Starting Seeds

Starting your seeds in starter pots, with rich garden soil, will help get your plants off to a healthy beginning.

There are a couple of ways to start your seeds, by sowing them in a starter pot indoors, or directly sowing them in the ground.  Down here, we have a very long growing season, so there really isn't too much of a reason to sow most of my seeds indoors, but for those who live where summer is short, you may want to plant in a starter pot and keep your pots inside until all danger of frost and cold weather has passed.

I plant my beans, cucumbers, squash, and peas right into the ground, and even though I don't have to worry much about frost, there are a few plants I like to start in a peat pot or starter pot.  Pumpkins, watermelons, and cantaloupe, some of my flowers, peppers and tomatoes.  Melons need a lot of time and warm weather to grow.  Usually about 90 - 100 days, and they take up a lot of room, so I transplant as soon as it's warm enough (75+ degrees) which gives me melons earlier in the season, and then I can use the melon planting area for another crop for the fall.

With my tomatoes and peppers, I plant in pots, then I transplant into my garden, and then plant seeds directly in the ground 2 weeks later, and then again two weeks after that.  This way, I harvest more veges over a longer period of time.

The reason why I start my flowers in pots is because we have so many different kinds of weeds here, and many times, flower seedlings look a lot like baby weeds.  I can't tell you how many times I've pulled up flowers I had already planted, or young seedlings that were trampled or choked out by other weeds.  Really, most flowers ARE weeds, and as I'm easily confused and forgetful, I need all the help I can get.  Starter pots for my marigolds and  nasturtiums and the like are the way to go.

Of course, all of my herbs I keep in pots, but I'll save that for another time...

 

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