Starting seeds for spring this weekend. anyone else getting started?

[blueiris]

Tomorrow, I'm planting my tomato seeds! I start them on my very sunny back porch and bring them in if there is a frost warning. I'm in North/Central Florida. In addition to beefsteaks and some cherry tomatoes (my faves! yum!) I'm trying some heirloom varieties this year that I received in a swap and I have no idea how well they will do because they came from across the country!
Has anyone else out there got started with seed planting this early?

 

[clueless1]

I'm afraid I haven't got the Florida climate, but I've still started a load of seeds off

They are in my custom built 'grow cabinet'. Its a cupboard, with an LED array (in the right bandwidths for photosynthesis) and a heat mat in it. I've got a load of flower seedlings in there, sown on new years day and doing nicely.

 

[blueiris]

Sounds like a great set up clueless1.

I'm a bit of a beginner, although I grew up with a mom with an amazing green thumb!

I'm very low tech and low budget at the moment. When I bring in my seedlings, in case of frost, I just put them near a window in the one room I keep my plant-destroying cats out of, and then put them back out after the frost.

I have seen some wonderful indoor growing rooms and one day hope to have a dedicated space for indoor seedlings, etc. I enjoy growing from seeds and am interested in expanding my experiments in propagation in the future.

 

[clueless1]

I'm a bit of a beginner, although I grew up with a mom with an amazing green thumb!

When it comes to gardening, we all are. There's more to learn than any individual has time to learn. If we are lucky, we are given maybe 80 or even 90 years on this planet. Sounds like a lot. Knock of maybe 20 of those years for our childhood and youth, because often kids aren't that interested in gardening. Knock off maybe 10 of those years at the end, because often the very old can't manage to keep it going, and knock off maybe 10 more years for various normal life things taking priority. That means if we're lucky, we get maybe 40 years for gardening. Still sounds like a lot, until you consider that we work to nature's calendar, which means those 40 years are really more like 40 attempts to get it right

Or maybe another way to look at it is that non of us are beginners. If there is a beginning, there must surely also be an end. The garden is never done. The garden doesn't stop growing if we stop tending it. We're just temporary keepers, just passing through, pausing to do our bit along the way.

 

[Tmann]

Can't start mine for several weeks yet. Can't wait for spring though.

 

[DrCase]

i placed two plant orders last weekend
does that count ?

 

[zigs]

Got some Kelsae onions on the go, and a few trays of salad & a couple of beans. All indoors though, forecast is -12c tonight.

 

[Tmann]

Zigs had never heard of kelsae onions so I googled them. These onions get huge! Are they hard to grow? Any special soil requirements?

 

[zigs]

Not hard to grow, but I should have started them earlier the first year I grew them, they weren't quite ready for the summer show.

As you can see, they were still green & hadn't reached their full size, but I needed something to enter. Some folk grow them enormous.

Started off earlier this year as we've got a competition going on a UK forum. Although if I sell the house I may have to drop out due to lack of garden, unless I keep them in the car

 

[southernmom3]

We just got all of our seeds this weekend!
I am so ready for spring!
We will be starting our seeds this weekend, hopefully Spring will find it's way down here soon!

 

[Mariam]

I started some rainbow chard seeds because I was super excited. They popped up, one pink and three yellow/green. I pulled out the weak ones, so now I have one of each color. I think I might be bad at seed starting, though. They keep wanting to droop. I feel so horrible for them. Maybe they need more water? I tend to plant directly in the ground or in larger containers, so I am not sure if I have seed starting down pat, yet.

 

[headfullofbees]

I have some spinach and pak choi sprouting and my jalapenos are up!

 

[Chuck]

Just planted my pepper seeds in flats 2 days ago. Been having icy weather since then and can't get to the garden where my seed planting stuff is without ice skates.

 

[globulon]

I was just having this exact thought today! I am very inexperienced compared to many of you, so i was unsure of the optimal time to get seeds growing in preparation for spring. Really want to get a jump start on my outdoor herb garden this year. If many of you are starting up this weekend it may be a signal to me to start in the next few weeks. I'm in a more wintry location, so spring is still a ways off for me.

 

[zigs]

I was just having this exact thought today! I am very inexperienced compared to many of you, so i was unsure of the optimal time to get seeds growing in preparation for spring. Really want to get a jump start on my outdoor herb garden this year. If many of you are starting up this weekend it may be a signal to me to start in the next few weeks. I'm in a more wintry location, so spring is still a ways off for me.

Careful about planting to early without artificial light, the seedings grow too tall and leggy