Connections:
GARDENING UNDER LIGHTS
By Nancy Yergin, MS,
RD, LDN, Forest County Penn State Extension
I
checked my utility room this morning and spotted a lone tomato seedling
already up and ahead of its other 29 siblings that were planted on Easter
Sunday. Pressed gently into a fine soil-less potting mix last weekend,
seeds I've been collecting since before Christmas have been awakened. In
moist pans and trays and under grow lights, the 2008 garden is formally
under way.
Packets of not-yet-planted seed sit in boxes and bags
where they must await their own turn to get a jump start on the season. I
have fluorescent grow lights and heated germination mats on a table top
that can hold only four trays at a time for seeds that need a warm spot.
Using the average date of late frost (end of May) as a target, I plot the
planting dates according to the information on the seed packets.
Additional lights in my cooler basement will accommodate
the "Golden Rave" yellow Roma tomatoes and other kitchen garden candidates
when they get beyond the delicate sprouting stage and can vacate the warm
nursery area for other deserving vegetables and flowers. Sometimes cooler
is better for beginning seeds. My perennial Monkshood (5 varieties!) that
need just 40 degrees F. and sometimes weeks to months to germinate, are
planted in trays and stashed for now in the attic stairway.
All (warm-started or cold-germinated) will eventually migrate out of the
house and onto the porch and into my unheated greenhouse to larger pots,
favored locations in the Yergin Garden, and hopefully some to sales to
0ther interested gardeners at Farmers Markets. I'll have a lot of fun
growing and eating and enjoying my harvest and it doesn't hurt to earn
some bucks to support my seed habit.
Propagation by seed is the most commonly known method of
producing new plants. Common annual and biennial vegetables and flowers
are grown easily from seed. Perennials grown from seed may take more than
one season to flower. They all start out small, dry, and full of
possibilities. Starting seed indoors isn't rocket science but there are
some basics that have to be met. You need water, oxygen, light, and
temperature, and without these four factors, you cannot be successful.
Planting a seed and watching it grow to become a thing
of beauty, a meal, or a source of income begins with a plan. For basic
guidelines, visit the
local library,
log on to the internet, or place a call to an extension
Master Gardener to get you started growing
plants from seed.
Questions or comments on this or other columns? Nancy Yergin can be reached via email at
NLY1@PSU.EDU.
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