When starting tomatoes from seed, I usually place the whole germination station under lights as soon as I start the seeds.Tomato seeds germinate in 4-10 days on a heat mat with a dome. If you soaked the soil before placing them under cover, you shouldn't have to water again until ...
it is better to use a small pair of scissors to snip out excess seedlings of lettuce, celery and most leafy greens when starting seeds indoors, because separating the fibrous roots leads to serious setbacks in the plants' growth. In comparison, onions and tomatoes seem to enjoy the pricking ...
Video: Starting Seeds Indoors In this video, part of the “How to Start a Vegetable Garden” video series,Fine Gardeningeditors Steve Aitken and Danielle Sherry present the basics: what you’ll need in the way of equipment, how to prepare the planting medium, and how to plant the seeds.Wa...
We decided to chooseshop lightsfor ourselves this year. I am happy to report that they have worked wonderfully. Shop lights cost around half of what a grow light cost and the bulbs last for quite a while too. We grow alarge garden, and I couldn’t imagine investing the kind of money ...
It allows me to start gardening indoors several weeks before my garden beds wake up for the year, and it holds the promise of the growing season to come. In this week’s podcast, I am sharing the seed starting essentials for successfully germinating seeds and caring for seedlings. Joe ...
Tomatoes, melons and squash, with their deep root systems, are excellent sustainable crops, reducing supplemental water dependence. 4. Don’t Buy Containers, Try DIY We’ve already talked about coir pellets for seed starting, but you can also make your own seed pots. DIY seed pots can be...
Tomatoes can be repotted deeper, with soil covering the stem up to just below their leaves, as they will grow new roots from the stem. It’s almost February! In the Southeast, we’re ready to start seeds indoors, and you probably are too. Follow these tips to start seeds indoors ...
Potting mixes on heat mats or under grow lights can dry out quickly, so check pots and trays every single day – no excuses! – and be disciplined about keeping them moist. If seeds have started to germinate but then can’t get enough water to continue growing, they may well f...
Tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants are good examples. Temperatures in the range 75-80°F tend to work well. For these varieties, I place the baggies flat on top of one of my shoplights. You may have a different place that provides a slightly warmer microclimate of just the right ...
Hi Amy, I actually don't use this method for starting warm season crops, because we have such a short cool growing season here in the PNW. I start my heat loving tomato and peppers indoors, peppers in February and tomatoes in March, to be sure they have a warm head start to help el...