I am NOT retired, so I have to divide my time starting seeds with wintertime stall cleaning and all of the Other things in my life. After you plant for awhile you can identify seedlings without markers, so very few of my containers have labels this year. Today I transplanted about 18 tiny cherry tomato seedlings. I lost about 8 of them due to dry out. I save pots from purchases, so they went into 4 inch plastic pots. I filled them about 3/4 full, made a depression in most of them and planted a single seedling in each. Then, I filled two of the pots with multiple cherry t. seedlings, THEN I planted some old tomato seeds that I had stored to see if they will sprout bc I saw a program with a professional tomato grower who overloads his pots with tomato seeds. He says that they grow better with many other seedlings, and then you divide them up when they are all about 5-6 inches tall, so we'll see what survives me!! The others are Mortgage Lifters and Old German (whatever Those are!), and the Old German are 2014 seeds. As you know I once sprouted 35 yo tomato seeds but I let them dry out. Tomato seeds can last pretty long if stored right. They have a clear plastic cover and are now downstairs on a heat mat and under a grow light.
I covered each of the pots with a quart sized zip lock bag and put them in a tray to hold extra water.
I removed the Swiss chard that was growing in jiffy pots (the pots like look like 3 stacked quarters and are dry, then you add water to swell), replanted the jiffy pots with seeds that didn't grow and added more. I have that on top of the fridge and I will leave the overhead kitchen lights on to help them during the day, since I have extra replacement lamps.
Although I bought a seed starting tray with jiffy pots, I found I had one downstairs. I planted sweet peppers in it, multicolored and red. They are on a heat mat under a grow light.
I have the heat mats plugged in 24/7, but the lights are only on for about 13 hours/day. Only one light is on a timer bc I think I need to replace the extension cord. It won't power 2 lights at a time. Since I am Still putting away Christmas on the porch I will probably steal from those cords. Around the holidays is a great time to pick up extension cords at a great price, so I will replace them end of the year.
Btw, I am using well rotted manure and bedding from 2017 as my potting soil. The small pieces that aren't broken down are from pine shavings and I don't mind them in the soil. Can't break down and spend any money on potting soil.
Gardening is certainly an adventure!!
New to seed starting. Every seed germinated and I didn’t have the heart to throw them away so I transplanted them. Which meant the number tripled! I’m going to try and sell them. But next year I will plant only 2 seeds in each pot instead of 3 and will most definitely cut one. It is not worth the effort to sell them. Next week should be dry and I’ll start hardening off the tomatoes.
