I also get to work a teeny bit in my garden today. Project One: start seeds indoors. I've never attempted this before, but I know that germinating seeds need three things*: moisture, warmth, and clean soil.
*I learned these things in third grade as part of my science fair project - "At what temperature do seeds germinate best?" I stuck bean seeds inside of Ziploc bags full of moist paper towels and scattered them around the house. I even made my mom wear one on her shoulder for two weeks. It turns out that seeds germinate best on humans and behind aquariums, or at temperatures between 75-85 degrees.
I got my seeds from Burpee (you can get 8 Swagbucks per dollar spent there, plus $10 off with the code BTEN) and ordered my germination trays from Amazon. I got the seed starting mix from Home Depot - it cost an arm-and-a-leg, so I should really learn how to mix peat moss and vermiculite to mimic that stuff.
According to the Farmer's Almanac, eggplant and peppers should be started between January 17th-31st. Some lettuce and kale was planted too as an experiment - they should germinate much faster than the other seeds so I can test my grow lights on these seedlings.
I'll post my seed-starting schedule sometime this week, since this past weekend my dad kept asking what seeds to start this month. My mom kept rolling her eyes at us...it probably brought back bad memories of her being an incubator so many years ago.
Project Two: setting up my grow lights. I'm fairly certain that the Home Depot guy thinks that I'm a medicinal-herb farmer. After shifty looks at the checkout line, I mentioned that I'm starting my tomatoes indoors this year. He was still not convinced. Pictures coming soon!
- Maggie White
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