seed fever

 We had a few days of unseasonably warm weather last week, making my seed fever spike like crazy.  I've been researching wildly trying to keep myself from jumping the gun and starting things too early.  I pulled my overwintered pepper plants out of the basement and am sad to report they did not make it.  I watched a few more videos on the subject and think I might try again next winter.  Though the peppers didn't make it, this little fellow popped out of the soil the pepper plants were in.

I'm not exactly sure what it is, but I have a strong hunch it may be a sunflower seedling.  I have had mice in the garage this winter, and did find sunflower seed shells in a corner.  I'll let it grow and see what happens.

I've also started a few celery stubs for transplanting, as I do every year.

I brought my greenhouse upstairs and set it up in preparation, too.  I've had this contraption for years now - it's a cheap Job Lots pipe and wire shelving system with a plastic cover.  This year I wanted to give my seeds a better start, so I've invested in some small grow lights.  I attended a webinar last week on seed starting given by our local university's cooperative extension, and I learned quite a bit.  Instead of the old fluorescent grow lights, people are now turning to specialized LED lights.  The ones I purchased are colored; they give off a purplish-pink glow. 

They're designed to either run independently or you can connect them together via included cables, so they all switch on at once.  They came with hardware to mount them to a ceiling permanently, or with zip ties to hang them, which is what I'm doing. 

You can see the plug for the included cables; each light has plugs on both ends. You can either use a stand alone cable with an on/off switch, or a connecting cable that will run lights off one another.

Connecting two lights with the included cables.

Blue lights help seedlings sprout and grow, red lights help things flower.  California Lightworks gives a great explanation of how lights affect plant growth, development, and flowering.  Honestly, I have a hard time wrapping my head around some of the technical aspects of it, I just know this should work better than the plastic cover and a sunny window.  At any rate, the lights are perfect for my setup.  They're just long enough so they don't hang over the edge, and small enough that I can hang two on each tier.  

I'm also trying out some new silicone seed trays.  I love that they're reusable and BPA-free.  Bonus - they're fun colors.  I'm wondering how easy it will be to get the seedlings out of them when the time comes, though.  They are pretty flexible, so that should help.

Next weekend I'll be starting a few cherry tomato plants, some bell and hot peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, and I'm going to try my hand at annual flowers, too.  I have some petunia, pansy, and impatiens seeds on the way.  I have a feeling I may run out of room once these seedlings start needing to be transplanted.