Seed starting setup

Tags

heirlooms, kale, peppers, Seed starting, seeds, tomatoes

Seed starting trays

This year I decided to grow all of my tomatoes and peppers from seed. We have a number of local sources to buy transplants here in Central PA, and some of them have a pretty impressive selection of heirloom tomatoes, but heirloom peppers are hard to find. Also, I absolutely love Lacinato kale, and it’s not always easy to find transplants.

I also want to start saving more seeds from my garden, so I decided it was time to make some improvements to my seed starting setup. I’ve had a rough time with starting seeds indoors the last few years. I only have North-facing windows in my apartment, so there isn’t enough natural light to start seeds. Last year I used a small fluorescent “plant light” that apparently wasn’t bright enough, because my seedlings got very spindly.

This year, I’m starting my seeds under a 48″ fluorescent shop light. I built a simple stand for it out of 1″ pvc pipe. Unfortunately I didn’t have the foresight to take pictures during the assembly process, but here’s a look at the finished product:

Fluorescent grow light stand made out of 1″ pvc pipe

To build something similar, you’ll need:

• 1 x 52″ length of 1″ pvc pipe
• 2 x 18″ lengths of 1″ pvc pipe
• 4 x 8″ lengths of 1″ pvc pipe
• 2 x 1″ pvc elbow joints
• 2 x 1″ pvc T-joints
• 4 x 1″ pvc end caps

In total, it adds up to a 10′ length of pvc pipe, which is pretty cheap. The 52″ section makes the crossbeam, and the 18″ pieces are used for the vertical legs. The 8″ sections are used to make the feet. Here’s a link to something similar, although I didn’t make the stand with an adjustable height; I adjust the level of the light just by raising or lowering the chain. The total cost was probably not much more than $40 for the stand, shop light, and fluorescent bulbs.

I also purchased a seedling heat mat, since peppers like warm temperatures for germination, and usually keep my apartment relatively cool. Here’s a list of what I’m starting indoors this year:

Basil
Genovese

Kale
Lacinato
Dwarf Curled Blue Scotch

Peppers
Joe’s Round
Maule’s Red Hot
Jimmy Naradello’s
Chinese Five Color

Tomatoes
Paul Robeson
Black Cherry
Black from Tula
Opalka
Pink Brandywine Cherry (from SSE member OR TR R)
Bosu (from SSE member WI LO M)
Sleeping Lady (from SSE member WI MI B)

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Seed Catalog Orders

Tags

heirlooms, seeds

Ugh. March. Definitely not my favorite time of year. In Central PA, March means that there’s not enough snow for skiing (actually there wasn’t all winter), but it’s still too cold for most other outdoor activities. Plus, it’s still a bit too early to start working in the garden.

Fortunately, it’s the time of year when my seed orders start coming in the mail! This year I spent probably a bit more than I should have on seeds (okay, that actually happens every year). I ordered seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds and from Seed Savers Exchange, in addition ordering seeds offered by SSE members in the yearbook. This was my first year ordering from Baker Creek. The owner Jere Gettle is a huge proponent of the open-pollinated and heirloom seed movement, and their catalog offers over 1450 rare varieties. I’m trying to move toward saving more seeds from my garden. While I won’t try to save seed from everything I plant, since biennials like carrots, beets, and brassicas are tricky, I’m going to try to do as much as possible in 150 square feet! This also will be the first year I will have grown strictly open-pollinated varieties. Here are some of the highlights for this year’s garden:

Chioggia and Crapaudine beets

I’ve grown Chioggia beets for about the last 3 years. They’re awesome – very sweet, and they’re great on the grill. This year I’m also growing Crapaudine beets. They’re a rare French heirloom (besides Baker Creek, I couldn’t find many other sources for seeds). They’re a highly sought-after gourmet variety, and supposedly one of the oldest beets in existence.

Peas: Desiree Dwarf Blauwschokkers and Sugar Snap

I thought I’d have some fun this year with trying to cross-breed some peas. I read Carol Deppe’s excellent book Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties (which I highly recommend to anyone interested in seed saving and/or plant breeding), and thought I’d give it a shot. I’m growing Desiree Dwarf Blauwschokkers – a purple-podded shelling pea from Holland, and sugar snap peas. The goal will be to develop an edible-podded purple pea. Wish me luck!

Black cherry tomato

Black cherry tomatoes. Don’t they look delicious?

Seminole pumpkin and Lemon squash

Mmmm…squash! One of my favorite things to grow and to eat. For winter squash, I’m going to try growing Seminole pumpkins (C. moschata). These are the wild squash that grow down in the Florida Everglades. Since they’re wild, they’re supposed to have pretty great disease resistance, which is something I need badly. I have yearly battles with the cucumber beetles and squash bugs, and I am losing badly. I’ve read that C. moschata varieties (i.e. butternut squash and its relatives) have better disease resistance in general than C. maxima (e.g. most pumpkins and Hubbard squashes). I’ll also be growing Kikuza, a Japanese heirloom squash (also C. moschata).  The Lemon squash will be my summer squash. Again, I’ve read that they’re supposed to have good disease resistance. Time will tell…

Chinese five color peppers

Chinese Five Color Peppers. Aren’t they cool? I’ll probably grow a few in pots on my patio besides whatever goes into my community garden plot.

Poona Kheera cucumber

Poona Kheera cucumber – I’ve read that this variety has pretty good pest and disease resistance. I actually haven’t grown cucumbers for several years because I got so frustrated – they would start out great, then they’d be struck by a plague of cucumber beetles, get wilt, and die. This year I’ll be trialing the Poona Kheera cukes, along with the ‘Mideast Peace’ variety that I’m requesting from a Seedsavers Exchange member, to see for myself how good the claims of disease resistance are.

I’m still waiting on the orders from the Seedsavers catalog, as well as orders that I’ve placed from individual SSE members. More on that in a future post…