Starting Seeds

I do have another post to do about the rest of the spring vegetables that I have planted out in the garden, including the potatoes. But I wanted to take time to do a little post on starting seeds inside. I'm not so sure you can gain great expertise from me b/c I don't do anything crazy, but it might help. Side-note: I do dream about the day I can have a little greenhouse off the side of our shed! Maybe someday I'll get to the point where I start all my vegetables that don't go right in the ground. Although I have to say I get great pleasure out of going to various garden centers and buying.

I mostly start my annuals inside. I like to do a combo of starting the seeds and then also planting them right in the ground. It gives me a huge variety when they start blooming. My personal favorites are zinnias - I chose 5 different varieties from Renee's Garden. I love to have every color I can - purple, pink, red, orange, yellow, striped, you name it! I also like the variety in the actual flower whether it's a cactus petal, double or single petal.

I also started a few different kinds of cosmos: double click which has a double petal, regular sensation, and then a newer variety that I've done for a few years called Candy Striped. It has a white flower with pink tips - really really pretty. I love my cosmos really get going late in the summer and just 'flit in the wind!' Last year they didn't survive the hurricane.

The last flower started are snapdragons. I will never get enough of snapdragons in the summer. They just seem so dainty and pretty to me. I often end up buying tall white & pink, but I do try to start them. It's a really tiny seed so it's hard and I'm not always successful. I sprinkle them on the little peat pots and then keep the strongest.

That brings to me how I start the seeds... I have these 2 trays that I bought a few years ago that hold the small round peat pots. Peat pots are cheap so I get new ones every year just to protect from any disease, mildew or whatever may be around from the previous year. At the beginning I didn't pay too much attention to that stuff, but I do now. Experience... I can go on and on about how the first year I just put things in and didn't listen to all the 'advice' b/c I was 'just doing it.' Oh to be that naive again... you do have to pay attention, if you hate the  scientific side as I do. There are pests and disease and it's best to learn and prevent from the beginning. I put 2 seeds per pot exc the snaps which I sprinkle and keep the strongest.

If you look closely you can see that I started the tomatillos and one tomato - green zebra. I've never started tomatoes so we'll so how this goes. I'm not sure I get enough light where I have them - which is in our big, south-facing window. You can see that I put some plastic over which acts as a loose cover to keep moisture and heat in. I only did that for the first week as the seeds germinated. I've since removed it. I water every other day - just enough to keep them moist. I rotate the trays every week and turn them around. This is the second week so hopefully over the next 10 days we'll see true leaves. As the seedlings get bigger and stronger, I'll transfer them into larger pots. I'll post that. And then start to harden them off for a few hours a day in Mid-Late May.