Let's get Started (again)

So, I received my huckleberries in the mail yesterday and got the remaining items I needed for planting and potted the seeds today.

I made some changes from my soil and process from last year. Last year I added perlite to a standard potting mix, put in it various pots I had lying around and covered the seeds with the same soil. This year, at the advice of someone at the local garden store, I used a potting mix made of peat moss and perlite specifically designed for seedlings. I also added bark and ammonium sulfate to the soil mix and covered the seeds with sand (as Barney suggests doing). I potted eight identical plastic pots (they were 19 cents so I figured it would be good for uniform circumstances)

The ammonium sulfate additive was due to a bunch of advice given to me from the local garden store. When I told them that I was attempting to plant huckleberries they shared with me information about planting blueberries in Colorado. Barney makes a mention that huckleberries like acidic soil. I took note of this last year but didn't pay it too much mind because it appeared as if the plants would so okay as long as I used acidic fertilizers. Come to find out that Colorado soil has way too high of a Ph. to let blueberries survive. In light of this information I bought a soil Ph. tester and ammonium sulfate to add to the soil beforehand. I'll also use the probe to monitor the soil throughout the growing process.

I also am trying a little experiment in hydroponics. I took a few seeds and put them on sponges. One sponge is covered with a damp paper towel and the other isn't. I don't plan on anything significant coming from this experiment. All I want to see is what huckleberry seedlings look like while they are sprouting. If any do spout I may try and get them into pots to see if they do anything else.

One last thing was that I put the pots and sponges in my basement on a window sill where they will stay until probably at least August. This is for two reasons. One is so that they are completely isolated from weed seeds that may be flying around outside. The second is so I don't have to keep moving back and forth when the weather changes.

So there you have it. Now I am hoping (and praying) that something will happen with this new batch of plants that at the very least I can learn from.