Today, for me, is the first day of the gardening season for 2008. Today I plant seeds for tomatoes, peppers, and flowers, along with eggplant, indoors.
Our last Spring frost date is May 15th. We plant out about the 1st of May, depending on the weather and how stable it is, using frost blankets that are pretty thick, but don’t require hoops. So I count backwards from the 1st, and that gives me March 15th as the date to plant seeds indoors. If we start any earlier, the plants get too big for good transplanting and fast growth.
So today I put the seeds into 6 flats on heat mats. The mats will hold 8 flats, but I only need 6 today. The flats are filled with the very best potting soil money can buy, and have covers over them. Each flat has 60 large cells. I am planting 2 flats of tomatoes, 2 flats of 20 kinds of peppers, and two flats of flowers and celery and eggplants.
As soon as the seedlings come up we turn on the big 1,000 watt plant light. It rides on a rail across the ceiling, moving back and forth over the flats so they all get the same amount and quality of light. That stays on for 12 hours each night.
I will post again when the seedlings are up, in a few days.
