Growing vegetables From Seeds

Spring is just around the corner and it's time to start planning for this year's garden! Most of us wait impatiently for tomato, cucumber, squash and other seedling to make their appearance at the local garden store. This is a very tempting solution to the problem since the plants sold at Home Depot, Lowes and your local nursery are grown in green houses and, thus, are quite large when you buy them. Some of the larger tomato plants will even have small tomatoes on them, thus, giving you a head start on this year's growing season. While there is nothing wrong with this approach to gardening, it is quite expensive. Why not grow your seedling from inexpensive seeds and save some money? Guess what, it's also a fun thing to do! If you have a green house great! If not, there are inexpensive ways to grow your vegetables from seeds. The simplest way to start plants from seeds is to place plastic cells on a window sill in a warm room facing south. I use recycled plastic cell six packs that I've collected over the years from past purchases of nursery plants. Similarly, one can purchase a larger 50 cell plastic container filled with a seed starting material and use it over and over again. The process is simple and fool-proof. Fill the cells with sphagnum peat moss and pack it down with the rounded end of a screwdriver handle. Now make a hole in the center of each peat filled cell with the sharpened point of a #2 lead pencil. Place a single seed in each hole. To simplify this process, fold a piece of stiff paper, a 3 X 5 file card works well, length wise and make a 45 ° angle cut across one end so that the V-shaped trough that will hold the seeds has a pointed end. Now place the seeds in the channel and, using the pointed end of a pen or pencil, move a single seed into each hole in the peat moss filled cell pack. Sprinkle a little peat moss over the cell pack to cover the seeds and pack down the material again with the screw driver handle. Water the peat daily and expect the seeds to sprout in 5 to 10 days. If possible, place the cell packs on a seed-starting heat pad, sold at all nurseries, that will keep the peat filled containers at 72°F, the perfect temperature for starting seeds. Finally, if forced to start your plants in a dark area, like a garage, consider purchasing fluorescent lights designed for the purpose of growing vegetables indoors. A hydroponics store is a good place to inquire about grow lamps but most nurseries also carry them. That's all there is to it! With a little effort and at little or no expense you can get a head start on nature this spring, You are going to love growing your vegetables from seeds in a cell pack, I guarantee it! Your pocket book will thank you also!