Starting First Seeds

Today, February 16, I started my first seeds. I started anything that can go out in the cold in mid April (after 8 weeks inside)…and peppers. Lots and lots of peppers.

I used soil seed blocks. More on that in another post.

I planted 240 pepper seedings from the seeds I've saved from peppers from the grocery store. No, I do not plan on using this many in my garden, but hope to share seedlings with others who were unable to start their peppers early enough.

I also pulled out of the freezer (they germinate better if brought from freezer to soil) my:

Swiss Chard, Bright Lights (Jung's)
Lettuce, Buttercrunch (Jung's)
Cabbage, Mammoth Red Rock (Seed Savers)
Kale, Red Russian (Seed Savers)
Lettuce, Crisp Mint (Seed Savers)
Spinach, Strawberry (Seed Savers)
  A perennial with edible fruits
Carrot, Dragon (Seed Savers)
  This was a mistake. I should not have started these indoors, good things I only did 20.
Collard, Georgia Southern (Seed Savers)
Lettuce, Red Romaine (Seed Savers)
  I planted this and not others because it has a longer (70 day) maturation time
Leek, Prizetaker (Seed Savers)
  I planted this early because of its long (110-135) day maturation time, also I've never heard of people successfully (or at all) growing leeks in this area, so this is an experiment.
Chinese cabbage (Jung's)
Stonehead Hybrid Cabbage (Jung's)

It is really only necessary to start planting peppers and onions this early, but I got excited and wanted to experiment with my new soil blockers and greenhouse in my kitchen.

The seedlings should be kept moist and between 70F and 75F degrees. I decided not to use my grow light to not dry out the seedlings…we'll see how that goes.

I did not use the seed starting mix recommended by Eliot Coleman (my current mentor in organic gardening). Instead, for ease and speed, I bought an organic seed starting "Jiffy-Mix" from Jung's Greenhouse. It made the soil seed blocks ok, but after reading the chapter on soil seed blocks in Coleman's book, it made me wish I had at least added compost. Also, after reading this chapter, it made me wish I hadn't covered all of my seeds with a tiny bit of soil.