How to Seed Start Cantaloupes and Water Melons Indoors: Fruits?: For New Gardeners!

How to Seed Start Cantaloupes and Water Melons Indoors: Fruits?: 

For New Gardeners!

There is debate on whether a watermelon is a fruit or vegetable. Either way, cantaloupes and watermelons add a great sweetness to your garden. They are large seeds and they don't like to really have their roots disturb during transplant. They should be grown in larger containers or cups and I recommended planting 2 per cell and two together in the garden.

You can start melons about 4 weeks before they would be ready to go into the ground. That is when the garden is warmer not after last frost. A couple extra weeks of growth indoors isn't so bad if you need more time for the soil to warm or you want them to get a bit bigger. They grow fast and you want to make sure you time them as to not let the roots systems get root-bound in the containers. You don't want to see their root circling and winding in the bottom of the container.

Just to be clear upper 50's at night is fine for your cantaloupes and melons. I do mention 60 degrees in the video. They key is warmer garden beds for transplants. You just want a soil temperature that is out of the 40's. Cold soil makes them sit. A cold night is not as bad as long as the days and soil are warm.

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How and When to Start Your Zucchini and Squash Indoors: For New Gardeners!

How and When to Start Your Zucchini and Squash Indoors: For New Gardeners!

Like cucumbers, zucchini and squash like the warm weather. It is best to start them indoors about four weeks before you have regular 60 degree nights and when the garden soil is warmed. That is about one week to germinate. Two weeks to grow indoors and one week to slowly acclimate them to the outdoor sun. You can push it a bit at mid 50 degree nights if you want. They seem to grow best in the 65-85 degree day range.

You want to use the larger container or cups as seen in the video. The key is to give them enough room to grow for those four or five weeks so that when you plant them into your garden, you don't overly disturb the roots. I've been doing transplants this way for years and have not had issues with transplants.

You only need to put one or two seeds in a starting container. Pick the seeds that look plump, large and healthy. They tend to germinate very well. You really only want one plant per planting hole in your garden. These plants will get very large and they are quite prolific. Less is more in these varieties. If two seeds come up, you should remove one.

Disease and insects can take a toll on your squash and zucchini plants over the growing season. I recommended starting a second season batch just like the way you planted them in the video but instead of starting them indoors, just set the seed tray outdoors in a shady area where the sun won't dry out the cells. Do this at about the time you harvest your first squash or zucchini. These new plants can replace beat up old plants or can go into other parts of your garden. I am in Maryland Zone 7 and can put out zukes and squash in May, June and July..


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How and When to Start Peppers & Tomatoes Indoors: For New Gardeners

How and When to Start Peppers & Tomatoes Indoors: 

For New Gardeners

So... many people say to start your peppers and tomatoes 6-8 weeks before last frost. That is true as a frost or freeze will kill off the plants. But... they are warm weather plants and they won't take off and grow until the soil is warmed to the 50's. You won't get bigger plants faster by getting them out 3 weeks early in cold soil. The plants will just sit still and often they look stunted and can get some purple hue to them. That is the cold.

Now there are some tricks you can do to warm the soil and keep the plants warm at night and I will show you some of those tricks over the 2014 season in videos. The tricks are how you get them out into the cold and get a jump on the season.

I recommend starting your tomatoes and pepper 6-8 weeks before you have soil temperatures and nights that stay mostly in the 50's. The days will certainly be warm enough as will the soil. A few night of 40 degrees won't hurt the plants. Warmer soil means your tomatoes and peppers have what they need to take off and thrive.

Tomatoes and peppers need mid 70's temperature to germinate in a timely manner. Tomatoes actually germinate in about 5-10 days and peppers can take 7-14 days. Lower temperatures will slow germination down and warmer temperatures will speed it up a bit.

They will need 10-14 hours of light to prevent them from becoming 'leggy.'  I keep mine about 2 inches under my grow lights and the timer is set for 12-14 hours depending on a few factors. You can use a windowsill if that window truly get 8 or more hours of direct sunlight. That is... sun that can actually be seen from that window for 8 hours.

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How and When to Start Cucumbers Indoors: For New Gardeners!

How and When to Start Cucumbers Indoors: For New Gardeners!

Cucumbers like the warm weather. It is best to start them indoors about four weeks before you have regular 60 degree nights and when the garden soil is warmed. That is about one week to germinate. Two weeks to grow indoors and one week to slowly be acclimated to the outdoor sun. You can push it a bit at mid 50 degree nights if you want. They seem to grow best in the 65-85 degree day range.

There is not a great advantage to pushing them out the door early. They like the heat and mature quickly like in 45-55 days. They will just sit there in the ground if it is too cold.

Your should feed your seedlings with 1/2 strength liquid fertilizer 10-14 days after germination. I recommend watering from the bottom as a way to prevent disease issues and soil splash, plus it will save you time.

Because they grow so fast... you have to really supply them with nutrients and water when put in the garden. A well composted planting hole goes a long way. Regular feedings help too and I would recommend a feeding every 2 weeks or so with a liquid fertilizer. If you are growing your cucumbers in containers you will need to ensure consistent waterings and increase the liquid feedings.

Cucumbers are often susceptible to soft bodied insects like spider mites. A basic soapy water spray on the top and bottom leaves, 1x a week, is a good prevention against soft bodied insects. Here is the basic soapy spray recipe I use. As always... test any sprays on a few leaves and wait 48 hours to make sure the plant can handle them.

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How to Start Rosemary Indoors: Start Early!

How to Start Rosemary Indoors: 
Start Early!

You can start rosemary indoors 10-12 weeks before your would put it outside. A lot of herbs can be started quite early indoors as they are slow to germinate and grow. Rosemary is one of those herbs. You only plant 2 or 3 seeds to a starting cell as one plant will grow quite large. Letting it establish indoors will really let it take off  when the planted outdoors in the warm weather. You should get enough growth that year to use it in your kitchen!

Rosemary likes dry soil, sun and heat. Plant it on the south side of a house and it will  keep growing year after year in the Zone 7 areas. It does quite well in the winters if it is in a dry sunny location.



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How to Seed Start Chives & Thyme Indoors: Over Seeding Method!

How to Seed Start Chives & Thyme Indoors: Over Seeding Method!

You can start chives and thyme indoors 10-12 weeks before they could go outside. I show you how to over seed them as a planting method. Both herbs are very strong and very hardy and the single cell you start them in can be divided, when the plants are big enough. A lot of herbs can be started quite early indoors as they are slow growing plants. These are not herbs to plant as just 1 seed... over seed!

Thyme seeds are quite fine and I must put in 20-30 seeds per single seed starting cell. Chives are much large and probably 5-10 or a bit more go into the cell. The reason is that both plants have very strong root systems. 

You are basically making herb plugs of many plants. I tear the root ball down the middle when I transplant them into cups and each cell gets me two plants. I can even sometimes divide the transplant one more time when they go into the garden. They are extremely hardy plants that come back year after year!

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How to Seed Start Sage & Lavender Indoors: Slow Growers!

How to Seed Start Sage & Lavender Indoors: Slow Growers!

Sage and lavender are great aromatic herbs. They do get large but they start out small and are slow growers. They can take up to 3 weeks to germinate. You can really start sage and lavender indoors 10-12 weeks before the garden will be ready for them.

Sage and lavender can  handle frost and in Maryland Zone 7, they are perennial herbs. They come back year after year and take our snows and freezes. They are sturdy herbs. I like to get them into my garden in the first week of April. I am not worried about frost with them. My goal is to grow them indoors to size so they really establish the first year and maybe even flower.

The video shows the basic method I use for getting them started indoors. I will do other videos on their growth, cup transplanting and final planting into the garden. Why not join my channel for new gardeners call My First Vegetable Garden!?



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Assembling a Collapsible Vegetable Grow-Light Station: My 1st Vegetable Garden

Assembling a Collapsible Vegetable Grow-Light Station

I have been talking about starting seeds indoors and thought I should include something on lighting.  Here is one design for a collapsible grow-light station. You can start seeds with it and maintain larger vegetable transplants. This is not the construction video but I do provide the link for the complete build, including cost for parts, in the video.

The benefits of a grow-light station are:

• You can save a lot of money and grow vegetables, including cost of energy, for .05 -.25 cents a plants. This cost goes down over time as you use the light and supplies over the years. This beats the 2, 3 or 4 dollars a transplant you would pay buying them at a store.

• You can start varieties of tomatoes and peppers you can't buy at stores. Seed catalogs are now your options for plants instead of picking only what is at the stores.

• You can grow perennial and annual flowers and get them to size for blooming that season and again the cost is significantly cheaper.

• It gives you something to do during the winter and early spring before the garden is ready. It adds to your pleasure found in gardening.

• You can start mid season crops indoors as the outdoor garden finishes up with the ground planted crops. You can save weeks of time by putting in transplants instead of seeds into your mid and late season garden beds and containers.

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A Basic Tour of a Vegetable Seed Starting Grow-Light Close: Considering One?

A Basic Tour of a Vegetable Seed Starting Grow-Light Close: 
Considering One?

This is just quick tour of my grow-light closet I use for starting my vegetable seeds indoors. I don't have construction video for one but thought I would show you a basic design in case you would like to build one in your house or garage.

The materials are pretty inexpensive. You can even buy plastic shelves and set them in a closet. All the supplies can be found at your standard Do-It-Yourself stores.



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How to Seed Start Oregano Indoors: Over Seeding Method!

How to Seed Start Oregano Indoors: Over Seeding Method! 

Oregano is a great herb that grows slowly when started by seed. You should start oregano indoors 10-12 weeks before it would go out into your garden. You want to put transplants into the garden that will mature and be used that season!

Oregano germinates pretty quickly in 7-14 days but it grows slowly. Once it gets up to size and the outdoor temperatures warm... it takes off. Oregano seeds are quite fine. I don't plant nor do I recommend planting just 1 seed per starting cell. The over seeding method I use, and that has been successful for years, is putting 20-30 seeds per cell. You will be planting a clump of oregano versus a single plant.

You can't over seed all varieties of plants. Oregano is a very hardy perennial plant. Once the seed cells have good sized plants in them... you can actually tear the root-ball down the middle and get 2 oregano transplants from one cell. The strongest plants will survive when put in the ground and you will have a great herb in your garden for years to come.


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Time to Seed Start Some Herbs Indoors: Oregano, Thyme and Chives Can Be Started in the Winter

Time to Seed Start Some Herbs Indoors: 

Oregano, Thyme and Chives Can Be Started in the Winter

I am excited for the start of the 2014 gardening season. You can grow many things under grow-lights. I have a video that shows you how to make a grow-light box and lots of videos on starting and growing seeds indoors. Every year, I always make new gardening videos that follow what I do in the garden and I typically start seed sowing in January.

Oregano and thyme are two herbs I always start in January. They are very similar in germination time and growth. They can take 2-3 weeks to germinate and establish and another 6-8 weeks to get to size. The great thing about them is how hardy the are. You can over seed the planting cells, tear the root-ball in half at time of transplant and end up with two great oregano or thyme transplants.  The key for them is a lot of light and you have to let them dry out between waterings. They do not like to stay wet. Here are some pictures from last year.

Over the next week I will be doing videos to show you how to start oregano, thyme and chives indoors. The pictures are what I hope to help you achieve in 2014. Comings soon...



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