So, I got my seed starting kit all set up, and planted my first seeds. It's been so exciting around here the past week. I planted everything on Saturday February 18. I planted Early Girl and Black Cherry tomatoes, Sweet Sublime peppers, Jalapeños and Hot Banana Peppers, German Chamomile and Black-Eyed Susan vines.
The kit was super easy to set up. I put cloth hot pads (for grabbing hot pans from the oven) underneath the heat mat, just in case it got too hot for the shelf it's on. Then I added water to the soil pellets in the tray and they took about 10 minutes to absorb the water and grow to a plantable size. Once they were ready, I set the tray on top of the heat mat and turned on the mat, and the grow light.
Then, I opened the netting on top of each pellet, fluffed the soil a little, and added my seeds. Finally, I labeled them and closed the lid to let them hang out in their little greenhouse under the grow light.
The heat mat regulates its own temperature, I guess, because it never gets too hot. It's never too hot to the touch and it's been on all week! Pretty cool stuff, I think.
The heat mat regulates its own temperature, I guess, because it never gets too hot. It's never too hot to the touch and it's been on all week! Pretty cool stuff, I think.
It didn't take long for the Chamomile to sprout. It was popping up in a couple of days. The Black-Eyed Susan vines and early girl tomatoes showed their first sprouts yesterday.
We have had snow and rain all week, so this has been scratching my gardening itch all week while we deal with the end of winter. Plus, I feel all scientific with my grow light and heat mat, like I'm doing science experiments, which is essentially what gardening is. A big, awesome, science project.
Check out the little video below to see the whole process.
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