Starting Seeds Inside

Last week, February 6th, We woke up to a foot of snow on the ground. And yet, we thought it would be a good idea to start our seeds. A little crazy. But, it also gives me hope that the dark cold days will end at some point.

We decided to try planting our own starts again this year because we have a few varieties of plants that we really liked and we are not sure if they will be available at the nurseries near us. By the time we find out, it would be too late.

Two years ago we found a variation of the Santa Fe pepper that we really liked. It was just a little spicy and had a thick wall like a bell pepper. We pickled some and they were awesome! Then last year when we went to buy plants they were not available. It was pretty disappointing.

We tried ordering seeds and planting them but only one plant survived long enough to make it into the garden. By the time it was putting on peppers it was fall and we didn’t have enough to pickle. Needless to say, we are taking matters into our own hands this year.

We have tried starting seeds inside before. They grew but then they didn’t survive the transplanting very well. So like everything else, we are going to try to figure out what worked and what didn’t.

We bought a grow light for starters. Rather than keeping our seedlings in the window we are going to set them in the basement, near the furnace, where it stays nice and warm. Then we will put the grow light above them once they poke their heads out of the dirt.

We checked on them a few days after we planted them and there were already tiny sprouts poking up.

We hung the light above them at that point since they were now out of the ground. I went to check on them a few days later and found a bunch more seeds had sprouted.

We just have to make sure they are getting enough water. They have the other things they need, sun and dirt. Little David helped me give the plants some water.

So far, it is looking like our experiment will succeed. We might even get more plants than we need and have to give some to neighbors. That is what we are hoping for.