Seed Starting Experiment

I have been trying for quite a long time to get my flowers (mostly Marigolds) to be either blooming or well-budded when it is time to put them in my wife's flower beds. I have usually missed by at least a month, and have to wait for very small plants to grow up and blossom. This year I am trying something new. I started some Marigolds on my boiler on January 25th, and will start another batch on Feb 25 (or thereabouts), and March 25th for the final batch. In checking my records from last year, I find that I started these seeds all on April 19th - too late I think. Anyway, I will also start my tomatoes, peppers, and cole crops earlier this year - maybe around the Middle of March. I will let you know how my experiment works out.

On seed starting - here's how I have done it successfully for just about forever. I take a 3 inch plastic pot, and fill it to about 1/2 inch of the top with seed starting mix (available at any garden store, Wal-Mart, etc). I get it good and wet by adding water until it is soaked. (Its a good idea to have a flat pan under your pot). Then I sprinkle a whole packet of seeds on top and cover them with about a 1/4 inch of the mix. The pot (In a pan), goes on my hot water boiler, and I cover the seed pot with saran wrap or something like that to keep the moisture in. If you don't have a boiler, any warm spot will do, just slower. A word of caution, don't put a whole packet of seeds like broccoli or cauliflower in the pot, unless you plan on setting out about 200 plants. About 30 or 40 seeds is usually plenty. The little plants come up in about 3 days for me, and have to be moved under grow lights. In my case, the grow light is a shop lite, which I suspend about 3-4 inches above the pot (and off the boiler). The next step in the process is the first transplanting, which I will cover in a later posting. This gardening stuff is not very complicated, I don't understand why is continues to fascinate me after all these years. I guess it is because you can learn many new things as you go along (along with lots of new plant varieties). I couldn't possibly afford all the plants I want if I didn't start my own seeds.