I can't believe it's that time of year again. What time, you ask? Well, we are about 6 weeks away from our last frost date here in south Louisiana (zone 9) which means it's SEED STARTING TIME!! Cue the music.
Last year, I don’t think I harvested a single tomato or pepper. Not one. Which was very discouraging, but you know what? That is life and that is definitely gardening. I refuse to let that stop me from trying again.
2023 is going to be the year of the tomato and the pepper!!
One of the mistakes I think I made last year was trying to grow all heirloom varieties of tomatoes: Black Krim, Brad’s Atomic Grape, and San Marzano just to name a few. They sound fabulous and the pictures looked amazing, but I think I only ended up with 1 tomato and my dog ate it…..
This girl needs to settle down and try to start with the basics. For those of you who don’t know, heirloom varieties are ones that you can save seeds from year after year and they’ve been around for decades. However, the cons to growing heirloom varieties is that most of them are not very disease resistance. Here, down south, where it gets so rainy, humid, and hot, you really need vegetable varieties that are hybridized to combat certain diseases and pests.
With all that being said, I’ve chosen some tomato and pepper varieties from my local Nursery (shout out to Clegg’s) and started them inside under a grow light. My plan is to continue to up-pot them into larger pots until they are strong enough to go out into the garden.
Here are some tips I’ve found helpful to grow seeds indoors:
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- Use seed starting mix. I use the brand Black Gold – makes it easier for the seed roots to grow in a light airy soil.
- Use a grow light with a timer. I’ve tried to grow seedlings on my windowsill and they always end up looking leggy and weak because they just aren’t getting enough light. So…. I put my big girl panties on and bought a grow light from Lowes. I placed the light on a wire rack shoe shelf and put my seed trays right underneath. Now they say seedlings need about 16 hours of light and 8 hours of darkness so I bought a cheap plug-in timer from Lowes plugged my grow light into it. It takes all of the thinking out of it and turns the light on and off for me everyday. It’s magic.
- Water. I use a water bottle mister and spray the tops of the soil every morning until I begin to see the little baby plants popping through the soil. Then it’s best to try to water from the bottom of the tray. I just stick my seed trays into a larger tray that holds water and the plants can soak up the water they need throughout the day. I only make sure to pour about 1/4″ of water into the tray.