Starting Seeds

My former boss, Nick Bottini, used to advise starting garden plants by St. Joseph Day, March 19. With a target date of trying to get plants in the garden by NLT the 3rd week of May that provides about 10 weeks for the seeds to germinate and sprout.

I started on that path this week. I moved a shelving rack in front of the south facing patio door in the changing room. I bought a couple seed starting kits, peat pots to transfer the plants, potting soil and seeds.

The seed starting kits have a water tray, a porous, permeable mat for transferring the moisture to the soil moisture, small rectangular pots, soil pellets and a cover to hold in the moisture. In the kit below some of the soil pellets have not yet expanded from the water.

The seed starting kits are made from thin plastic and one has a small leak, so I placed them in plastic tubs to prevent leaking and put them in the sun on the lower shelves of the racks.

My seed order is being shipped and contains peas, pole beans, brussels sprouts, cucumbers, pumpkins, acorn squash, and a couple varieties of tomatoes. I am trying lettuce and spinach again this year. Past years it has grown well, but Kathryn hated cleaning leaves for salad. New for me this year is artichokes, cabbage and eggplant.

I am planning on growing the pumpkins under the fruit trees, rather than in the garden because they took up so much space last year.