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Why Plant Pelleted Seed Varieties in the Garden
Due to the various amount of seed varieties, certain crops have seeds that are irregularly shaped. The irregularly raw shaped seeds can in return cause problems when trying to plant them using mechanical equipment like a direct seeder or vacuum seeders. The vacuum seeders are typically used by larger greenhouse companies in order to seed their transplant trays a lot faster. In order to use the mechanical equipment to plant the various seed varieties, we need round shaped seeds instead of the irregular shaped seeds. For example, carrots have really small oval-shaped seeds that contain a naturally papery texture which makes the seeds hard to plant in the garden. However, when you have pelleted seed varieties they contain a round-shaped seed that works great in mechanical equipment like the seeders. Having round-shaped seeds allows for easier planting for transplants and direct seeding with our garden seeder. Along with easier planting, you are able to plant faster and save seeds when using pelleted seeds in the vegetable garden. The process of pelleting seeds is they coat the seeds with an inert ingredient which is a clay particle. Then, they put the seeds and the particular type of clay into a tumbler and roll it around until all the seeds reach a certain size. When pelleting seeds you are increasing the weight, size, and shape of the seed depending on the desired characteristics that is needed.
Pelleted Seed Varieties
The guys go over the pelleted seed varieties that we offer at Hoss Tools. Starting with pelleted lettuce varieties which includes
Calshot,
Cherokee,
Coastal Star,
Skyphos,
Starfighter, and
Tehama. We also carry pelleted carrot seeds which include varieties like the
Viper,
Yellowstone,
Scarlet Nantes,
Deep Purple,
Gold Nugget and
Danvers 126. As well as two pelleted beet varieties such as
Early Wonder and
Kestral Beets. While a few more beet varieties are going to be released soon in pelleted form. Some other seed varieties that are available are the
Candy Onion and
Tadorna Leeks.
Show and Tell Segment
On the show and tell segment, Greg has some Cherokee Tan pumpkins that he has harvested from the vegetable garden. The Cherokee Tan variety was a winner in maximum yield and flavor profile during the growing season this year. Greg also needs a little help from our viewers in finding out information on the old-timey multiplying nesting onion variety. Travis's mentions that he currently has cucumbers, pole beans, and lots of okra growing in the vegetable garden. He also has planted
peaches and cream sweet corn for the fall growing season in the vegetable garden.
Viewer Questions Segment
On the question and answer segment this week, the guys answer questions about planting carrots on drip tape and cut flower cover crops. Travis recommends growing carrots on a double row of buried drip tape. He simply scatters the carrot seeds thick along the furrow in the vegetable garden. The trick with growing carrots in the vegetable garden is keeping the carrot seed bed wet until germination happens. The best tool to use when applying drip tape in the vegetable garden is our
Drip Tape Layer Attachment on our
Double Wheel Hoe. Greg mentions that the only cut flower variety that works as a cover crop is Sunflowers. They work the best as a cover crop because they grow quickly and shade out weeds when planted thick in the vegetable garden. Sunflowers have a dense root system which allows them to help with soil erosion in the vegetable garden area as well.
Products of the Week
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