Posted by Lieutenant Faye Calloway (Mission Specialist) in Deck 4 Garden- Sowing Seeds

Posted by Lieutenant Luke Wyatt (Chief of Security) in Deck 4 Garden- Sowing Seeds

Posted by Lieutenant Faye Calloway (Mission Specialist) in Deck 4 Garden- Sowing Seeds

(snip)

Luke looked at Faye for a moment, taking in her own softened expression. “I’ve noticed, its nice to see you like it.” He was silent for a moment before he teasingly elbowed her back, “Now shall we finish planting these seeds, they’re not going to do it themselves and all this talk about chillies and Tomatoes is making me hungry.” His stomach grumbled as if on queue. Luke went back to setting up the cells for the tomato seeds the same way he had for his chillies and following her instructions to the letter, he was already becoming more consistent in sizing them and spreading them out.

• Luke Wyatt

Faye chuckled and then walked him through how to plant the rest of the seeds which included bunching onions (also known as scallions) and some herbs. The scallion seeds in particular were exceptionally tiny, with the seeds no bigger than the head of a small pin (if he even knew what one of those were). She also sowed some flower seeds with equally tiny light coloured seeds that needed light to germinate and showed him how she just sprinkled them lightly on top of the soil.

He followed her example doing what she did, if a little bit clumsier and leet skilled but the end results were mostly the same. He had planted all the seeds she had given him and compared to how he thought he’d do it looked as if he knew what he was doing. He’d never be bale to have done it without her and he smiled, a little proud of himself.

“Now, while the soil is already wet, we want to settle these seeds in place so we can properly hydrate them-“she picked up the spray bottle-“and so we just spray each cell down with an even layer of water.” Faye went about spraying quite a bit of water but methodically before she passed the bottle to him.

He took the bottle from her, it was hard not to brush her fingers with his but allowed the moment to past, he tilt the bottle at the same degrees and distance she had and pressed on the lever sending a mist of water over the soil turning it a darker shade of its former self. “Hows that?” He said having sprayed a few more times and felt as if his was symmetrically wet as her own tray.

Balancing on one foot, she leaned towards him, but was able to hold her position without toppling over. “Looks good! See? Yes it’s a lot of info but it’s about doing. That’s how you’ll learn the most with this.” She dropped her foot back down and stood normally.

Bringing the larger black solid trays over, she handed one to him along with a platform and some sort of flatly spongy material. “Now, we pt the rise in first and the material drapes over top so one side hangs right down the side and touches the bottom of the black tray. We’re going to put the seed tray on top and once the seedlings are big enough to no longer need to be watered by misting, then we can fill the tray and the material will wick up the water and the plant cells with draw up the water into the soil, taking only what it needs. It means you’l have to water less.”

“Sounds reasonable, and productive use of materials,” He said assembling as per her instruction, it wasn’t long until his own tray was looking very similar to the others in the greenhouse, he should have been a botanist.

Reaching for what looked to be some clear trays, she inverted one and passed it to Luke. “Now, pop that on top. It’s a humidity dome and will help keep moisture levels inside so the seeds don’t dry out. If they do, they’ll die and we’ll have to start again. We have a good mixture of soil and other components that will retain moisture, and though you win’t likely need to water daily, you will want to check them every day. Once they have sprouted and have come up through the surface, then we can take the domes off and let them carry on,” she said brightly.

“I can check on them when I do my security rounds” He explained with a smile potioning the dome over his tray. He made sure it cleared the sides before letting it settle on the surface covering his seeds and as Faye had explained would provide a persistent moisture level. He’d enjoy having something to do during his rounds, and if anyone asked he was just doing his rounds.

“And that’s how you start seeds,” Faye said as she carried her tray to her designated spot on the slated tables.

~Faye Calloway

“If that’s how you start seeds, I wonder how the rest of it goes! That was no short process” He said chuckling, “Worth it though I am sure of it! Now I just need to learn how to keep them alive, harvest and cook them so you can try the best space chilli jam out there!” Luke was smiling, “So how do I know if the seeds are taking? When they, what hatch?” He asked unsure of the correct terminology.

• Luke Wyatt

“Germinate, or sprout, more colloquially,” she said with a warm smile. “Each kind of seed sprouts at different rates but it also depends on having the water just right as well as warmth. It’s nice and warm in this greenhouse though, so most of these seeds should germinate fairly quickly. But I’ll be direct sowing carrots into my plot and some varieties can take up to fourteen days to germinate. As ever it’s a game of patience. If it’s ten days and you are seeing nothing, then we can look at what might have gone wrong, but I’ll keep an eye on them myself too when I’m about.”

colloquially another one of those words he could happily hear her say again and again. “Well hopefully I’ll be able to head off any disasters before it gets the point of restarting. I can see myself getting rather invested in this.” He smiled happily, “And I have patience I feel like I may need a lot for us” He teased, “So I can certainly wait out the germination period of my crop!”

Moving over to the sink, Faye washed up her hands, getting the most immediate dirt cleaned up, though only a shower would help with the rest of the dirt that covered her from their earlier antics. “There are things we can sow in your plot as well, but it does’t need to be today. It’s going to take six to eight weeks for these seedings to be at a good size to transfer into your plot, and then it’ll be three to four months before you can cook with the tomatoes and chillies. So, just remember, you’re playing a long game here. But all the small bits of attention will add up and when you get to harvest stuff you get to hold it and say I grew this. And that is an accomplishment not everyone can claim.” Grabbing some paper towel she stepped to the side and dried her hands, before letting ti drop into the compost bucket.

“Thats good, I think it’ll take months for me to learn how to actually cook!” Luke followed her example and had begun cleaning his hands trying to ger it out of his pours and out from under his nails his sonic shower was going to have a heart attack when it saw the state he was in. He watched the dirt dispair into the sinks plug hole and he took some towels of the same pile Faye had to dry his hands.

“If you don’t mind I wouldn’t mind taking a crack at some plot layout designs. Then you can pick one you like and change it up how you like,” Faye offered.

~Faye Calloway

He nodded, “Sure! I dont have anywhere to be anyway so more information and planning we can do now is great.” Luke waited to see where exactly they were going to be doing this, he also wondered just how much had to go into planning the plot but assumed as with the planting of his seeds it wouldn’t be as simple as he originally thought which he was more than fine with.

• Luke Wyatt