Seed Starting 2013

I had always been intimidated by starting seeds because my house is not typically very warm and it seems that wherever I have lived, I don't have the proper facing window. Last year I took the plunge. I asked for seed heating mats for birthday and Christmas and then purchased 1 more. I have 3 small ones and a double sized mat. You can find them at most seed supply companies, but here is what I purchased.


The lighting suggestions that you find regarding seed starting seems expensive. I use a light from walmart that I can bend over the trays.

Last year, I planted Federele, Amish Paste, Gold Medal, and Tommy Toe Tomatoes in addition to the sweet peppers. Here's what I discovered:

The Tommy Toes are huge producers and, only needing 1 plant for salads, take too much effort to start from seed. I can purchase 1 plant.

The Federele tomatoes did well too, but I found that the Amish Paste served the purposes I need and were larger producers.

The Gold Medals did fairly well in the garden and produced what we needed.

Here's what 2013 holds:
1.  I have a nice tray of 72 Amish Paste sprouts. Almost all of them sprouted too!
2. Another tray holds Gold Medals and Burpee's new Super Sauce. The Gold Medal are doing well, but I'm disappointed with the percentage of sprout for the Super Sauce. You only get about 25 seeds in the pack and only 16 of mine sprouted. For the price, next year I may choose something different, but I will wait until the end of the season to see how productive the plants are before making that determination.
3. I saved pepper seeds from last year and did everything "right" but nothing is happening with them so far. They were so worth it too. We eat several peppers a week. With their price at the store, I saved lots of money by growing and freezing my peppers. If I have to purchase plants, it will still be worth it to grow my own. I froze enough last year to last the whole year.

 These are the Amish Paste. They were good to slice, make sauce, and some, I even used for salsa.

  These are Gold Medals. Yum is all I need to say!
 I also started these Star of Veld flowers too. I just planted them today. I'll have to see how they do. They are to be drought tolerant and love poor soil.

Happy Gardening!