to let them dry out. With a heated propagator this can happen quite quickly.  I uncovered them for their photo, but normally they have 1/2 sized propagator lids balanced on them.  These particular trays are slightly smaller than 1/4 sized, so there are gaps where they meet the lids.  This allows just enough air in for the stage in their development when they are just unfurling their leaves, and there are still more seeds to germinate.  Another way is to balance the lids on the seed labels one side, which allows a lot more air in.  I think they're about ready for this now.

I'm not too happy with the germination rate of the Ring of Fire and Chilly Willy chillis, but the mystery big red chillis that grew last year from medium sized F1 yellow ones had 100% germination, and the chillis that change from green through black to red have 90%.  I checked to see if some varieties may need constant temperatures of more than 19 degrees, which is what the propagator provides. I found an informative website about growing chillis:  www.thechilliking.com. 

The chilli king says the optimum temperature for germination is 23-30 degrees, ideally the temperature should not fluctuate, and some varieties do need more heat than others.   I think I'll try bringing them into the house next time.

I wonder if my planting them at totally the wrong phase of the moon had anything to do with it.  The best time for anything that is grown for fruit and not root is a couple of days before new moon to a couple of days before full.  I sowed the jalapeno chillis, which you can just see at the edge of the image, at new moon, and they took about seven days to germinate.  At the moment it looks like a 75% germination rate, but it's still possible I might get a couple more coming through.  I want to try more controlled and accurately recorded experiments with moon times to see if the moon does actually affect germination.

Broad beans don't need extra heat to germinate, in fact you can sow them directly outside this time of year, but I like to give mine a bit of protection and a good start in the greenhouse, away from starving vermin.  They look very healthy, although there does seem to be a bit of a brown tinge on the new leaves, so I hope I haven't overwatered them. 

I'm trying to root the carrot tops, so that they will grow good foliage and I can harvest seed from them.  I've placed them on gravel so the underneath, where the roots will sprout, is in contact with water but there is depth and air for the roots to grow. If the plant is just totally submerged in water it is likely to just rot. 

One variety is purple with the colour going quite a way into the core, so it's quite unusual, and the other is a white variety.  The white ones are already growing new green tops, but the place where the green growth will sprout on the purple ones seems to be glowing and pulsing to me, so I'm hopeful they will sprout too.   If it works it will be seed for next year, so I'm ordering some rainbow carrot seed for this year.  I want a real rainbow of growing things in my long allotment, as I feel it does have a rainbow-like quality, as you can see from the blog banner!