Hello, hivers! Welcome to my page!
It's almost the middle of April now, so it's time to start some garden seeds. I usually start the tomato plants first, before I start any other plants. Our season is too short to start tomatoes in the garden, so I start them in the house about this time of year. Once I get the plants started and they get a few inches tall, I'll be able to put them out into the greenhouse. I have to wait until sometime in May to put them into the greenhouse, it's still too cold at night in the greenhouse for garden plants in April.
To start the process, the first thing I need is potting soil to put the seeds in. In the last couple of years, I've used the peat pod pellets that expand when you get them wet, but I haven't had the best luck with getting seeds to germinate with them, so this year I'm using potting soil.
I had about a half a bag of Miracle Gro potting soil left from last year that I had used for transplanting, so I bought a bag of seed starting mix from the local grow shop. If it's good for cannabis, it's good for tomato plants. The HSU brand is all organic and comes from Wisconsin. I also bought some Mykos from the grow shop to add to the potting soil. Mykos is a mycorrhizal inoculant, a naturally occurring type of fungi that grows in the dirt and helps with root growth and nutrient uptake by the plants.
I poured both bags into my mixing tub.
I also found a half a bucket of potting soil that I added to the mixing tub. I sprinkled some of the Mykos granules on the dirt, and then mixed it with my small garden hoe.
I got my starting pots and prepared to fill them with the soil. These are new starting pots that I recently bought, so I had to separate them so I could fill them one at a time without making a big mess.
Here they are, filled and ready to go.
I have a seed starting heat pad that I bought last year for seed starting, I placed it in the location where I'll be starting the seeds.
Then I put the seed starting tray on the heating pad. The tray has a nice clear top to help slow down the moisture evaporation from the soil so it doesn't dry out too fast. It's also tall enough to leave on until the plants get several inches tall.
Now I just have to decide which seeds to start first. I have 5 varieties of tomato seeds right now that I got locally, and I ordered a couple of others that I want to grow but can't find locally. I'll probably start the paste tomatoes first, those plants stay in the greenhouse all summer in the big pots.
I grow both heirloom tomato plants and hybrid tomato plants. The heirloom tomato plants have a lot of variety and great flavor, but they're not as resistant to some diseases as the hybrid plants are. Every growing year is different, so it helps to have a variety of plants. If one type of plant does poorly, another type will do well.
Well, that's it for this post, thanks for checking it out.
I'm already getting my hands dirty when I can spare the time.
That is the way! 😀
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Nice set up. Hope they do well for you. What do you use for lights? Tomatoes like plenty of light for germination. Might be part of the problem...
I have the seed starter tray in front of a window, that's about all the light I normally use. I have a plant light, I just have to make something to hang it from over the tray in order to use it. I guess a little project is in order...
I need to plant a few things too, I don't have a yard but a little terrace but last year during lockdown I bought some pots and I even grew two pumpkins :)
Pumpkins on the terrace! Now, there's something you don't see very often!😀
hahhaha yes I got two big pumpkins, I didn't expect them to grow so big out of the pots so i had to put boxes for them to hold the rings and vines, but yes got two pretty ones and it was hard to eat them LOL I struggle a little, they were my babies. I'm planting late this year.
it is nice to see how much you care for your seedlings. as I live in the tropics we just throw some seeds on the ground an it's done haha. but some may not bear too much fruit because we only use bare soil or compost (without anything bought)
I'm guessing that your growing season is year around, or do you have a wet season and a dry season that you have to work with?
we have a dry and wet season here. but many plants can grow in both
The heating pad is a necessity, isn't it? I almost bought one that I saw at a thrift shop but then I said nah. I sort of regret that now. Good luck with the seedlings!
Thanks!
I don't think the heating pad is necessary, but it is helpful. With the heating pad, it doesn't take as long for the seeds to germinate, especially tomato seeds.
I would never think about using a tray! Very smart! Everytime I try to plant tomatoe plants my cats keeps trying to eat them lol
Yeah, cats will do that...
In the past, I've used an aquarium with a screen top to start seeds, for the same reason. The cats seem to like to chew small plants.
Do you recommend the heating pad? I have never used one. I had issues last year staring peppers and I think it may have just been too cold for them.
Well, one thing the seed starter heat pads are good for is making sure the soil is warm enough for seed germination, so in that respect I would recommend getting one.