Starting Seedlings Indoors
Spring is around the corner and you know what that means. Soon it will be time to start your seedlings, either in a south facing window or in your greenhouse, if you are lucky enough to have one. I do and I like to start my plants early to get a jump on the growing season in Southern California.
First you will need to purchase pellets or a seed starter container of some sort. Another option is to look around the house and find yogurt cups or cottage cheese containers. As long as the container has 2 to 3 inches depth and a hole in the bottom it should work . I tried using egg cartons but I made sure they were watered regularly as not to dry out.
Fill the containers with soil that is made for starting seedlings which you can find at any nursery.
When planting you will want to put 2 to 3 seeds in each container. The reason for this is to make sure you will get at least 1 seedling. If they all pop up then you will need to pinch off the weaker looking ones and let the strongest one survive. It is really hard to do this at first because they are all your little babies but this is the best thing to do if you want a healthy, strong plant.
Once you have the seed planted give them a good watering. Then sit them in a tray and water from the bottom of the plant especially tomato and pepper plants. I water all of my seedlings this way.
Before you know it your seedlings will start to emerge. Aren’t they cute! Once they get a couple of inches tall you can move them to a larger container.
It is always good to label your seedlings, I always put the labels in the tray dividing my rows of seedlings so when it is time to transplant them into a larger container, I know what they are.
Before you know it your little seedling babies will grow into a fantastic edible garden! It is so amazing to watch them grow!
