After a trip to Home Depot today to buy more supplies and more seeds, I am almost ready to start sowing seeds indoors. I had to dig out the heating pads, plant trays, and growing medium pellets.  It always feels too early to start seeds indoors so I almost always miss the date!

Plant tray with the heating mat underneath

The heating mat speeds up the seed germination. This is good for me because I then need less time to get the seeds started. Some seeds need light to germinate but I don't add the lights until I see the leaves emerge. They are in a sunny room so that should be enough light for most plants to get started.

Jiffy Pellets and tray

It is important to read the seed packets to determine how many weeks before the last frost the seeds will need to be started. Our Minnesota summers are so short that our outdoor growing season wouldn't allow for some plants to mature. On the other hand, some plants can be direct sown-read the package.

The last frost date in the Twin Cities area is around May 15th- May 21st. Use your favorite search engine to find out the last frost date in your area. 

In Minnesota, annual flowers and heat-loving vegetables such as tomato, pepper, and eggplant are usually started in early spring. Unless you save all of your own seeds, it really isn't any more expensive to buy greenhouse started plants. I like to do it for the challenge of watching those tiny seeds sprout!

Burpee Self watering tray, Burpee tray, Jiffy tray with pellets

I am experimenting with the different brands of pellets this year. Last year I also tried filling the cells with the soilless seed starting mixture but that was a mess and the roots got all tangled. The self watering trays are nice because they water the seeds from the bottom. Starting the plants with a sterile soil mixture and proper water is important to avoid Damping off. Damping off is a disease of seedlings. It is caused by a fungi and too much water can contribute to damping off. 

Soil Block Maker available at Johnny's Selected Seeds for $31.50

I took an indoor seed sowing class at the University of Minnesota and they were using these soil block makers. They are nice because the plants self prune when the roots reach the edge of the block. They sell the blocks in different sizes. The blocks just fit into the next size up. They are nice because there are no pots to buy and the block gets planted directly into the garden. A sterile seed starting mixture is used. The block stamper is pressed into the mixture to make the block. The seed is planted into the block. I haven't been able to bring myself to spend the $31.50 for the block maker. Maybe next year.

So last year I put the lights up too high and the plants bolted and tipped over. Dad didn't use a heating mat and since mine grew so fast he assumed his weren't going to grow at all. He pitched his tray of "dirt" in the back of his yard. Well guess what? Many of his squash and pumpkins came from the tray he tossed in the backyard! 

Too late to plant seeds tonight. That will be tomorrow's project.
(I lost the entire blog post once so if you saw multiple entries...oopsy!)