Finally our plants are ready to be transplanted in the ground! It is a balancing act each year timing the rain and cold weather with our plants being ready for their final transplant. This year is no exception. We just need a few dry days to get all of our plants in the ground. However, we are certainly grateful for all the moisture. One look at the latest drought map and it puts the value of rain in perspective for us. Even if it means we need to wait a bit to put our plants in the ground.
All of our plants have had four applications of Spray-N-Grow fertilizer. The first application was on April 28th, and weekly thereafter. Good fertilizer and lighting have them in great condition and ready to go in the ground. We have also hardened them off by opening the doors on both ends most days.
The three stalks of sweet corn (shown in the picture above) were an experiment. We wanted to see if they would grow in April in our high tunnel for earlier yields. It turns out sweet corn doesn’t like the weather turning cold, so only these three germinated. We had a low risk with the cost of just a few seeds. However, if the weather would have stayed warm enough, we would have had quite a bit of early sweet corn. Experimenting with different things is the fun part about gardening!
Tomato plants looking healthy and ready to be planted outside
We started our Rutger and Roma tomato plants from seed on April 1, 2021. Tomatoes are fun to start inside because they germinate well and grow quickly. We should have around 300 plants, and that number should give us plenty of tomatoes if all goes well. Hopefully the ground will dry out enough in the next week to plant them outside.
When we plant our tomatoes, we put a basil plant in between them. Basil plants are said to repel insects, and some people think it makes them taste sweeter. Basil is a good companion crop for tomatoes, plus it’s nice to have it around when I am freezing and canning in the fall. Fresh basil smells awesome, so that’s a great bonus as well.
Pepper plants ready to be transplanted in the ground
We started most of our pepper plants on March 16, 2021. Pepper plants take longer to germinate than tomatoes and they grow slower, so we need to start them in the house earlier.
We have red, yellow, and orange bell peppers, and the hot varieties are Hungarian, Jalapeño, and Habanero. There should be over 300 pepper plants, but once we get them in the ground we will have a more accurate count.
Miscellaneous flowers and vegetable plants ready to be transplanted in the ground
Each year I start a variety of flowers and herbs in the house. We planted some of those on May 14th and 15th, mostly in our smaller gardens around the house that weren’t too wet.
The last few years my friend has sent me some of her extra seeds, some of which I’m not familiar with starting indoors. I research each kind to see if they need light to germinate, cold stratification, etc. However, even then I still don’t get a few to germinate. The tray above with the dividers is an example of that. I started out with just a few seeds and a couple varieties just wouldn’t germinate for me.
I am pointing this out because no matter how many years we’ve done this, we still make errors. Things rarely go flawlessly. Try not to get discouraged if some seeds don’t germinate well, or if you lose some seedlings after germination. It happens to most of us. Try to enjoy the plants that do germinate and grow. Maybe next time do a little more research or try some different techniques that may work better. Each year we learn a little more than the year before, but we still have our share of challenges.
Conclusion
This post will wrap up our series on starting plants indoors from seed. The two main vegetables we start indoors each year are peppers and tomatoes. Each year the other types of plants we start vary, but we always start peppers and tomatoes.
This method we use and have outlined in this series works well for those two vegetables, but it may not work as well for plants with really small seeds. A seed starting mix would be a great option for starting all plants indoors. However, because we grow in volume, it just isn’t cost effective for us. That would most likely not be an issue for people with smaller gardens. The great thing about starting your own plants is that there are many different products and options available, so you can find one that works for you.
Our goal with this series is to show that starting plants indoors can be a lot of fun. In addition, it really isn’t all that intimidating after you do it a few times. I like it that we can get the exact varieties we want at a fraction of the price. We hope you find it as enjoyable as we do if you decide to give it a try! We would be thrilled if you follow us on the next step for these plants, under the topic of “Planting Time.” In addition, we hope you check out our video below, our last one for 2021 in this series of “Starting Plants Indoors.”
