Here in western, New York seed starting starts around the middle of February for a few plants. By the time March rolls in it is time to really get serious about getting a lot of different varieties started. It generally takes about 8 - 10 weeks for most plants to be ready for outdoor planting in May.
Needless to say, I have many trays to seed. We grow a lot of organic veggies and flowers for our extensive gardens and starting them ourselves has saved us a ton of money over the last 25 years. Below I will show you my process through photos.
Choosing your seeds and ordering them is the first place to start. ;-)
I fill all my trays loosely with seed starting mix at a potting bench built just for this stage of the process.
Here I water in the soil before I start putting the seeds in as I don't want them to sink too deep into the soil mix.
Each cell in the tray get 1 - 2 seeds depending on what type I am planting. I like to do 2 for flowers and sometimes 3 to make a denser plug to transplant. For the peppers in the photo I only do one per cell. This year I only chose to do 5 variety of hot peppers to make my hot sauce with.
The seeds are gently and lightly covered with soil, misted to water in. and then a dome cover is placed on top to keep the soil moist during germination.
Here are some coleus that I seeded last week and are under lights for a week before I move them out into the greenhouse this week.
This is a shelving unit with fluorescent lights that I put together to give the seedlings a place to grow for a short time before the greenhouse.
This is what the greenhouse looks like at the moment due to the noreastern storm that came through yesterday. However, I will be taking the plants out and starting the heaters to get them growing in the natural sunlight. I hope you have enjoyed seeing how I start my plants for the gardens. I love being able to grow my own organic food and be able to say that we do our best to live a #sustainable lifestyle.
Until next time, this is Sunscape...
Sun. Scape. Ing your day
Great post, I planted my chilli seeds a few weeks ago now and they have germinated , you have done it on a much bigger scale your green house must be a lot bigger than mine, nice one cheers mike
I do use a small LED grow light
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That is awesome, your set up looks great. My greenhouse is 8' x 16' wide and has a double layer of shelves. I built it that way to maximize my growing area. Have fun gardening. Spring is almost here.
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Mine is 4-6 feet , cheers for your reply thanks mike
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Thanks for all the info @sunscape This is what I need to know. I don't have a green house. Does this mean to start my seeds a few weeks later, and how old or big should they be to put in the garden? Steem and Resteem.
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Well you want the seedlings to be strong enough to survive the transition from indoors to outdoors. One of the most important things I have found is to have a fan oscillating to imitate the wind. This helps them to strengthen the walls of their stems creating a healthier plant. I do tomato and peppers 8 weeks before planting. Flowers sometimes take a bit longer like coleus and impatiens, salvia and zinnia. Six weeks out I start lettuce and greens in plug trays and then transplant. It all depends on what you are growing. Plenty of light and air are very impt. Have fun and keep me posted.
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Thanks I have a brown thumb. But the brown smells good. Want to turn the brown a little green.
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I upvoted your post and am following you, I joined steemit to share my passion for e recyling and gardening. i plan to show people various cloning and air layering techniques, Follow me if youd like to see my posts on it and if you like my introduction give me a upvote. im new here as of only a few horus ago and trying to expand my following fast as i have a postive message to spread! thanks
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Thank you very much, I look forward to learning about your gardening techniques in your future posts. Happy Gardening. Followed
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Muy buenas técnicas amiga, las pondré en practica, gracias por compartir.Te sigo.Saludos
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Nice work and this is the right thing to do if you have a garden. It's best to have your own veggies than to buy it. Great job!
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Thank you Erikah, I have been growing my own veggies and flowers for over 40 years now. It is just in my blood to do so.
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That's a great thing. We're doing the same. I don't have a garden but my father does, I go there whenever I can and help him. Homegrown fruits and veggies are the best!
I'll be posting a lot about gardening because I like it and we have to raise awareness.
I hope spring is just around the corner because it's still -3°C outside and everything is covered in snow.
I hope you will be posting about gardening too 😃
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I will do my best to keep posting gardening tips and my progress. We have 10 inches of snow too but it is starting to melt. Next week should be better.
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There's 0°C outside here right now so I hope it will warm up soon. Good luck with your gardening project and I am really looking forward to reading your posts.
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I love the scent of the tobacco flower....it's so pretty. When I go for walks I can smell them before I arrive at the garden where they might be growing. I've always wanted them in my garden. Maybe this year.
I can see your love of gardening and watching your babies grow. I know a few people who do this as well but I've never had a desire to .... I find it interesting and all. I love walking through greenhouses but seriously don't know why I have no interest to do it myself. Just not my thing I guess.
Here's to a great harvest for you....and joy as you watch all those little happy green sprouts pop up with promise.
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Ahh @countrygirl you still enjoy nature and relish the wonder of it all. Growing your own stuff takes a lot of time and effort. I have actually started downsizing my gardens already. I am growing less this year than I ever have in 40 years. I do love it though, it is so satisfying.
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What a lovely green house you have. I don't see such houses for plants here in the Philippines. Well, I must say it is because we have a wonderful weather always. ;)
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That is true, I would imagine your nurseries probably use more shade netting to protect the plants. Here we have to keep them warm from the cold night temperatures.
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