Monday, March 16, 2009

I Started My Seeds!


I'm not exactly sure if this was the right time to do it, but I did it. The weather will never be exactly right in Michigan anyway. Here's what I started on Sunday:

Snapdragons - 9 cells
Baby Dolls - 9 cells
Ping Tung eggplant - 9 cells
Long Purple eggplant - 9 cells
Amish Paste tomatoes - 36 cells

I used equal parts of peat moss, vermiculite, and perlite as a starting mixture. The plastic cells and trays are being reused from last year.



I'll be starting another batch of tomatoes in a few weeks as well as some other flowers, my herbs, broccoli, and some others I've forgotten. Right now I have the tray down by our corn burner to stay warm. This next goal is to get Brian to hang up my new lights so the seedlings can go under there once they sprout. It feels like spring it finally here!

5 comments:

Farmer's Daughter said...

Yay! My sister-in-law started her eggplant last weekend, and will be starting her tomatoes next weekend. I know she has a whole system and has calculated exact dates, so if your summers are like ours, you're right on schedule.

I'm going to plant peas, some lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, and leeks outside this weekend. The only other thing I'll start inside is tomatoes. I'm so excited to get gardening, too!

Captain's Wife - Jennifer said...

Isn't it exciting? :) You sound like me...not sure if this is the right time! I started some last Tuesday. This is the first year I have started indoors so I am winging it. Farmer's Daughter...I would LOVE to see your SIL's schedule! What zone are you all in? I am in zone 5.

Best wishes for your seedlings! :)

Everydaywoman said...

Looks great, Jena! Spring has "sprung!" Isn't it exciting?

Jena said...

FD - It'll be a while before I'm planting anything outside around here. I'm expecting more snow yet, although I hope I'm wrong. The 60s we've been having sure are great!

Jennifer - I tried to start some indoors last year but didn't have much luck. I'm hoping things go better this time since I've added grow lights. I'm in Zone 5 (Michigan's Thumb specifically) and I think FD is in Zone 6 (right?). According to what I've read tomatoes should be started 8-10 weeks before the last frost date. If you figure the last frost date is between May 15 - June 1 then we're 8-10 weeks away now, so that's why I started some. I started a little less than half of my whole batch so I'll have a backup set in case the first ones get caught in a late frost. Thanks for the good luck, same to you!

Ruth - Very exciting! I love this time of year. Feels like we can always start fresh in the spring.

Unknown said...

We started our onions first a few weeks ago, followed by our tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. We hope to put some of the tomatoes in our high tunnel in April and the rest into the field towards the end of May. The onions get planted mid April or so. Our basement sure is crowded right now but it's worth it to get a taste of those juicy tomatoes when summer comes!
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