January 15, 2010
This is for all of you out there who are trying to start seeds and also searching for an excellent resource to help you along the way.
The book is called Gardener to Gardener Seed-Starting Primer & Almanac: A Month-By-Month Guide for Planning, Planting, and Tending Your Organic Garden (Rodale Organic Gardening Book)
It has helped me tremendously with the nitty gritty of how to’s of seed starting.
[ No Comments ] Posted on 01.15.10 under Recommended Books, Seed Starting
Transplants
December 23, 2009
I will be starting some seeds in the next week or two because I can’t help myself. 
If any of you have any in particular that you would like me to grow for you, please let me know. I still need to place my seed orders this next week, so please let me know ASAP. I live in the west valley and can deliver to my dad’s (Farmer Darrell’s) in Tempe, or also near 35th Ave. & Peoria. I can grow any plant your heart desires. I’ve always charged very little for my plants, just because I like to grow things and it gives me great pleasure to be able to grow for others.
The tomato planting season starts promptly in the middle of February here in zone 9 so no time to delay for tomatoes seed starting…also peppers and basil. Almost anything will grow in the spring…lots of fun lettuce, swiss chard, onions, spinach, beets, carrots, bok choy, broccoli, cauliflower, eggplants, bunches of herbs, hot peppers, bell peppers, and lots of tomatoes!
Here are a few websites to check out for seeds:
http://www.tradewindsfruitstore.com (hybrids and heirlooms)
www.tomatobob.com (heirlooms and hybrids)
www.rareseeds.com (all heirloom)
www.tomatogrowers.com (hybrid and heirlooms)
[ 2 Comments ] Posted on 12.23.09 under From My Garden, Seed Starting
Ugly Lights
December 13, 2008
My grow lights are not the expensive kind, but they work and have worked for the last couple of years just fine. Any produce you see from my garden (Staci’s for those that don’t know) has been grown by seed from me with my own grow lights…except for my basil plant. My wonderful father, Farmer Darrell, bought me that one.
So here we go…the photos are not that great because what I was taking a picture of does not look that great! Oh, and if you install 8 feet of 12 inch wide double shelves with 8 hanging fluorescent lights, make sure don’t do it in your spouse’s office. You might hear about how ugly they look like a broken record…but I am not taking them down! They are my babies!
The lights that you see (above) are 2 four feet long fluorescent shop lights with hanging chains. Each shop light has 2 fluorescent lights in them; one cool and one warm to get a spectrum wide enough for the plants’ needs without burning them. Two seed trays fit perfectly under two side by side 4 feet long shop lights.
I’ll be starting my peppers any day now!
[ 1 Comment ] Posted on 12.13.08 under Gardening Tips, Seed Starting
We’re a sowin’
September 05, 2008
Over the last 5 days I have been sowing seeds in my seed trays along with my kids who are just dying to help until they realize that it takes more time than they thought. The only one who kept coming back to help was my 3 year old…maybe she’ll like the dirt like me and not scrapbooking like grandma. (just kidding mom) I think I could live outside in the dirt as long as I had a hot shower and a warm bed every night….but I digress.
First, I bought some seed starting mix and poured it into a big mixing bowl to mix with water so that it was thoroughly wet, but not soggy.
Then I got to figure out how many I wanted to plant of each kind of seed.
I finally gave up how many I thought I wanted to plant and just sowed a bunch of each. My husband tried to ignore the splattering of dirt and seed packets on the table where he was trying to work…I love you, honey.
Today, my 3 year old helped with the last of the seeds that I will plant for transplants. There’s nothing like a daughter who likes to help you do what you love to do. She even made sure that she was sitting in the exact same position that I was…so cute.
She had a hard time hanging on to the seeds, especially since the cabbage family seeds are so small.
The seeds that I planted on Monday looked like this on Thursday.
Grow babies, grow!
[ 4 Comments ] Posted on 09.05.08 under From My Garden, Gardening Tips, Seed Starting
