Kitchen Garden Blog #6 - How many people does it take to build a greenhouse?

 Kitchen Garden Blog #6 - How many people does it take to build a greenhouse?

Seeds like particular conditions to germinate. To make it more complicated, not all of them like the same conditions. Some seeds won't germinate unless exposed to smoke so that they can regenerate after a fire (many eucalyptus varieties). Some need extended periods of cold temperature to emulate a long winter (apple seeds). Some need to be roughed up a little to mimic the forces of nature, this is called scarifying (sweet peas/lupins). Other's even need to pass through the digestive tracks of animals in order to germinate properly  There are ways to artificially recreate these conditions to get germination happening - for example I stored some apple seeds in a fridge for 4 months before germinating, and they popped up beautifully. You can generally think about fruits as a container for seeds designed to preserve the seed for the right amount of time, and in the right way for the seeds to successfully germinate. Some serve to carry the seed elsewhere, by encouraging animals to eat the fruit and for the seed to pass through. Some are designed to travel long distances, the coconut for example is able to float many miles over many months and then wash up on a beach and germinate to begin the process of creating a new tree with more coconuts.


Luckily for vegetable gardeners, most vegetable seeds aren't too fussy, but some things definitely help. A warm environment with relatively high humidity is what most vegetable seeds like. Small green houses are perfect for this...and so, we got one. That was the easy bit. Putting it together was another thing altogether. Two distinct groups emerged. The "instructions are useful" group.....and the other group. It was an entertaining period for me at least. 






We got there in the end.

Cheers - John and the KG Crew.








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