Here’s a quick update on my seed starting activities here in March. The parsley and petunia seeds I started back in February have all been potted up now into individual 3.5″ pots. I moved the parsley out to the greenhouse since it can take cooler temps, but the petunias are still indoors under lights. I grow parsley both in the ground and in containers, and we pretty much have harvests year round. I do have more plants than I will likely need but it’s always nice to have spares.
parsley seedlings
The brassicas I started are still hanging out in their 72 cell plug flats, and they need to be thinned. They will stay in there until planting time, unless that gets delayed. In that case I’ll have to pot them up into larger quarters. Last year I was able to work up the garden and get them planted in early April, and I’m hoping for similar timing this year. Thankfully our silty soil drains quickly, since we’ve had around six inches of rain the last two months and it is quite wet at the moment. I usually save the thinned plants and crowd them together in small flats or pots for microgreens, since I hate to waste them!
brassica seedlings
Back in early February I also I started seeds for early eggplant that I plan to grow in containers. Fairy Tale and Patio Baby are two AAS Winners that I’ve been growing for quite a few years now and they always do well for me in containers. That lets me get ripe eggplants a full month before the ones planted out in the garden start fruiting. These now have a couple of true leaves per plant, and I should be able to pot them into the larger containers in a few weeks. I need to start those other eggplants soon.
Fairy Tale eggplant seedling
I started peppers on March 10th, and most have germinated by now. These are in a 128 cell plug flat where they will remain until I pot them on to individual containers. I generally sow two seeds per cell and if they both come up I will thin to one plant.
peppers germinating
And late last week I got the main season tomatoes going. I sowed these seeds in a 128 cell plug flat also, and I will pot them up into individual 3.5″ pots when they start showing one or two true leaves. A few of them started coming up today.
seeding tomatoes
That’s a look at my seed starting status so far. You can visit my Seed Starting and Planting Schedule to see more details about when I start and plant things here in our garden. I’ll be back soon with more happenings from Happy Acres!
