Sprouted

The kale and red lettuce seeds we started indoors last week are up!

 I'm pretty happy with the germination. We planted three seeds per cup and every cup has at least one sprout.  Most have more. I put the seed cups in a plastic bin in the laundry room and covered the bin with loose plastic wrap.

This year, I tried placing a heating pad set on low underneath the bin for a few hours each day. This was easy to do since we have all been home fighting a nasty virus! The seeds seemed to germinate much faster this way, compared to my usual method of sticking the bin on top of the refrigerator.  In fact, one morning I noticed there were four cups that had not sprouted, so I moved them all to one side of the bin, stuck the heating pad under just that side, and left them  for a couple of hours. When I returned, there was a sprout or two in each cup!

So now I am just in spray-and-watch mode. The seedlings are as close to the light as I can get them and the lights are on for 14 hours per day. We use a timer to turn them on and off, because I can never remember. I raised the bin up on a shelf and stacked some books under the bin to get it as close to the light as possible. In another week or so, I plan to start watering them with some diluted fish emulsion.

 I thought about starting tomatoes from seed this year but we have a vacation coming up and I didn't want our animal sitter to have more to deal with. These guys will be out in the garden before then, so they shouldn't cause too much trouble.

I find myself sneaking down to see the sprouts first thing each morning and fuss over them a little before the day really starts. Seedlings are such happy little things:).

Starting From Seed

We started our first seeds indoors yesterday. We have been cooped up for nearly a week now with one or another family member fighting some nasty flu-like virus, so this was a nice little escape for us healthier ones:).

I followed seed starting directions found in a recent issue of Mother Earth News. Basically we:

• Used a pencil to punch three holes in some small paper cups, then filled them to the top with seed germinating mix. 

• Planted each cup with either 3 Red Salad Bowl lettuce seeds or 3 Kale Vates seeds. We left the lettuce uncovered, as per directions. The Kale got covered with 1/4 inch of the germinating mix. 

• Watered the cups and set them in a large plastic container. We used craft sticks to label our varieties.

• Draped the container loosely with plastic wrap to help keep the seeds warm. 

• Set the container in a sunny spot in the laundry room where it will hopefully stay warm enough for germination. 

Now we are just in wait-and-water mode. Once I see some sprouts, they will go under our grow lights until they are ready to move out to the cold frame.

It is so nice to be gardening again:)

Linking up with Simple Lives Thursday