This week I started some seeds.

*Insert happy dance*

The first step to seed starting for me this year was a lighting set up.  A serious lack of sunlight in a window at our home made getting seeds growing under lights a necessity.  Having never grown under lights before, I’m sure there will be a bit of a learning curve, but so far, I am encouraged.

We took an old metal shelving unit and Andy rigged up a series of shop lights on the various shelves.  The lights are adjustable, so I can move them closer to or farther from the seedlings as needed.

The lights are also on a timer.  The plan is that the lights will be on 24/7 until we have seedlings.  At that point, a timer will be used to give the seedlings 16 hours of light and 8 hours of darkness.

This week I wanted to start my onion, leek, artichoke, and some parsley seeds.  As long as I was going to be sowing seeds, I thought this would be a perfect time to sow a flat of lettuce to eventually put out in the screen porch.  Lucky for me, my local garden center sells Botanical Interests seeds, so I was able to pick up a few packages of assorted mesclun mixes.  I love Botanical Interests.  They are usually the first catalog I get in December, and I love that they are a small family owned company- and how can you not love the artwork that they use on their seed packets?  Their prices are very reasonable, although since I can get them locally, I’ve never actually ordered from them.

I sowed several small rows in one flat, and then towards one end of the flat I sowed two rows of Giant Noble spinach seed.    I sowed my onions in cells, and then both flats got a plastic dome over the top, and then they were sent to the basement grow center.  I did all this sowing Tuesday afternoon.

I have to note that I didn’t expect to see any sprouting for at least 5 days, but expected much longer- the chokes and parsley could take two weeks before I see any sprouts!  So imagine my surprise when I am doing laundry on Thursday and decide to take a peek under my domes and find sprouts!  Quite a few mesclun sprouts, and even one onion and one leek sprout.  Just two days after sowing!

Here is what my lettuces looked like Friday morning:

And here they are today:

They’re growing like gangbusters, and today I took the plastic dome off the mesclun, as I didn’t want to cook the seedlings.  I just want them to grow and reach for the lights.

The hybrid Lexton Leek seeds that I sowed are also doing really well- there’s easily a dozen just starting to poke through the soil.   I have a few Copra onion sprouts as well, and I sure am encouraged that I can be successful at growing under lights.