Starting Seedlings Indoors with Grow Lights!

My tomato, sweet pepper and eggplant seedlings are growing! Germination took a wee bit longer than I anticipated (ranging from 8-12 days) but I had a near 100% success rate. The exception would be green peppers, where only one of the four germinated.

You may have noticed that I've changed markers - this is because (and I should have remembered!) wood goes moldy in a warm humid environment, even little bits of wood! I went looking for plastic toothpics and the closest I could find were dental floss brush sticks, which should do the trick.

I bought plastic shelves at $20 a set. At 23" x 12" x 52" (Length, Width, Height) they will fit inside the grow tent I will eventually buy, so I can grow my seedlings in the basement (without it, it's too cold down there!) For this year, I'll keep them in my upstairs spare room.

I had been planning to attach the grow lights with double sided tape, but they are just a bit too long, so I had to Macgyver a solution with fishing line and duct tape to hang them from the sides.

And here they are, basking in the light! Still small but on a few I can see the second set of leaves just starting to emerge, which is very exciting.

I have many more seedlings to start, plus begonias to bring out of hibernation. In a few weeks, all 8 shelves will be full of growing plants:)

Starting seedlings really is one of the best ways to look forward to spring - it might be cold outside still, but these little sprouts remind us that spring really is just around the corner!

Happy Tuesday everyone!