Garden: Starting seeds indoors
Starting your own seeds indoors is the best way to get an economical start on a garden. One of these days my husband will be putting up a post with all the details, but I wanted to give a brief answer to those of you who are eager to get going. Our last frost date is somewhere around mid May, so we try to plant indoors by the first week in April. Unless you have an extremely sunny south facing room, your seeds will probably do best if you start them under lights. The good news is that you don’t need some special greenhouse light. A simple flourescent shop light suspended over a shelf in your garage will work great. Start with good potting soil-John likes the kind with Miracle-Gro in it. You can start seeds in yogurt cups or black plastic seed starting trays, or even toilet paper tubes cut in half. Just make sure your containers have drainage holes in the bottom, and a tray underneath to hold a little water. Plant seeds as deep as the seed packet recommends. Keep pots slightly moist but don’t over-water, or the roots of the little plants will rot. The soil should feel damp but not drenched.
That should be enough info to get you started. Keep an eye on my husband’s blog for more details in the next week or two. And feel free to ask questions wither here or on his blog– he’ll be able to answer better than I!
Keep meaning to start from scratch with seeds, but just never get there! Maybe after the winter I will make an effort.
My 9yo and I started 2 Jiffy green houses of seeds yesterday, and I recieved 3 packages of herb seeds from a friend today! Can’t wait to put them in some dirt too!
May I just say that your poolside garden is almost as large as my house. lol =)