How are your seedlings doing?
- By MyVeggieHeven
- April 10, 2014
- No Comments
So, how are your seedlings doing? In northwest New Jersey our frost date is May 15th. That means that most seedlings need to be planted 6-8 weeks before that then. Some need to be started even before that. I have a pop up greenhouse in the back room of my house that I’ve outfitted with grow lights and heated mats where my seedlings live until I start to harden them off in about a month from now.
Many of what I grow in my garden is directly sown into the soil but our season isn’t long enough for me to do that with everything. I can certainly go to the local garden store to get my seedlings but I try to start most things myself. This way I have a much broader choice of exactly what I want to grow. For instance, I prefer to grow heirloom non-GMO varieties that Monsanto will not receive any profit from. I also like to grow some unique varieties that I just can’t get at the store. A few years ago a gardening magazine (can’t remember which one, sorry!) featured Goldman’s Italian American Heirloom tomato. It just looked so great in the picture that I have to grow it myself. Another variety is a Polish tomato I purchased from Seed Savers. A friend of a friend gave me a few last year from her garden. It had thick walls, low seeds and pulp and could be used for paste, sauce or brushetta and salsa. Perfect.
The greatest danger that my poor seedlings face is the small army of cats that reside in my home. Who the heck let them all in here anyway? They have stolen more seed pods than I care to talk about. Which is why I need to go to the store any buy cabbage seedlings now. Stinkers.
Lucy in the greenhouse. This is not a good thing.
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