Seed-starting time in America
On a shelf in a corner of my home office is where I keep a basket and several small containers for my vegetable and flower seeds. I recently came in from a warm, sunny afternoon of late winter cleanup, and was certain I heard drifting out of the basket, “Put us in, Coach, we’re ready to play today.” Out of a couple repurposed breath mint tins came, “All we are saying is give peas a chance.”
Happens in early March. I’ve heard it before, and here is what I intend to do about it.
Nowadays, I start seeds in a greenhouse. Before I had the luxury of a greenhouse, I filled small starter pots with the planting medium and arranged the pots in flats which every morning I moved from the shed floor to a place outside during the day. That worked, but over time, I realized slightly larger starter containers would be better for seedlings, so I moved up to tofu tubs and orange juice cartons. Even better, I found, were 12-pack beer boxes.
I just checked my greenhouse, and it looks like I’ll need more beer boxes. Not a problem.
A gardener’s available space will determine the way. With enough attention, seedlings will grow in pots on a small balcony or a patio. Seeds will spout on a sunny windowsill. I’ve seen elaborate full-tilt garden operations on a medium-sized deck. So, a gardener identifies a space, and what happens next is a matter of time and determination. Don’t forget to water.
After I resupply my container inventory, I will fill them most of them with organic starter mix, but it’s time for an experiment. I intend to fill one container with organic potting mix, an identical container with half potting mix and half garden soil and a third with garden soil. In each I will plant a few chard, collards and spinach seeds and see what happens. I will publish my findings, and Eureka Springs will be famous even though I live in Madison County.
I plan to plant by moon phases if possible, and a New Moon occurs Saturday, March 13, which means the following couple weeks is the best time to plant above-ground crops. The forecast for March 14-16 nights is for temperatures close to freezing, so maybe I’ll wait until the following weekend of March 19-21. That would still be almost four weeks before the predicted last frost date of April 15.
So once the planting area is ready, I will gather the seeds. I will feel similar to baseball fans before the season – “It’s gonna be a championship this year,” except for me it’s Armenian cucumbers that will set Olympic records.
I am probably not the only one who tends to overplant the number of tomato seeds per container. I’m making up for past episodes of poor germination, and nobody wants that to happen again. The results usually are dozens of extra tomato plants, and I am lucky to know folks who kindly don’t say no when I offer them.
Once seeds are in their containers and watered, it will be perpetual vigilance time. Each year I keep records of how long it takes for varieties to sprout so I can learn how to plan better next year, but I don’t know where any of those records are. I figure tomato seedlings will be ready to plant in the garden in about a month, but there is no hurry. Unless seedlings transplanted in the garden early have protection and accommodations for cooler soil and weather, they do not have an advantage over plants put in later.
For seed-starting people, the greenhouse, patio or wherever is a busy place during the middle of spring. After a point, the rush is over, plants are planted, the greenhouse is too hot anyway, and your season has begun.