To start indoors:
- Tomatoes start 4/1 plant out by 6/1
- Eggplant start 4/1 out by 6/1 (or dc 6/1)
- Cukes start 5/1 out by 6/1 (or dc 6/1)
- Pumpkins start 5/8 out by 6/1 (or direct seed 6/1)
I finished planting the tomatoes and eggplant on Saturday. I’m running about 2 weeks behind but I’m not too worried about it with our crazy weather. The pics below shows 4 flats germinating.
Once they sprout they go under the light. The one on the bottom here is celery that I planted on Saturday. Instead of using cells I spread an inch or two of mix in the tray, sprinkled the seeds over it, and patted the mix down with my hand. I’ve never grown celery before so I’m excited to see if it works! The tray on top is a batch of Amish Paste seedlings that I started a couple weeks ago. The other tray is an experiment so to say. I spilled a whole flat that had just been planted with Jersey Giant tomato seeds. To salvage them I scooped up the mix and spread it thinly in a tray. So far 3 sprouts have popped up. I’ll transfer them to cells once they’re a little bigger.
A close up of the Amish Paste seedlings. I’m trying 4 different varieties of tomato this year: Rutgers, Big Month, Jersey Giant, and Amish Paste. I was happy with the APs last year but I was impressed with the size of our neighbors. The bigger tomatoes made processing go faster. I’d like to settle on one variety that I like the best so that next year I can save seed.
How are your seeds coming along?
My seeds are not coming well at all!! This is my first year growing seeds. Usually I just buy the plants from a nursery. I started out with a tray like you and they all sprouted great but now they seem to be slowly dying…..it stinks like rotting and the plants that I at first thought were doing great are now wilted and brown…HELP! What is your secret???