A few comments on starting seeds indoors

Since I'm trying to grow as many heirloom varieties as I can, I'm growing a lot of things from seed. The hardier stuff gets planted directly in the garden, but the more temperature sensitive plants get started indoors. So far I've sprouted peppers, broccoli, kohlrabi, squash, cucumber, zucchini, melon, and two kinds of tomatoes indoors. Some have grown very well (zucchini, melon, squash, cucumber), but the others have not done as well. The tomatoes and broccoli are both pretty spindly and sparse. The peppers just haven't done much at all. Here's what they look like today. The viney plants are the four furthest away peat pots, tomatoes in the middle peat pots, peppers in the closest four peat pots. Broccoli, kohlrabi, more tomatoes, and more peppers in the plastic tray.

I know that peppers and tomatoes like to be really warm (thats why they'll be the last ones to go into the garden). I suspect if I had a warming pad to go under the sprouting tray, they would have been a lot happier. A grow-light probably would have helped, too. I just put them near windows. I'm not really sure where I would put a grow-light, but I think I'll have to figure somewhere to put one next year.

I've also learned that its possible to have the soil too wet for seeds to sprout. I started with the big peat pots, then I started using the plastic tray. The peat pots dry out very quickly because the moisture can just wick out right through the sides of the pots. The plastic trays, however, lose very little moisture. When I first tried planting in the plastic tray I put in tomatoes, peppers, broccoli, and kohlrabi. Eight of the spots were filled with at least 25 seeds in total. The dirt took literally two weeks to dry out and only one tomato plant sprouted out of all of it. The sad thing is that about 5 days later I had the tray with the one lonely tomato outside. It was sunny but only in the upper 50's, so I put the clear plastic lid on it to act as a greenhouse. Not sure exactly what happened, but when I came home from work that day the tomato was very very dead. From now on, I think I'll keep the lid off after they sprout.

So for next year:

- Get a warming pad and a grow-light

- Don't put too much water in the dirt when sprouting seeds

- After the seeds sprout, leave the lid off

The good news is that everything I've planted in the garden is doing very well so far.