Starting my first seeds of the season
germination, indoor seed starting
My two daughters and I could not take it anymore and had to get our hands dirty and start some seeds indoors. Cute to hear my 3 year old say in the dead of winter “Can we garden now?” when it is 20 degrees outside and 4 inches of snow.
Given that our last frost date is March 15th and I don’t have a good southern facing window I might regret the early start but I always have my grow box if the steps start to get leggy. I was also thinking that my grow box would be a decent way to start hardening off young seedlings with wind and temperature a little more in my control.
I normally start my seeds with netted peat pellets, but this year for environment concerns and because I am cheap I went with coconut coir. I must say I love this stuff it retains water very well, which is great for those little seedlings. The kids also got a kick out of watching the little brick expand to half fill my 5 gallon bucket after adding the 5 quarts of water. Now one lesson learned is to cut that block up into small pieces especially if you are not doing all of your planting at once.
I was planning on starting some cucumbers, lettuce, and tomatoes but apparently I didn’t save any tomato seeds from last year so looks like I am stuck with the local seed selection this year. I didn’t have any small pots around so grabbed some of my kids’ water cups and cut a hole in the bottom and filled them full of damp coconut coir and let the excess water drain and put them in a strawberry container which may work as a nice little greenhouse. If you look close enough you can see some little sprouts already starting from the lettuce in just one day. I also cut the top off a 2 liter bottle to top off one of my terra cotta pots which I planted lavender.
Related posts:
- Using WonderSoil for seed starting
- Starting seeds in paper towels
- My Lettuce seeds have sprouted
- Planting seeds outside
- Gardening products I would buy if I wasn’t so cheap
Tags: cheap, garden seeds, growbox, led, outdoor plants, strawberry plants, tomato plants, vegetables
February 11th, 2008 at 3:07 PM
I am interested in seeing how the coconut coir works for seed starting. I read about it at http://mrbrownthumb.blogspot.com . I am growing very impatient and want to get some seeds started. I have to wait at least a few more weeks! Enjoy watching your seeds!
February 19th, 2008 at 9:01 AM
I would have to say I have been really impressed with it, also is a nice that you can store your extra (no exposed to water) and not take up too much extra space in the garage.
February 19th, 2009 at 1:13 AM
Will you be transplanting them into soil or into a hydroponic system? I just got myself a brick of coir and I’m planning on starting them the same way as you, the transplanting them into a DWC system with hydroton in the net cups. Any suggestions?
February 19th, 2009 at 8:57 PM
Well these were from last year and went into the soil and worked out pretty good. This year I am planning on doing a little bit of both. Growing outside with some soil so I know that will work but also do some indoor hydroponics.
February 19th, 2009 at 10:14 PM
Cool, thanks for the info, I actually just looked at the date and saw February, but I didn’t notice the year till now.