About time to get the garden ready for planting a massive amount of veggies!!!!

This year I'm thinking about starting the seeds indoors but unsure if that will be feasible or not. We've got some improvement projects going on and don't know if doing that will just ensure their death if planted.

My compost bin project from late last year never really got finished so I'm going to get 2 or 3 truck loads of compost/topsoil from a landscape supply shop and see how that goes.

Anyone else out there got veggie garden stuff going on?

There's no problems starting seeds indoors--my Wave petunias were planted yesterday evening. As a general rule, they do better indoors to start than if they were direct-sown into the garden. You can more closely moderate the temperature and water levels. Light is an issue.

Most seeds like to sprout at 70 to 80 degrees, and then to grow at a cooler temperature. Setting the planters atop the fridge will manage the sprout temp (the warmth, although extremely gentle, is enough). I currently have my petunias atop the TV instead as there's no room atop the fridge, which is built-in. That does fine, too.

You'd need about a thousand foot-candles per square foot to bring it off, minimum, up to 8,000 or so (sunlight). However, setting a dome of seeds in sun is a fast way to fry them, so wait until the domes come off the planters (if you use a domed planter). Make sure to research if the seed needs light to sprout (petunia and salvia do of the ones I have, the rest don't care). Those seeds should be on the top of the soil, others can be slightly covered (or whatever the seed packet recommends).

Fluorescent shop lights, with half cool and half warm white bulbs, set close to the plants will supply a thousand food candles or more (depends on the number of bulbs--two will work, four is better). A southern bay window is tolerable, but generally gives light for too few hours. Eighteen hours of fluorescent per day or twelve of sunlight is optimal as the plant responds to the day length, not just the amount of illumination.

SCGreenDude wrote:Anyone else out there got veggie garden stuff going on?

It's no where near 6 to 8 weeks before last frost for me.

GaryCinChicago wrote:
It's no where near 6 to 8 weeks before last frost for me.

Still have about a foot or so of snow on the ground??

SCGreenDude wrote: Still have about a foot or so of snow on the ground??

A foot? .... That's only 12 inches!


However, it is rapidly disappearing now with the warmer weather.