Even with snow on the ground, you can’t miss the biggest sign of spring a the SLP cat ranch, the return of the CPPC (the Cat-Proof Protection Chamber) in the corner of our kitchen. Two years ago the BF and Science Dave built our special seed starting chamber and the CPPC has performed it’s two tasks perfectly: Keep the seedings healthy and keep our four naughty cats away from our healthy seedings. (You can see it in more detail here and here…)

This third time around, I’ve decided to scale back a bit. I usually grow two flats of heirloom tomatoes, peppers and basil — then end up giving most of them away. So Saturday, I planted only half a flat with my veggie garden in mind. I saved the other half for my new flower garden which hopefully be an aesthetically pleasing assortment of little blue stem, prairie clover, platinum blue, billy button and foxglove.

I also started a smaller tray of fennel and leeks. (Between you and me, I view this tray as an experiment not likely to succeed. When it comes to members of the onion family, I have a bit of a black thumb.) Parsley and cilantro were sown in larger pots.

According to the seed packet, Himalayan blue poppies require a few weeks in a cold frame, something the BF and Science Dave could build — if I didn’t mind planting my poppies in August. So, I bundled my seed trays in pots of newspaper, buried them in some mulch on the south side of the house, then made a faux frame with a protective sheet of plexiglass from the basement. (Again, I realize this is another disappointment waiting to happen. Our cat, Steve Johnson, looks skeptical, doesn’t he?)

Finally, I planted some butterfly weed and put it in the fridge for a little extra cold conditioning (as recommended by the seed packet)… and then a little extra explaining to the BF (not detailed by the seed packet)…

“Hon, is this a tray of moldy take-out or future plants?”

“Future plants. We can take them out in three weeks.”

“Gotcha.”

Water, seed staring soil, grow lights, we gardeners we can only do so much preparation. The rest is up to Mother Nature. The first few weeks of seed starting can be incredibly uneventful as much of seed starting is actually “dirt observing.” Some heirloom peppers can take two weeks to sprout — that’s fourteen agonizingly long days of staring at the potting mix, searching for the slightest hint of green.

I figured my seedlings would need at least a week to germinate. But when I checked the CPPC Tuesday morning, the basil had already sprouted! Go basil, go!

Are you starting seeds? What are you growing? Have you gotten to everything on your to-do list?

Seed starting is easy and rewarding. It’s a great way to get a leg up on the growing season or add an unusual heirloom or ornamental to your garden. There’s still plenty of time to start your tomatoes, peppers, herbs, hollyhocks, and more.

Here are some tried and true DOs and DON’Ts for seed starting:

DO
– Use new seeds. Older seeds may not germinate well or at all. Onion seeds keep for a year or two. Other vegetable seeds, including tomato, cabbage, cucumber, lettuce and radish, can stay viable for four to five years.

–Start with clean containers. To help prevent diseases, use new containers to start seeds or thoroughly scrub used containers, soak them for 20 minutes in a mix of nine parts water to one part bleach, then rinse thoroughly.

– Provide some heat. Start seeds on top of a radiator or refrigerator or use a heating mat. Warm soils helps seeds germinate more quickly and more uniformly.

– Keep the potting mix moist. Water with lukewarm water and keep mix moist but not soggy.

– Provide plenty of light. Use fluorescent lights and keep them 4 to 6 inches above the plants. Lights should be on for about 14 hours per day. You can find inexpensive fixtures at your local hardware store. (For fancier grow lights and stands, check out Midwest Homebrew and Hydroponics in St. Louis Park.)

– Feed seedlings. Once the seedlings have a few sets of leaves, feed with a water-soluble general fertilizer mixed at quarter strength once a week. (Pale or yellowish seedlings may indicate a lack of nutrients.)

– Thin seedlings if you’ve sown them thickly.

– Once seedlings get a few inches tall, toughen them up with an oscillating fan for a few hours every day.

DON’T
– Start too early. Most seeds should be started four to eight weeks before they can be planted outdoors. Read the packet and follow sowing directions.

– Use regular garden soil. It retains too much water, which can cause seeds to fail. Seedlings grow better in a lighter mix. Use a sterilized soil-less mix designed for seed starting.

– Rely on window light alone. The seeds will probably germinate, but unless you have a very bright window and turn the seedlings daily, they may grow tall and spindly. For sturdy seedlings, use a fluorescent shop light fixture with standard cool white tubes.

– Overwater. Soggy seeds are more prone to disease.

Did you start seedlings this spring? It’s still a few weeks (at least) until it’s safe to plant most things outside, but by now you probably have a sense of inventory of what you’ve got to work with when it’s time to head toward the dirt.

My “to-plant” list seems to be shifting. I started tomatoes, peppers, a bit of broccoli and some flowers a month ago and they are doing well. But last night, I sat bolt upright in bed when I realized I’d completely forgotten to plant cucumbers and melons.

Space under my lights is already claimed by the early starters. I’m out of seed-starter mix, but hey — I still have plastic pots! So I’m going for it. What would you do? Do you think I’ve got enough time to get these guys growing?

Broccoli and cosmos spend quality time together

Meet Julie Dinger, winner of the first ever Greengirl give-away.

The day after the 2006 Minnesota legislative session ended, I delivered the goods (a hardcover copy of The $64 Tomato) to her office in St. Paul. To sweeten the deal, I also added three of my homegrown heirloom tomato plants.

With only one growing season under my belt, sometimes I get a little nervous talking to other gardeners. I’m more of a “green horn” than a “green thumb.”

I’m also a terrible sweater (no, I’m not talking about a Bill Cosby sweater). When I get the slightest bit nervous (or hot), I become the pit stain queen.

Luckily, Julie’s big smile instantly put me at ease.

“Wow! This is so exciting. I’ve never won anything before.” She stroked one of the fuzzy tomato leaves, “These tomatoes look so healthy!”

Soon, her coworker (and fellow gardener) Elizabeth joined our conversation. People could hear us hootin’ and hollerin’ all the way down the hallway. Who knew legislative reference librarians were such a riot?

After scorching my tomato and pepper plants in the hot weekend sun, I immediately thought of Julie.

Was my give-away really a bum deal? I emailed Julie for a full report.

Hi Jaime,

The tomato plants are doing very well. They are growing taller and getting lots of new leaves. I worried because I planted them the Saturday of that hot Memorial Day weekend. They looked strained by the heat, but they’ve bounced back like champs! They have a couple of yellow leaves; not sure what that means but doesn’t seem to be a big problem for them.

I’ll keep you updated…

Julie

Phew. Saved by a legislative reference librarian. It’s good to know that my seedlings are in good hands.

Before you hustle plants, you gotta know how to harden-off.

Hardening-off is a gardener’s form of tough love — a way of acclimating your tender seedlings to nature’s more hostile conditions. Winds, rain and cold — From the instructions I read in gardening books, hardening-off was like some mystical, magical plant journey, like Tibetan monks training to meditate in the snow.

Unfortunately, as I learned this weekend, hardening-off is also about the unseasonably warm temperatures as much as the unseasonably cold.

Born and raised under grow lights, my tender peppers and tomatoes were no match for the sun and its leaf-scorching rays of death.

When I brought my unhappy plants into the office this morning, my coworkers instantly recognized the cause of their withered, see-though leaves.

“Sunburn is a very common beginner’s mistake. Don’t worry, they’ll bounce back.”

Don’t worry? Did I just give bum plants to half the Twin Cities metro area?