Planting the Seeds of Wisdom-- Salad, Onions, Bell Peppers

 February Seedling Starts/ Feb 10th:  Black Seeded Simpson, Texas Grano Onion, Rocket Salad, Black Beauty Peppers, Red Bell Peppers, Yellow Bell Peppers

SEEDLING MEDIUM CHOICES

Today I used the last of a bag of seedling mix from last year and then perused the internet for this year's seedling mix.  Coconut Coir bricks, Vitamin C powder, Gypsum, and vermiculite.  I seed a lot of seed starts because the last freeze in the Florida 9a zone is March 13th and the overnight temps are still around 45 degrees.  So, I think that maybe we just might have one more freeze.  The cold snaps have already killed off the tops of my banana trees because when we moved, I lost a lot of supplies.  Burlap sack and the like, being one of them.  I have my bananas in huge pots, but no garage now to bring them in.  

FEBRUARY SEEDLING STARTS

I started the Cherokee purple tomatoes on the 5th, in the metal bookshelf I have in front of my window in the bedroom.  So this rack of seedling starts will go on the next shelf.  I slanted my air conditioning vents downwards more to stop the seedling mix from drying out too much and making the sprout that is going to come up too cool.  Would be a novice mistake, right?  So, I used to do hair, and I have a ton of water spray bottles and I hung one off the side of the bookshelf to spray them in the morning when I open the curtains.    

MAPPING OUT YOUR SPACE

Then comes the mapping,  I have a 3 inch 3-ring binder that I keep all my garden info in.  Last year I crowded my tomatoes a little too much and then the predators came for them in droves.  I subsequently pruned them back as much as I could, but I would really like to not run out of square footage this year.  So, planning is key, getting the most out of the space, and companion plant as much as possible as well. I am planning the carrots on one side of the raised bed and the tomatoes on the sun-facing side of the raised bed opposite of the carrots.  I sowed in the carrots on a staggered line the tomato cages waiting patiently for the seedling starts, upside down, spaced out properly.  This should deter my overwhelming motivation to just fill spaces at random because my patience is zero sometimes, I just want to get everything in!  I also cut back my seedling activities to balance out, so I don't have too many seedling starts and not enough square footage to plant them!