Weather make up your mind.

What a wonderful day to start some seeds. It is weird to be planning and starting a garden when there is snow on the ground, but fun never-the-less. While the snow swirls outside, I'm all cozy in my house and up to my elbows in potting soil. But first, lets get updated on the seeds that I started last week. After about a week on the warming matt, seedlings came up for the leeks, tomatoes, and onions. Once I noticed these little guys, I immediately began work on constructing my very first grow light! Since I live in a condo with minimal space, I purchased a grow light/stand combo that was suprisingly easy to put together. Although I have parts left over that I have no idea how to incorporate into the frame, it seems sturdy enough and happy in its new home on my kitchen table. Once under the grow light it was amazing how the little seedlings perked.  The New Victory Garden suggest giving seedlings 6-8 hours of sunlight daily, so my plan is just to pop on the grow light before work and turn it off when I get home. The green onions and celery seedlings were still a no show, so I left them all warm and toasty on the warming matt. I want to give a word of caution when using the warming matt- make sure your pots are well watered. I noticed about a day after being on the matt that the pots were prone to drying out, so water them well at least twice a day.

 

Once the seedlings were eating up the rays under the grow light, I decided to plant some cauliflower and mesculun salad mix seeds. This time I tried to be much more patient with the bottom watering, which if you know me is no small feat. I left them in the watering pan for the better part of the day, placing them on the warming matt just before bed time. From what I hear, lettuce seedlings take only a few days to germinate, so I should have seedlings up soon!

 

As for the excess seeds that I don't plant, I've been storing them in tupperware, with some rice in the bottom to absorb any excess moisture, in the refrigerator for next year. If this is not right, or there is a better way to store them I'm open to suggestions. Until next time.