Seedlings for the Garden

I'm expanding our little garden this year, doubling the size actually, so I've started some seedlings in the hope warmer spring weather will visit us soon. We've passed by the vernal equinox, just a week ago, so the days are getting longer and I'm sure it will begin warming soon.

My "Grow Station" in the basement consists of an old wire display rack, with a suspended fluorescent light fixture containing two GroLight bulbs to offer the little buggers the widest spectrum of light available on an artificial basis. With that, I'm using a heating pad, set on the middle setting, to warm the potting soil and seeds just a bit.

Our basement growing station containing four tomato varieties,
three peppers and collard greens.

I added a sheet of aluminum foil to each side of the planter, trying to direct as much light as possible to the little seedlings. With heat, good soil, moisture and adequate lighting the miracle of life continues.

It's time to take the scissors to these starts, thinning them
down to just one or two of the healthiest plants.

The planter shown below was started on March 6th, so these seedlings are just three weeks old. This planter contains broccoli, claytonia, two varieties of onions, three types of sweet bell peppers, purslane, chives and sorrel.

I need to thin a bit more, as you can see. I've done that once already, but I've found it's hard to cut out what seems to be a perfectly healthy little plant. Without doing that, though, the roots just wouldn't have room to spread and grow well.

This planter is now sitting in an east-facing window,
trying to catch as much of the spring sunshine as possible. 

The lack of real sunshine has a few of these plants pretty spindly; I hope our warmer weather and some actual sunlight will remedy that problem.

Not all seeds will be started indoors. In just a couple weeks, some cool-weather crops will be sown directly into the garden soil outdoors. Lettuce varieties—we love fresh salad greens—spinach and sugar peas will be planted as soon as the soil warms up in early to mid April.

It is exciting to see these plants come to life with the hope and promise of delicious, healthy harvests to come.