Even though our main focus is on the animals, we try to grow some vegetables in our small greenhouse and kitchen garden. During the frost period in early February, I sowed bell pepper seeds. Since both the topsoil and our sand hill were frozen, the only seed-starting soil I had available was our home-composted leaf mold, which I had roughly sieved back in December. Unfortunately, not a single bell pepper germinated. Instead, various weeds sprouted, and a fine layer of algae is slowly spreading.

I didn't heat the leaf compost because I was hoping that many beneficial microbes had colonized it over the last two years.

Yesterday I made a second attempt with the pepper seeds. This time the top layer of soil was thawed and I was able to mix the seed starting soil from 1/3 leaf compost, 1/3 molehill soil and 1/3 sand. The mixture then went into the oven at over 100 °C for a good hour, so that probably everything that lived in it was killed.

The soil then goes into small paper pots that I make myself with a “Paper Pot Maker”.

First, it is filled only to just below the upper edge, then the very dry soil is almost saturated with water from the dressing bottle. The seeds are distributed over the slightly sunken soil, and another layer of soil about 1 cm thick is placed on top. This time I moistened this layer only with a spray bottle so that the seeds are not completely wet and do not rot.

The entire mini greenhouse is placed on a heat mat between 22 °C and 25 °C and illuminated with a grow light. The lid is removed for 1-2 hours daily to prevent it from becoming too humid. After aerating, it is misted again.