Starting seeds with no space is something I deal with every spring. Its February and I want to start my Tomatoes and Peppers so they have as much time as possible to mature and I have no space to start them.
I brought this table inside and set it up for the pumpkin and squash to finish ripening in the fall. I was thinking that I could use it for starting seeds in the spring as well. Then two things happened. One was that I realize this spot only gets sun for a brief period of time in the morning so starting seeds here is not going to be a optimum location. Also, my son took over the table over the winter and constructed a skate park for his Tech Decks and, well, I didn’t have the heart to tear it down. SO my table idea is not going to work. Or, so I thought.
One afternoon I sat down across the room from his skate park and had a thought. There is a huge space under the table that wasn’t being used. I acquired a large fluorescent light when my sister moved last year. It even came with “grow lights”. I remember seeing a couple of empty milk crates in the shed…..
That’ll work!!
“That’ll work”. Man, I’ve said that a bunch.
Over the past 20 years I have started seeds every spring. In the townhouse I started seeds on the floor by the back door. It was an east facing, full glass, sliding patio door. It got a lot of beautiful morning light, and the shade the rest of the day. I only really started tomatoes back then, but I would try other things and learn what not to do. I did that for years.
Once I built the first of the wicking beds on the patio and covered them in a makeshift polytunnel greenhouse, I would move the plants to the tunnels during the day and move them back inside at night. I would do this for 8-10 weeks, until the plants were strong enough and the nights warm enough that they could stay out all night. Then I would plant them. It sounds like a pain, but it wasn’t far to carry them. Maybe 10 feet. So it worked out okay. It was a bit of a pain though, yes.
The first grow light
At some point I did purchase a little 2 foot long grow light. We had a couple shelves on the adjacent wall to the back door. I hooked the light up under one of those shelves and tried to supplement the light that way. I found that it made the seedling reach for the light too much. They ended up spindly and weak. I couldn’t move the shelf easy enough to lower it like your supposed to. To start with the light pretty close to the soil and then increase the space as the plant grows. It worked okay, but not ideal. You work with what you have right, both materials and knowledge.
When the kids were small and crawling all over the place, I had to move the seedlings to the table. Luckily, we hardly used the kitchen table, so moving it in front of the patio door, wasn’t that big of deal.
Starting seeds with no space – The next house…
The next house we moved in to was larger in most every way. That is except for seed starting purposes. It had a large picture window in the front room, but again it faced East. And once we moved all the large plants that were struggling in the town house to the front window of the new house, they took off. That is to say they really started to grow. Grow and cover the front window. In their large pots that took up a lot of space. It ended up that I actually had less room to start seeds than in the old house. And, with a bigger house came a bigger table. One that could not be moved into the front window so easily. Sometimes bigger is not better.
A new four legged challenge..
A few years had passed since the kids were born, so they were less of a hazard to the seedlings in the new place. We did however get a puppy. Puppies are equally, if not more so disastrous to starting seeds. I had to build chair barricades around the plants to keep the pooch away from the seedlings. Once I had the wicking beds with greenhouse tops built I hauled the seedlings outside every morning and back inside every night for about 8 weeks and then planted them out. Those beds were on a South facing wall which was nice full sun all day. And, now I had the kids able to help move plants. We still didn’t have to move them far, maybe 50 feet.
Starting seeds with no space – Back to where we started
I am going to try this set up this year. Leaving a grow light on all day with out anyone there monitoring it makes me nervous, I’m not going to lie. I’m sure its fine. I can fit about 75 – 100 seedling pots under this light and I have another light I can set up if I need too. I just need another light tube.
I’m trying out a few different methods of starting seeds here. Well, a few different vessels anyway. The white container in the front is another attempt at starting Ginger. I’m not sure it’s going to work but this is the best chance I have. Under the grow light. In the big container with the flower is Lavender. I have never had any luck growing Lavender but, again, this is the best chance I have. Behind the Lavender is Rosemary which will hopefully be happy in that pot. Cucumbers in the toilet paper rolls and Peppers and Tomatoes in the flats. We’ll see how it goes.
After about 7 days the Tomatoes started to sprout. They were store bought seeds so I am hoping that the rest will soon sprout as well. I am going to give them another 7 days and see what happens.