Growing veggies from seed for the first time

 

I have several types of heirloom tomato seeds as well as some peas,
onions, spinach, etc. I haven't done too well with store bought plants
in the past, I think because the soil is pretty clayish. There's a lot
of sun but not completely sunny because of overhanging trees.

I used a tray (around 3' by 1') from a local store that uses some kind
of peat moss disks with an indentation to insert a seed. A total of 55
seeds went in. It's moist and now I wait for the seeds to germinate.

The first question is what kind of lighting to get. From what I read,
full spectrum fluorescent tubes are probably the best, I guess a four
foot fixture? T12 or one of the newer formats?

I'll need some way to control the height of the fixture but I can rig
up something. There are some prefab systems at the local store but
they start around $150 which seems way too much for something so
basic.

There's also reflector types of bulbs like this:

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xj8/R-100195838/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId 051&catalogId053

but I can't see those providing the coverage that the fluorescent can.


Finally, I'm planning on using some former lawn areas for more growing
range, and I think I'll need to hit the whole area with a lot of peat
moss. I will probably also try to use the weed block stuff (black
material).

Any comments welcome.

 

dgk said:


Hope you started these a few weeks ago.


You can direct-sow peas.


From seed???


You can direct-sow these, also.


For most veggies, you'll need full sun (at least 6 hours per day).


Flourescent lighting is probably the worst. But, it's probably the cheapest. If
that's what you use, make sure to keep the lights close, and I mean close, to
the plants. Raising the lights as they grow.


http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1vZ1xj8/R-100195838/h_d2/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId 051&catalogId053

No experience with those, sorry. Tho, I'm sure the results would probably be
about the same as a flourescent light.
 

Why do you think that?


What was your geographical location again?

Remember, peas and spinach are cool-season veggies. As soon as it gets warm,
they're done (tho New Zealand spinach will thrive in the summer - it's also not
really spinach).

--

Eggs

Whoever said nothing is impossible never tried slamming a revolving door.

 


I've started seeds indoors and had good results indoors using just a
southern facing window location that gets plenty of light.

 

trader4@optonline.net said:


Ditto, here. But, depending on location, it's getting a bit late for certain
seeds. =) And, I'll take natural sunlight over flourescent, ANY day!  ;)
--

Eggs

A computer scientist is someone who, when told to 'Go to Hell', sees the 'go
to', rather than the destination, as harmful.

 


Here's a grow story for you.   Here in NJ last week the cops broke up
a multi-miliion dollar pot growing operation involving several
seperate houses and many individuals.  They were growing it in the
basement, had the electric service bypassed, etc.    The whole thing
came undone because a cop driving down the road smelled burning pot
and stopped to investigate.   Turns out the dummies were burning the
plant remains in a fireplace....