In Preparation for Spring : Seed Starters and Garden beds

Only six more weeks until outdoor planting begins on our less than 1/4 acre, HOA (Home Owner Association) controlled, suburban homestead in Castle Rock, Colorado.

We are excited to see our veggie seedlings are healthy and growing well. For the next few weeks we will nurture them while we wait patiently for planting day in mid-May.

In the past few years we have devised a seed starting system that has proven to be very successful for us.

We recommend placing a seed starter heat mat under a large clear plastic storage container. It increases the soil temperature speeding up and increasing germination.

We piggy-back the sun’s morning light with a four-foot long light fixture with grow light tubes set on a 4 hour timer. This set-up overlaps the sun’s light for 2 hours. We place our seedling pots in large, clear plastic storage containers (hold 48 – 4 inch pots). We water our seedlings from the bottom; simply filling the large container with 1/2 inch of diluted water / organic plant food. Repeat watering when the container is completely .dry

The containers assist in bouncing light evenly – eliminating spindly plant stems. They also aid in creating a warmer, more humid micro-environment speeding up plant growth. Lastly the containers are perfect for transitioning and hardening our plants before transplanting them into our garden beds. We place the containers with the mature seedlings on our sunny deck during the day and bring them in at night. We do this for one week prior to planting outdoors (weather permitting).