Hannah removes a page from the planting notebook to follow instructions, then log what we planted. Sheryl fills cells with rich compost, plants the seeds, then inserts an ID marker so we know what’s in there.
The Garden at 485 Elm starts a lot of seeds indoors and covered on porches.
Starting our own seeds saves a lot of money over buying “starts” — when someone else starts seeds, so gardeners can buy them as young plants ready to go into the ground.
Today Hannah and I planted hundreds of seeds: summer squash, sweet and hot pepper, Chinese cabbage, pac choy, collard greens, chives and garlic chives, large tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, and echinacea purpurea.
They’ll live on our sun porch until they’re ready to go into the ground.
Chris hung lights above each tray. The plants will get 14-18 hours daily of light and warmth. Chris will mist them twice daily. The bug netting hung over the trays discourages our cats from exploring the plants.
