I've received a couple of e-mails asking about seed starting.  This is how I do it, after over 10 years of seed starting and lots of trial and error.

I spring for a great big bag of seed starting medium.  You can buy this at nursery centers.  You can buy stuff with fertilizer in it, or if you want to go organic, buy the stuff without fertilizer (this is what I do).  I also buy some fish emulsion fertilizer.  The seed starting mix is sterilized so you have waaay less problems like damping off disease, which can destroy nearly all of your seedlings literally overnight.  It is also lightweigh and the plant have a lot easier time coming up through the soil.

Over the years I've decided that the best thing to start seed in are 6-pack seed trays.  I've tried recycled containers of all kinds, but the 6-pack trays take up less room, they fit together nicely, are easy to handle, and they are the perfect size and depth for developing roots.   Egg cartons are too shallow and don't allow for optimum root growth.  If you take care, you can reuse the plastic trays for several years.

Light -- In my opinion and experience, no matter how sunny your window is, it isn't sunny enough to keep your seedlings from getting weak and leggy, especially seedlings that have to stay in your house for a good amount of time like tomatoes and peppers.  I think a flourecent light is absolutely necessary for strong healthy seedlings if you don't have the luxury of a greenhouse.  Hanging shop lights are cheap at walmart or the hardware store, often less than $10.  Get the regular inexpensive flourecent bulbs - they are way cheaper than the "plant lights" and work just as well for me.  You want to hang the shop light from a chain you can adjust.  You want the light to be just a couple inches away from the plants to keep them from "stretching" and developing weak spindly stems.  You will have to raise the lamp up as they grow, keeping then close to the tops of the plants.

Read the instructions on the seed packets for how deep to plant them, watering, light etc.  Some seeds need darkness to germinate, some need light to germinate.  Most prefer to be fairly warm.  For germination I keep my seeds upstairs in the main part of the house for warmth, then when they sprout I move them downstairs where it stays around 55 degrees, which is great for healthy seedling growth.  Keep the soil moist while you're waiting for the seeds to germinate - using a clear plastic cover works great.  As *soon* as you see plants sprouting up, take that cover off!  If the seedlings are too wet they are suseptible to damping off.  Damping off will cause a plant to fall over at the base of the plant and is irreversable - the plant will die.  You want to avoid damping off like the plaugue!  Some things you can do to prevent it is having a fan set on low, blowing across the seedlings (this also makes the stems grow strong), sprinkle finely chopped spaghnum moss (spelling?) over the soil when you plant the seeds, using a sterile seed starting medium, and just making sure the soil doesn't stay too wet.

Use the seed packet to determine WHEN to plant the seeds too.  Each seed packet should say something like "start indoors 6-8 weeks before you last frost date."  If you don't know your last frost date, you can find it in a gardening book that has a frost date map, or call your local extension office.  Then all you need to do is count back weeks and you have your planting dates.  I always mark our last frost date on the calendar and mark each week back so I know at a glance how many weeks we are before the last frost and therefore what we need to get planted.

Hope that is helpful!!

JennMarie = )