Paradise Organic Plants

 Starting plants indoors can certainly be more difficult that it sounds. The seedlings become your babies, of a sort, and no doubt you keep going to check on them. I find myself in a state of concern, wanting to water, then thinking I shouldn't have, and it goes around in circles. After a week of following some of the suggestions below, however, things seem to be well under control. To prevent damping off, where the stem rots near the soil, and other disease, watering must be kept to just as much as is really needed. Since the plants quickly develop a tap root which goes straight down, watering should be from below, letting the starting medium draw it up. Any water left in the tray after fifteen minutes should be poured out. The plants will be hydrated, and they should not be watered again until the soil is good and dry or the plants start to wilt. This will help to prevent fungus from growing and gnat larvae from developing. On the other hand, whitefly likes warm and dry condition...

I am a baby permaculturist, not even living on the land we are going to cultivate yet. But I have been learning so much from WhatsHisName (I can't find that he has one) on the Canadian Permaculture Legacy channel at YouTube. (I'll keep looking.) And from other resources, which I'll name as I share what I learn from them. Growing food in old, dead city-dirt is a great deal of work. Many of you do well at it, but you could enjoy the fruits of your labor with less of it. Left alone, this kind of soil will grow weeds, but that is nature doing its job. The weeds provide carbon to the soil through the process of photosynthesis, which carbon travels down into the roots and is available in fallen soft green leaves, feeding bacteria and developing a bacteria-dominated soil. (Good compost is needed for growing leafy vegetables such as lettuce and tomatoes, which require bacterial soil.) Over time, in nature, the soil will improve and the area will slowly transition from grassland t...