Sounds like a familiar topic? May be it is… but I wanted to write about seed starting spinach for lot of reasons. Couple of weeks back, I was invited to ThoughtWorks, Bangalore to give a talk on Urban gardening to a group of techies. I was quite excited. I had given talks like this before but this was the first of its kind. The talk went very well. Many of them were very excited and had tons of questions. All of them had one question in common.. The million dollar question.. Which vegetable plant should I start with?
There are several plants one can start with. My recommendation is, always choose something that yields quickly and easy to grow. Spinach is a good candidate for starter project. Most of the times, I find myself explaining this. Hence I thought, I will make a video out of it. So without further ado, the videos of sowing spinach.
Part I
Part II
UPDATE: Part III.
UPDATE: Part IV
Hope you enjoyed watching this. If you like the videos, you can subscribe to my channel
Good luck on starting your vegetable garden.
31 Responses
Thanks for these videos, gg. They are very useful. One of my spinach plants has seeded. On the net, I’ve learnt that you should wait for the plant to dry and then hang up the seeds for a few days to dry the seeds before planting. Should I stop watering the plant to let it dry up? It’s not showing any signs of doing so.
Thanks for the great videos!! really helpful. One question though, should i add anything like manure once it germinates? if yes, how often?
i have sown seeds in normal soil + compost..as the plant grows i am planning to add only compost to it.. so that it is free of organic fertilizer….i am a beginer in this field…please advice will this work
Thanks for the video. Just discovered your blog and am really loving it.
hi
thanks for the video.is it just cocopith or should i add soil.or can i use soil and vermicompost instead?and should i keep the tray in direct sunlight…..i was doing little bit of terrace gardening.i had stopped for time being due to many reasons..after many days i am visiting ur website for inspiration and i got it thanks a lot.
sarita
this is just what i need! thanks a lot for sharing!
thanks for the video.is it just cocopith or should i add soil.or can i use soil and vermicompost instead?and should i keep the tray in direct sunlight…..i was doing little bit of terrace gardening.i had stopped for time being due to many reasons..after many days i am visiting ur website for inspiration and i got it thanks a lot.
sarita
The potting media is cocopith and compost. You can use soil also. There is no harm. I use cocopeat because I am in 6th floor and its easy to work with for me. You can keep them in direct sunlight. Spinach can handle that. good you are starting again…
Great videos and tips!
Hey,
Love the blog, you def have a new follower.
I was wondering if you knew what kind of plants are good for heavily shaded gardens? we have a tiny tiny city garden, but it is surrounded by big oak trees which i suspect are sucking the life out of everything, couple that with it not getting an ounce of sun and me being a complete novice, i’ve no idea what to plant in there, everything from last year died.
thanks for your help!!
door251
All kind of greens thrive in moderate shade.
hi GG,
I am a new comer to ur blog.. I live in bangalore and like to start with gardening. Is it possible to visit your garden sometime for better idea???
Dear GG,
I am a new your wonderful website, it is very exhaustive. This is my first posting, I am IT guy working as a Senior Technical Consultant, would like to work on Vegetable gardening (Organic IF possible). Hence this is my email regarding Know how of Terrace Gardening; please excuse me if it is repeated
I have a small balcony at Pune and would like to go for kitchen/ Balcony/ Terrace garden. I am very novice to Gardening and only have some idea about Flower Gardening (I have a very limited success, my rose / Hibiscus/ Mogra flowers are not growing. I think I need to improve the soil. I am learning this art by Hit and Trial method. My rose plants are not giving any flower and less number of flower in my Hibiscus plant).
I have around 15 Big Pot 22 Inches and around 10 Medium (12-18 Inches)Sizes pot in my garden which I will be using for my small kitchen garden. I think it is better to spend money on Veg rather than flowers (Though I will still keep my few rose and Hibiscus plants.). Any suggestions about my plants are most welcome.
Now coming back to Organic Vegetable Terrace gardening, I need following help from you (In fact I think everybody should contribute and we will archive this email for new readers.)
-> You can name this article as New To Gardening,, Follow the little steps…
1) Plz let me how to prepare soils, what to put in big and small pots, what are the vegetable (Some herbal plants also) I can grow in my small terrace (Doctor has told me to avoid chillies and Tomato . And I prefer leafy vegetables.)
2) What is the right soil mix, the manures etc.
3) Step by step method to Organic Garden (Remember IT book -> Learn Programming in 21 days etc… HAHAHAHA)
4) Where to collect the Veg Seeds? What treatment is regarding for the seeds?
5) How to take of plants, when to apply the next manures / pesticides/ watering plants
6) Video Link
7) Resource (Link)
a. Website
b. Government organisation
c. Getting the manures / pesticides / etc
8) Please add if I missed any points, it should be exhaustive.
Also if you like you can give link how to prepare a compost
hi gg,
i managed to successfully grow spinach..they were really great n tasted good too but the plants were fighting for space n grew in a crowded fashion…m planning a second round but wanted to know bout thinning the plants once true leaves are out..pls elaborate as to how i can thin them n prevent them from being suffocated for space
thanks
priya
very nice ideas… have been reading about gardening with coco pith and hydroponic nutrients for a while now … we stay in bangalore and am really looking forward to revive our garden with flowering plants and a nice kitchen garden as well.. what are hydroponic nutrients and where in bangalore can you get them ? i can definitely get coco pith from close by.
laxmi,
hydroponic nutrients are formulations specifically made for type of the plant. you can start with water soluble fertilizer. send me a PM if you want them admin@geekgardener.in
I understand that you use only coco peat to grow seeds and seedlings as well. But I’m sure these plants don’t grow in coco peat only with so lush green leaves. There should be something that you add to coco peat. Please could you reveal what it is?
Thanks
You are right shers. Cocopeat doesn’t have any nutrient in it by itself. So I add water soluble fertilizers to it. You can use 19-19-19 fertilizer to it or any hydroponic solution meant for leafy vegetables.
hope this helps
gg
Dear GG,
Am planing to move towards soilless garden.
I have a both ornamental and vegetable garden on my roof.
Do you have suggestions on how I can go about this.
I would like to use coco peat as the medium
1) Where can I buy this in bulk and how much do they cost
2) Where can I buy the water soluble fertilizers?
3) Are water soluble fertilizers same for all plants ?
4) Do we need to buy different fertilizers for flowering plants and different for vegetable plants.
5) When you had kept the tray ready to sow the seeds, you had already added the fertilizer?
6)How often do you keep adding the fertilizer
Apologies if I have bombarded with too many question.
Thanks
Regards,
Rashmi
Hi, how often do you use the hydroponic fertizers?
Thanks gg. That was a very prompt and informative reply. I’d like to know if a liquid fertilizer with the proportion of 2:1:1 or 1:2:2 would do. Also, can I mix micro nutrient solution with the NPK solution?
Thanks
GG,
Loved watching these videos. How about the tray that you used for sowing the seeds? I cannot see any drainage facility. Does cocopeat medium not require this? Am I missing something here?
Where do I get cocopeat in Chennai? any ideas?
Jay
Hello GG, useful video for the beginners. Is there any other medium that can be used with cocopeat other than 19-19-19 fertilizer or soluble fertilizer. (For ex, vermicompost). i.e., shall we use cocopeat+vermicompost as a combination ?
Regards,
Jaikumar Palanisamy.
I tried sowing spinach seeds in cocopeat + compost media. I sowed the seeds and covered them with loose coco-peat. Didn’t press them as you showed in the video. So now the seedlings which have germinated are falling sideways.
Do I need to add fertilizer for the spinach in a cocopeat + compost media?
Can I use soil and cow manure? And what is the best season to sow spinach in Hyderabad?
Can you please tell me what is cocopeat and where can I get in Chennai.Can I make it at home.I have made manure at home using vegetable ,fruit,flowers ,charcoal and some mud.Is that ok?
Hi, Just the perfect information I was looking for, this has made my day. I love gardening but was not sure how to strat growing vegetables and that to on terrace, this video encouraged me. Thanks a lot ! Sarika
Hi GG,
Very inspiring website. I have planted palak seeds in 1:1:1 mix of soil,sand and manure. can you tell me in what stage do i have to put 19-19-19 and how much?
Thanks.
Hi. Can you pls tell me where I can get these seeds? thanks
Thanks for the video.I have a greenhouse of cucumber the plant has not any flower…please help me
thanks.
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