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Seed starting help
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Posted by puppymamma 5b (My Page) on Sat, Feb 6, 10 at 8:52
Hi everyone -
I am not new to gardening but I've never really tried to start my own veggies indoors or annuals before. I haven't bought any trays or anything yet and I wondered if you could give me some advice as to the how and when. Any time I tried them in the past, they got mouldy. If you have seed trays that you love could you tell me where you got them? I saw some at Lee Valley and in the Feilds catalog but I wasn't sure what was best. Thanks in advance for your help, I'm dying for spring!!!!! |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Seed starting help
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| Hi Puppy! :) If you want to start veggies inside, check the dates given on the packages - i.e. tomatoes might say start indoors 6-8 weeks before your last frost date (around here - zone 3 - that's mid to late May, but in 5b, likely to be earlier than that). I prefer seed-starting mix in four-packs, but it's trial and error, and everyone develops their own prefereneces. Canadian Tire and Walmart have trays, though most of them seem to have peat pellets with them rather than the plastic packs. Sometimes you can find empty trays, though, and i also save mine from year to year as well as the four-packs. What might have you confused is the name of this forum. Our "winter sowing" is entirely different from starting seeds indoors, and there might be other forums devoted to that. This is where we make mini-greenhouses out of things like clear 2l pop bottles or milk jugs and plant (mostly) flower seeds and put them outside in winter. You can find more information about this in the Winter Sowing Forum (FAQs) or at wintersown.org. Good luck! |
RE: Seed starting help
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| Thanks for your help - maybe I'll try the wintersowing method it looks fun and easy! |
RE: Seed starting help
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| For seed sowing, I use either Pro-Mix or Miracle Gro Seed Starting Mix. I'm sure there are other brand name products that are similar. These are usually better than dirt(soil) labelled "potting mix" for starting seeds. Sometimes it's harder to locate than "potting mix", which seems to be available everywhere. If you can only find "potting mix", it is helpful to add some perlite and/or course sand to the mix to make it drain better for the seedlings. Various plastic trays and inserts (9 cell, 6 cell,4 cell etc) are available at most nurseries and often Can.Tire or the like. You can also use 3-4" green plastic pots instead of the inserts and sit them in the larger trays. I have quite a few narrow black plastic trays that hold four inserts. These trays are 21" x 6" and come with clear plastic tops. When using them outdoors, they need to have multiple holes punched in both the clear top and the black bottom sections. I got all mine at Can Tire. |
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