Spring Seed Starting Time
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Spring is sprung, and its time to start my seeds for this year’s garden and terrace plantings. Well, it hasn’t actually sprung here yet, but we can always hope.
I’m lucky enough to finally have a garden plot in our community garden (after 7 years on the waitlist), so I have the chance to plant whatever I can fit in a 3 by 6 foot space. My plot gets good sun, with some afternoon shade in the middle of summer. Its perfect for vegetables and herbs.
This year I am going to try a version of the Square Foot Gardening idea, so that I can maximize the variety and keep things ripening all season long.
I also have a big terrace right outside the door of my home, so I have another chance to grow things. Since I’m on the north side of the building, I don’t get very much afternoon sun, but do get morning sun. I am on the 4th floor, so there is a pretty constant breeze; that seems to limit my ability to grow tall vegetables or even flowers.
Even so, I feel like I’ve been able to grow some beautiful flowers for cutting and for just enjoying where they grow.
I used to buy annuals from the big box store, or the local nursery every spring. I would occasionally start my own more exotic plants, but not the ‘everyday’ ones like tomatoes, peppers, marigolds and petunias. Then last year I decided to start everything from seed. This year I am doing the same.
I haven’t actually seen my garden plot since December when I cleaned it out for the winter (its been cold outside or covered in snow). The last time I saw it, I cleaned out all the weeds, and spent some time digging in some soil additives—mainly peat moss and compost—to feed it over the winter.
As you can see, I’m not one to remove all of the dead leaves and twigs. I like to think of them as aeration material, or compost. Or I’m just too lazy to get them all.
I will probably head over to the community garden (it’s a couple of blocks away) one of the next two weekends when it is warmish out, and dig it again. I intend to plant lettuce, radishes, carrots, beets, and some other cold weather veg in early April (our last frost date is mid May).
I haven’t had fabulous luck with beets, radishes or carrots, I seem to grow only miniature versions, but they do taste delicious.
But more exciting than that I will be starting my seeds around mid March as well. I use a seed starter kit, and just order new peat pods every spring to use for the individual seeds. Its super easy because you just take a peat pod and stick it in the ground or the pot when its ready to be planted.
My house has radiant heating in the floors near the exterior walls, so right by the slider door to the terrace. The seedlings love the combination of heat, light, and moisture from the seed starting trays, and I’ve found that I get a really high germination rate.
I find that hardening the plants off is also very easy because I can take the whole tray outside on the days I am doing it, and still bring it back in at night, or if the weather does not cooperate.
I’ve also had good luck with the transplanting, but I have to force myself to be patient with the baby seedlings, and not transplant too early. Last year I was giving away tomato and pepper plants to everyone I could think of.
This year, I will be starting canna lilies, spiderwort, hollyhocks, and milkweed, in addition to the usual marigolds, veg, and herbs. I saved the canna lily and hollyhock seeds and my brother saved the milkweed and spider wort seeds.
I’ve also been saving the nasturtium seeds from year to year, and they do well in a big pot by the slider. They are a great addition to salads, and I continuously plant lettuce seeds in the pots with them.
I’ve also got some heirloom tomato seeds saved from actual tomatoes from last season, as well as purple/black bell peppers and heirloom bean seeds saved from the garden. Hopefully it will be another fun and surprising year of veg and flowers.
I can’t wait to get my seeds started, because it always reminds me that spring is just around the corner (even though sometimes in Chicago, it is a very long way around that corner).
What are you growing this year? Are you a seed starter or a seedling buyer? What do you prefer?
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