Seed starting - Grasty style

I mentioned before that this is the first year we've been successful starting seeds indoors. There are a number of reasons for this. In previous years, I've bought those Jiffy peat pot contraptions. They always ended miserably, in mold and plant death, despite following directions. I gave up on it for a few years, but after the potting party I realized my mistake. The key to seed starting success is dirt --- good, quality planting mix. It is worth every penny, so don't skimp and buy the cheapest you can find. This is what we have, and it is glorious.

The next vital ingredient for successful seed starting is light. Our house is shaded by trees and doesn't get sufficient sunlight from windows alone, so we needed to supplement.

Here is how we have our seeds setup inside: We bought a few fluorescent lights (already in casing)from the big box store, and realized that we needed another light to illuminate all our seed trays. So we bought a hanging fluorescent shop light and a grow bulb from a local hardware store. We mounted the original lights on a 2x4 and propped them up with scraps of wood. The shop light was a bit trickier; since we didn't really want to screw hooks into our living room ceiling, we had to improvise. Remember, I said you could just call me MacGyver! We used clamps to attach scrap pieces of 2x4 to our fireplace mantel; then hung the shop light and grow bulb from the wood to hang over our seed trays. Oh, and I should point out that the seed trays are sitting on our children's train table. It's the perfect size for four large trays! Needless to say, it's not the most sophisticated setup --- nor is it the prettiest. But it works, it's out of the way, and we didn't have to spend money on building anything special to house our seeds.

 

Seed starting, Grasty style!

 

We water the seeds daily as needed, and rotate the seed trays every other day or so. The grow light is in the back and the normal fluorescent lights are in the front. At this time, I don't notice much of a difference between the two lights; but I rotate them anyway, just in case. As you can see from the picture, the light from the front bulbs doesn't quite make it all the way to the ends of the trays. Therefore, there are a few cells that are a bit shaded. Rotating ensures that they all get sufficient light.

Next year we will likely build a more sophisticated structure for seeds (and give the kids their train table back!), but we weren't sure we'd be successful this year so we made do with what we had. So far, so good!

---Autumn