(Sigh) I had high hopes. Probably a little too high.
When we decided to grow our veggies, we were extremely optimistic and went all-out. We purchased the Ferry Morse seed starting kit at Lowe’s and TONS of seeds (note: far too many seeds). I was giddy with excitement.
When all was said and done, only a few things were healthy enough to transplant –
Veggies:
- peppers
- cherry tomatoes
- eggplant
Herbs:
- basil
- chives
- sage
I’m not going to lie to you, friends – it was disappointing. It was quite a bit of work making sure the little seedlings were watered, transplanting them to bigger containers, etc. I talked to them and sang to them and made sure they had plenty of light. And, to little avail.
A few things I learned along the way:
- You really need grow lights for anything beyond the items listed above.
- I’m not sure I’m ready to invest in grow lights.
- The small seed starter trays are really hard to transplant. I found it very difficult to get the small seedlings out of the tiny areas without ruining them and those around them. They are also nearly impossible to wash and reuse. This kit was a waste of money.
- Seed packets have far too many seeds in them for the average folks (namely Kim and Ryan). Purchasing a few transplants ends up being less expensive for what we actually planted.
Next year, I will start the seeds that worked for us above. But, I will not start nearly as many seeds and I will start them in bigger containers that I can reuse (I saved these from transplanting and they washed out nicely). Using bigger containers to begin with will save me the time of transplanting them twice, once into bigger containers and once into the ground.
Here are some of my transplants that actually made it to planting. I think we’ll have lots of peppers this year.
All in all, I’m happy we tried seed-starting. I’m proud of the seeds that did well and I feel like I learned a lot. But, I will definitely be re-thinking our growing strategy next year.
My seeds hardly took either. I ended up buying plants for anything that I REALLY wanted. Here’s hoping that I don’t kill the plants!
Hey Kim!
I was planning on planting some seeds straight into the ground — do you think it would be better just to buy the plants?
~jill
I’m hoping to start gardening next summer, anyways. I’ll learn from you and can’t wait to hear your tips.
What a gorgeous garden! I’m super impressed!!
Your garden looks adorable!!
I am by no means a master gardener, but I am not sure seed starting is worth it for such a small garden. I just buy plants and while they are not cheap, they aren’t too expensive either. They are reliable, though. I am inspired by your type of garden…I am trying to space mine out a bit so I have a variety of veggies throughout the summer.