I start a lot of plants every year. I firmly believe in the #foodisfree movement and for the last 3 years I have donated 100's of herb and veggie seedlings as well as harvested produce to friends, community gardens and food banks. That being said, I grow for my family and some sales as well so......tons of plants!!
Right about now is when things get exciting in the seed starting world. While it is still early to start most vegetables, you want to start slower growing woody herbs and veggies from warmer climates like rosemary, eggplants and celery now. Anything that needs 8-12 weeks before transplanting to outdoors in the spring. I should say that onions are included in this group of early starters. I have not had much success growing big onions so I have been reading up on them. It would seem some people start them much later and claim they get bigger bulbs! This year I am going to try both, some now and some starts the first week of March. We will see!!
The biggest onions I have ever grown
From this mess of seeds, (Give me all the seeds!!!!!) today I will be starting:
Holy Basil
Parsley
Garlic Chives, Leeks and Bunching Onions
Melanzana and Ping Ting Long Eggplant
Celery
English and French Lavender
French, German Winter, Mastic and English Thyme
White Sage
Sweet Peppers
Summer Savory
It is so hard to use restraint! I have to remember that each tray of starts takes up 4 times the space once they are potted up to the 4" pots. 98-72 babies fit into one tray, once transplanted those same trays only hold 18 4" plants. Remembered these guys stay indoors for almost 3 months!!
One tray of 72.....
Turns into 4 trays of 18!! That takes up a lot of space!!
Always read your seed packets! They have all the info you need to know about the plant's cycle from seed to harvest. This is your guide to when to start them
Using seed starter mix, fill your starting cells 3/4 full, packing semi firmly and sprinkle seeds or make holes and drop them in, whichever the seed calls for.
Lavender seeds on my handy seeder
Tiny celery seeds
Eggplant. I will cull the smallest and separate the other 2
Cover seeds lightly with seed starting mix and mist to moisten surface.
I lightly bottom water too, try not to let the trays dry out on the heating mat. Cover with domes to mimick a warm, damp environment and move to a warm place. If using a heat mat, generally a "happy" temp is 72°-75°. Below is fine, they may just take longer. Above, depending on the seed type and you might fry your seed!!
Vent the domes by removing for a few minutes a day to monitor any fungus growth. Your seeds should start sprouting anywhere from 5 days to 2 weeks!!
Once they peek through the soil and open their first leaves, remove domes and move off heat mat to a well lit, ventilated area. Good light is a must to avoid legginess (tall, long stemmed weak seedlings reaching for light)in the plants...we will cover lighting in the next blog or so. When they get their second set of leaves, or the first "true" leaves, I will start to feed them nutrients....and again there is a blog in progress about that!!
2 sets of true leaves on these eggplants
I am already thinking about my next round of starts....tomatoes and flowers! More herbs!! Other vegetables!! I love all the seeds😁
My beloved Spiderman watering can
HEY! Do you have gardens to feed your family or community or do you grow plants? Please feel free to use the #doyougrow tag for any of your gardening and plant loving posts! I would love to see what you grow and where you grow it 🌱
I am always looking for new tips and inspiration. I believe it is so important to learn how to grow food for food security and for our health. Plus, gardening is rebellious!! Save money and put the healthy back in your food ❤ I will check the tag often to upvote and comment, so let's grow good food for our families and earn Steem together!