Organic Gardening

I love productivity! And there's no better way to watch it than to plant a bunch of seeds and watch them turn into plants right before your eyes. I can hardly contain the anticipation I feel at growing all of my vegetables organically and feeding my family these wonderfully healthy products.



I ordered certified organic seeds and bought certified organic germination soil. I love it when my UPS driver, Terry, delivers big excitement in small packages. By the way, ask any UPS driver the name of someone you know (in the same geographical area) and they will tell you their street address. I have had success twice.















I usually don't start my garden until May, sometimes reaching into June . But this year I have these handy little greenhouses so I have started germinating my seeds.



There is control of temperature to be considered because different seeds germinate at different temperatures. So I sorted the seeds according to their temperature requirements for germination.


The seeds that need it cool to sprout I left outside in the elements.



We bought these spiffy heated mats that you lay under the trays containing the soil and seeds. For the seeds requiring 80 degrees and up I laid stone tile pieces under the heated mats to help retain the heat even more. At night I cover the trays with towels to help because it dips into the 30's and 40's for night temperatures still. Controlling the air temperature (done with heat lamps), the soil temperature and the humidity level makes for successful germination and plant growth.



The temperature this day is 55 degrees. You can see the warmer temp in the greenhouse.



By the time the outdoor temperatures are good for planting the garden my plants will be well on their way and able to be transplanted into the ground.



The two things that will potentially determine my crop is if the mice eat my sprouts when the lids come off the trays (this happened a couple years ago when I had less elaborate equipment) and if the temperature plummets, which today it has. It is 44 degrees at 3:30 p.m. The soil temp of the trays that need to be over 80 degrees dropped to 60 degrees. I may be reseeding my peppers and tomatoes.

Happy gardening!