Urban Homesteading on a Small City Lot: Starting My Seeds Indoors

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Starting My Seeds Indoors

I decided to start some seeds indoors about ten weeks ago, just the ones I had on hand.  I then got seeds from the Irish Eyes seed company and needed to start more seeds indoors about 5 days later. I now have two flats of peat pellets planted.

I have stacked my ceder benches in front of my bedroom window, which faces south.  I have been carefully wrapping the curtains around it.  It has succeeded at keeping the cats out, so far.

The flats of peat pellets came with clear plastic covers to keep the moisture and heat in when the sun is shining.  It get very warm in there during the sunny days.

Here are the peat pellets.  The first ones I plated have not shown any signs of sprouting yet.

The second batch I planted have had a few sprouts.  These are celery. The down side of starting in peat pellets is that you have to transplant them very soon after they start growing.  I am still digging up all of my pots.  I will need to make a bigger spot to put them all.

This container has a couple artichoke seeds in it. I am going to try growing artichokes.  I don't know if my family will eat them.  I have heard they are pretty easy to grow.

Here are my seed potatoes.  I am chitting them in front of the window in an egg carton.  You can see the eyes are sprouting very nicely.
 
Here is a list of what I have planted indoors.  I put about three seeds into each pellet, and either 6, 12 or 18 pellets of each plant depending on how many I think I will need and how many my mom and grandpa will need if they want some.
 
Tomatoes - Amish Paste, Bonny Best, Sungold Cherry, Cherokee Purple, Matina, Beef Steak, Better Boy, and Early Girl. The Better Boy and Early Girl were seeds from my grandpa that were left over and he told me to plant them.  They are probably at least a year or two old.  Oh well.
 
Peppers - Serrano, Hungarian Wax, Long Slim Cayenne and Jalapeno
 
Celery - Utah Tall
 
Cabbage - Copenhagen Early Market
 
Collards - Georgian South
 
Broccoli - De Cicco
 
Artichoke - Emerald Fm
 
I have planted outdoors:
 
Peas - Dark Seeded Early and Oregon Sugar Pod
 
Onions - Yellow and Walla Walla Sweet
 
Garlic - Soft Neck Gourmet
 
Radishes - Cherry Belle
 
Spinach - Teton Hybrid
 
I am still firming up my plans for what to plant in what bed.  I have been looking at the companion planting charts and have found that some of the things I had planned to plant near are not compatible, so I am rearranging.  Also, as always, I want to grow more than I have room for.  I have not gotten any eggplant seeds yet. Those need to be started indoors right away or I will be stuck buying starts again like last year.  I am also still looking for Armenian cucumber seeds and need to start my basil plants.
 
I hope everyone else is having a wonderful spring like I am.  I will update on the front yard next.

2 comments:

  1. You have CURTAINS! Oh wait, I think I knew that. :) Hooray for baby sprouts!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, those are the ones in my bedroom, which you knew about. This is the time of year when things seem to take forever because you are waiting but really they happen really fast. It has been 15 days since I planted my first seeds (the peas) and I already have things coming up everywhere. Yay!

      Delete