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Starting Our Seeds Indoors – Let Spring Begin!

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Finally…A Sunday Farm update with some garden action!…well, sort of.

The planting of seeds indoors signals the start of Spring for us - no matter the weather outside!

The planting of seeds indoors signals the start of Spring for us – no matter the weather outside!

Using the plastic seed domes, or even a piece of saran wrap can keep the humidity level up to help seeds germinate

Using plastic seed domes, or even a piece of plastic wrap can keep the humidity level up to help seeds germinate

It’s always such an incredible feeling each year to finally start putting seeds into the soil.  It gives you that sense Spring is finally close at hand!  So what if there is still a little snow on the ground outside from yet another passing storm system  - once you put a few seeds into soil, it’s time to grow!  We finally planted the first of them yesterday – our ornamental peppers.  The Ornamental Peppers tend to take a little longer to germinate and grow to full maturity – so we like to give them an additional head start by planting in Mid-February.

As for the process…there are thousands of websites, television shows, and gardening experts that give all kinds of advice about starting seeds indoors – and quite honestly, it can get really confusing!  For us – as with all of our gardening – the more simple we can keep it – the easier it is to accomplish, and the more we enjoy it all.  Starting seeds indoors in no different.

Seeds need moisture to sprout – but struggle to germinate if there is too much water or not enough.  The easiest way we have found to remedy that is through using plastic seed domes or plastic wrap, and a spray bottle of water.  We start by placing two seeds in every cell  - that way we can almost ensure a sprout to every cell.   It’s easy to thin them out later – but hard to replace if one doesn’t grow.  For almost all of our vegetable and annual seeds – we make a small indention about 1/8″ to a 1/4″ down with the end of a plastic knife, drop the seeds in, and lightly cover them up with the soil.

We use a small water bottle with sprayer to lightly soak the soil.

We use a small water bottle with sprayer to lightly soak the soil.  It’s an easier way to water and prevents the soil from becoming saturated.

Then, taking the spray bottle – we spritz a fine mist over the entire seed tray – enough to make the dirt stick to your hand if you touched it – but not so much that the dirt clumps or becomes water clogged.  We do not directly water it other than the heavy spritzing.  After that – we place the plastic domes or plastic wrap over top – and place them back on the rack – with no lights on whatsoever.  You should start to see a good amount of moisture on the underside of the plastic dome or wrap in the days that follow – and that’s perfect for getting the seeds started.

The seed domes are on and the seeds are all planted. The lights will stay off until the seeds begin to germinate

The seed domes are on and the seeds are all planted. The lights will stay off until the seeds begin to germinate

After that initial spritzing of water, we will check them about every other day and make sure there is still some level of dampness to the soil.   If we see moisture on the underside of the cover – we know they are fine and can leave them alone. If not – we take off the cover and give it a few more shots of water spray to keep the humidity up – and that’s it.  Nothing more.

When you see a few seeds starting to break through the soil - it's time to pull of the covers and turn on the lights!

When you see a few seeds starting to break through the soil – it’s time to pull of the dome covers and turn on the lights!

We keep our shop lights about 1 to 2" above the plants.

We keep our shop lights about 1 to 2″ above the plants.

All seeds germinate at different times. Our Ornamental Peppers have a longer germination cycle – more so than our tomatoes and peppers.  It usually takes around 14 to 21 days before the first seedlings emerge from the trays.  At the point we see more than 3 or 4 popping up in a tray (no matter what we are germinating) – we remove the moisture cover and start turning on the lights for the plants. Seeds do not need direct light to germinate – so our grow lights stay off in the beginning.  Even then we will only water by spritzing.

Lighting is another big topic with so many options- again – we just try to keep it simple using regular old flourescent shop lights.  Once those first sprouts start  - we give them about 10 to 12 hours of artificial light a day.  We usually will flip the lights on when we get up – and turn them back off around 7 or 8 at night or later when we go to bed.   We keep the lights down close to the plants – at about 1″or 2″ above the top of the seedlings.  It keeps them growing strong and slowly.  That  is important so they don’t become “leggy” and weak trying to reach up too high for a light source.

So now that our ornamental seeds are in – we’ll wait another few weeks or so before we get started on the other vegetable plants we will grow.  It’s just such a good feeling to finally be writing a Sunday update about some real gardening – even if it is indoors!

I hope everyone has a terrific Sunday!!!

Jim and Mary

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How To Build An Indoor Seed-Starting Rack – Cheap!

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Our seed-starting rack stand - room for over 500 seedlings!

Our seed-starting rack stand – with room for almost 600 seedlings!

The dining room table / mini garden area last spring

Our dining room table / mini garden area last spring.

For the last few years, in the late winter months, our dining room table transforms into our seed starting area – or as we like to call it – our mini garden. We actually had it down to a science, using a few inexpensive shop lights to grow our plants healthy and strong. The mini garden set-up unfortunately also rendered the dining area useless for the 6 to 8 weeks it took to germinate and grow all of the ornamental pepper and garden plants we use.  Not to mention, some strange looks from company wondering what we were “growing” in there under the dim glow of flourescent lights :) .

So, for this week’s DIY segment –  we thought we would design and build our very own lighted seed-starting rack. The rack will allow us to move the entire seed starting operation out of the dining room – and into an unused portion of our basement.  It also allows us to double the seeds and plants we can start indoors in less space – from the 4 flats we could start on the table, to a full 8 flats.

We wanted it to be simple, strong, and of course, as always – cheap!

Using just nine simple  2 x 4 x 8 pieces of lumber, a single sheet of particle board and 4 inexpensive double-bulb shop lights – this can be made from scratch for around $50 to $70. Even less if you happen to have some old shop lights or scrap lumber laying around!   It will accommodate up to 8 full size seed trays on the two growing shelves – and can grow up to 576 plants if using the 72 pack cell inserts.  There is even shelf space at the bottom to store gardening supplies – or if you are really ambitious – another layer of plants!  The best part of the project – it can be assembled with simple tools in less than an hour or two. In our case –  we cut, built and assembled it in the time it took to watch the Houston Texans take our Cincinnati Bengals out of the playoffs! It’s also strong and can double as a great storage shelf when not in use the rest of the year.

Here is how we built it:

Once you have your 3 rectangles assembled - screw in the four 6' vertical boards to the bottom shelf first

Once you have your 3 rectangles assembled – screw in the four 6′ vertical boards to the bottom shelf first

Materials List:

(9)  ea. 2  x4  x8′s
(4) ea. Hanging Shop Lights
(1) 4′ x 8′ sheet of 1/2 strand board or plywood
(50) 3″ screws
(8 to 12) 2″ screw hooks

Tools Needed:

Circular or Chop Saw
Screw Gun
Tape Meassure

How We Built It:  

(We have included extra photos at the bottom to help show the building process)

Start by cutting all of your pieces:

You will need to cut the 2×4′s into the following sizes:
4) ea. 6′ long
8) ea. 4′ long
8) ea. 2′ long

Taking the 4′ x 8′ sheet of plywood or strand board, cut three pieces, each 27″ x 4′ wide – these will become the shelves of the stand.

Next - attach the sceond rectangle wood square to the top of the 4 6'support legs

Next – attach the second rectangle wood square to the top of the 4 6′ support legs

The actual building process is a snap – especially if you have two people for an extra set of hands. We normally use construction adhesive when we build anything for extra durability – but we forewent that on this project in case we ever want to disassemble and relocate the shelves.

Start by building your 4 rectangular shelf supports from the 4′ and 2′ pieces.  Create a rectangle by placing two 2′ boards flush at the ends of two 4′ boards.  Drive a single screw in the middle of each connection to create a solid rectangle.  Repeat until you have all four rectangles assembled.

Next, we will assemble the bottom shelf first. Take one of your 6 foot boards and place it flush on the end of the outside edge of where the 2′ and 4′ pieces meet. (see pictures)  Then – making sure your 6′ board is straight in the air at a 90 degree angle – we screw it in place with a total of 4 screws.  We put 2 screws that sink into the 2′ board and 2 more than sink into the 4′ board. Repeat for the other 3 “legs” and you are on your way to your plant stand.

Next – we screw in one more of the rectangles the same way – this one at the top – flush with the top of the 6′ boards. Once you have this screwed in – your stand will start to become very stable.

Attach the final two shelf rectangles for your two shelves.

Attach the final two shelf rectangles for your two shelves.

Now, we just simply repeat with the final two rectangles, screwing them in to form the bases for the growing shelves. For our set-up, we set our two shelves at 23″ apart – this allows us plenty of room to adjust the lights up and down with chains as the plants grow, and lets our plants have plenty of room to grow big.  As another option you could also evenly space the two middle shelves and actually grow on the bottom shelf as well for 3 growing areas.  For us, two is more than plenty – and we will just use the bottom shelf as for storage items.

Next, slide in the 3 27″ x 4′ shelf boards you have cut from the plywood or strand board to make your shelves.  Simply drive a few screws into the support frame to secure.

Once you have all of your shelves in, its time to hang your lights. Simple screw hooks work great here.  A small pre-drilled hole will help you screw them in.  We install 2 hooks on each side – spaced evenly on the 2 foot end bars.  Most of the inexpensive shoplights at the big box stores will come with a small chain and S hook for the light – just install and your set.  To make ours even easier to operate – we are going to install a small power strip on the side, allowing the lights to be turned on with a single flip of the switch.

There you have it – an inexpensive seed-starting stand!  If you want more information of starting seeds – you can see our article from a few weeks back – How To Easily Start Seeds Indoors

If you would like to receive our weekly DIY and Gardening Posts – be sure to sign up to follow our blog via email, Twitter or Facebook in the right column.

-  Jim and Mary

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Close up of the rectangle shelf supports attached to the post. We attach 4 screw on the outside of each shelf angle support to add extra strength to each

Close up of the rectangle shelf supports attached to the post. We attach 4 screw on the outside of each shelf angle support to add extra strength to each

Four screws are driven in to the outside of each post at every shelf corner

Four screws are driven in to the outside of each post at every shelf corner

Side View of the shelf supports

Side View of the shelf supports

Measuring Down For The Shelves

Measuring Down For The Shelves

Use a level to make sure your shelf supports are level when attaching

Use a level to make sure your shelf supports are level when attaching

How To Easily Start Garden And Flower Seeds Indoors On The Cheap!

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We start all of our ornamental pepper plants indoors. Here are our

We start all of our ornamental pepper plants indoors. Here are our poinsettia peppers in mid summer bloom.

Our Sangria Seedlings At The Tender Age of 4 Weeks

Our Sangria seedlings at the tender age of 4 weeks.  The low hanging lights allow them to grow steady and strong.

I think one of the most rewarding experiences for a home gardener is starting their own seeds indoors. For one, it’s an incredibly satisfying feeling to make a tiny seed grow into a beautiful plant for you and your family to enjoy. It also can be a tremendous cash saver – plants can be expensive when purchasing them all at your local greenhouse. Especially if you want to grow specialty or heirloom seeds that are hard to find.

We use a low-cost, simple set up to grow our seedlings indoors.  It has allowed us to expand our garden and landscape without breaking the bank.

Let’s start with a few, money saving tips of what you won’t need: Heating Mats and Specialty Lights.

It’s not that heating mats don’t work – they do. They help warm the soil and help to germinate seeds.  But unless you live in a 40 degree barn…normal room temperatures will work. It make a take a day or two longer to germinate than if you use heating mats – but the seeds will grow just fine.

There is also no need to waste big money on high-priced “grow lights” or bulbs with a special light spectrum for raising seedlings. They do have a place for certain types of special growing applications – but if your goal is to start and raise seeds indoors – a couple of good old-fashioned inexpensive flourescent “shop lights” work incredibly well. Most of us have a few already around the house.  If not, they can be had at your local hardware store for about $10 to $15, and can be used year after year. I am a big believer in the lights.  Yes, it’s true that you can use a sunny window of your house – but it’s hard to get seedlings to grow straight using natural winter sunlight from a window.  You need to turn them constantly – and the seedlings tend to grow thin and skinny trying to reach up for the light.

What you will need to start up to 4 flats of seeds indoors:

A couple of inexpensive double shop lights -and we can raise 4 whole flats of seedlings.

A couple of inexpensive double shop lights are more than enough to grow 4 whole flats of seedlings.

One (1) 32 quart bag of potting soil or seed starter mix.  We make our own from equal parts of our compost, sand and soil, but if your starting out, you can buy a good bag for around $10.  It will be more than enough to fill four flats and have some left over for next year.

Two (2) inexpensive dual-bulb 4′ flourescent shop lights. (4 bulbs total)  You can pick them up at your local hardware store for about $10 – $15 – and most all of them even come with little hooks and a chain for hanging over your plants.

Plants ready to head for the garden and landscape!

Plants ready to head for the garden and landscape!

Four (4) empty flats with seed tray inserts.  (we like the 36 cell plant trays – the individual cells are big enough that you won’t need to transplant the seedling into anything else before they go into the ground)

A few blocks of scrap wood and two 5′ 2×4′s to hang your lights from.

Your seeds of choice.  Whatever seeds you use – make sure to label your flats with what you plant in them – it’s easy to get them mixed up as they grow into mature plants.  As for when to start your seeds – the back of each seed package will usually tell you the optimum time, however, a general rule of thumb is 6 to 8 weeks before planting outdoors.

The Process:

1. Fill your seed trays with soil mixture — pack lightly – you want the soil to be light and fluffy to allow room for root growth and water filtering through.   Moisten the soil –don’t drench.  You just want to have the soil wet to the touch – An empty spray bottle of water works great for the first few weeks of starting.

A young seedling emerges from the soil

A young seedling emerges from the soil

2. Plant your seeds at a rate of 2 per space – preferably not on top of each other, but in slightly different areas towards the center. Each seed packet will tell you the depth that the seeds should be planted — most are about 1/8″ to 1/4″ inch deep. Planting two seeds ensures that you can get at least one seed to germinate in every space. Yes, you will have to thin later – but better to have too many than none at all! After planting your seeds, lightly moisten the soil again and then cover with a clear plastic sheet or lid and keep out of direct sunlight.

The seedling emerges with two full leaves - now is the time to thin

The seedling emerges with two full leaves – now is the time to thin

3. I know it sounds strange to put them out of direct sunlight – but covering them allows moisture to build up and helps to achieve optimum conditions for the seeds to sprout. You will most likely not have to water during this time — just make sure the soil remains moist.

By using clear plastic you can see when the plants  actually come up without taking off the cover and disturbing the plants and releasing the moisture.

Young seedling growing into a nice plant

Young seedling growing into a nice plant

4. Once you see 1-2 seedlings sprouting out of the soil, remove the lid and place onto a table or flat surface.   You can now set up your shop lights.  You want the lights to hover down about 1 to 2″ from the top of the plants.  We do this by putting blocks of wood at each end and running a 5′ 2×4 over all of the flats of seedlings.  We then simply screw a little hook into the 2×4′s and hang them with a little hook.  (usually included in the shop light kits)  When we need to raise the lights as the plants grow – we just add another block of wood to each end.  You will want to give your plants about 12 to 14 hours of light each day.  (For how to build a cool indoor seed rack stand on the cheap – check out our latest article here : Indoor Plant Rack Stand – On The Cheap)

Plants need to be "hardened" off to adjust to real light and temperatures before planting outdoors

Plants need to be “hardened” off to adjust to real light and temperatures before planting outdoors

You will also need to water more frequently now — most likely once a day – and as the plants grow in the coming weeks – you will continue to adjust those two lights to keep them at 1 to 2″ above the top of the plants. You want the soil to stay moist but not water logged.  This is also the time to start thinning to allow for one seed per container. If you have an empty cell, you can replant extra sprouts into the empty cells.  We just use a flat head screwdriver to lift out the extra seedling and plant into the empty cell.

The shop lights at such close range keep the seeds growing straight up and at a slower, stronger rate. One of the problems with using just direct sunlight is that the plants will get leggy as they reach to the light source. With the shop lights at such a close range..they grow nice and slow and develop strong roots and leaf structure.

The Sangria Peppers we grew from seed in full bloomAfter about 6 to 8 weeks – your plants will be ready to go. As the weather begins to warm – we will take our plants out onto the back porch to get some regular sun and start adjusting to the temperature and light. One thing to avoid is to take your plants directly from the shop lights and plant them in the yard – you want to give them time to adjust to sunlight and temperature – a process called hardening off. Usually by the end of March – we start to keep them on the porch longer and longer – and near the end – only bring them in or cover them if there is a threat of frost to get them ready for the great outdoors!

- Jim and Mary  

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The Silo Rises On The Farm…And Saving Money by Saving Seeds

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The metal gets attached to the silo frame.

Finally!!! A little progress this past week on the silo! The project has had to take a back seat the last few weeks – first due to some windy weather, and then while we waited on the metal sheeting to arrive.

On Wednesday however, with some beautiful 60 degree sunny weather – we were able to get a little closer to finishing her up!

We temporarily set the silo up on the east side of the barn –  to shield from any winds while we attached the metal sides.  It will soon move it to its permanent spot above the garden and beside the compost bins – after we pour a small concrete pad for a base.  We’ve decided to attach the side posts to the concrete floor with anchor bolts to make sure it stands strong in any windstorm.  After attaching the posts, we will cut away the temporary wood cross-braces on the base, leaving a nice smooth floor.

The silos dome structure was not not easy to figure out – but its finally ready for it’s metal roof too

We have had a lot of questions about the exact purpose of the silo. The silo will be used to store huge amounts of shredded leaves and grass collected each fall from the yards around our neighborhood and surrounding areas. When full – it will hold close to 275 cubic feet of material. What will we do with all of that?  Well, we have a couple of things in mind.

First – We’ll use the stored leaves to make extra compost through the summer months – when it’s harder to find available composting materials. Each spring, our compost bins are overflowing from all of the fall clean up around the farm.  However, it quickly vanishes, as we use it in all of the planting holes of the garden and flowerbeds – as well as making our own potting soil mix.  In year’s past – it took quite a while to add more organic matter into the bins to get the next batch going – especially in early spring and summer – when there are not a lot of leaves, grass and plant debris readily available to put into the bins.

So we will use the stored shredded leaves and clippings from the silo to fill the compost bins back up immediately - combining them with our chicken coop manure, grass clippings and of course any available vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, etc. to get the next batch cooking.  Our hope is to make quick, continual compost batches through the season – and you can never have enough compost!

Secondly, in the past few years – we have used chopped straw in the beds underneath our raised rows.  Straw is great – but it’s not free – and can be really expensive once we start using it to also mulch the rows in between the garden.  Our plan:  to use the tons of shredded leaves stored in the silo for that purpose as well.  It’s free – and even higher in organic matter than the straw as it breaks down in the garden.

We use ornamental peppers almost everywhere at the farm to add color to the landscape

We try to select the best peppers on the plants to save for next years seeds

We just simply tear them open and use our fingers to remove the seeds

Our Sangria Pepper Seeds

Saving Seeds For Next Year’s Ornamental Peppers

Yesterday, in between watching some great college football games, we also tackled harvesting next year’s seeds from this past summer’s ornamental peppers.  We start the process in late summer – choosing the biggest and best of the peppers on the plants to use for our seeds.  We store them whole, in a cool, dry place for a few months to dry out.  Then, this past week – we simply sliced open the peppers, and scooped out the seeds. We usually let them air dry for a few more weeks on a paper towel – and then seal and store them in a ziplock bag until we are ready to start our seeds indoors in early February.

We grew over 200 ornamental pepper plants from seed last year – and hope to increase that number this year. They are a great plant for annual color in the landscape. They also have the added benefit of being low maintenance – requiring little water, are resistant to most insect damage – and very hardy in cool or hot temperatures. Last year we grew the Sangria, Poinsettia and Tequila Orange varieties – and will add a few more to the mix this year.

We save a tremendous amount of money by growing our own ornamental peppers from seed. They can run upwards of $3.00 a plant – and that’s if you can even find them in local nurseries in the first place.   When you plant as many as we do around the farm – in mass plantings, flower pots and hanging baskets – you have no choice but to grow your own from seed!

Hope everyone has a great Sunday!

Jim and Mary

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