It has been 18 days since I’ve sown my seedlings and they are making nice progress. The heating wire and the lights are warming up the shelf without any problems. Until 3 days ago, they were both turned down during the night, but due to the very low temperatures we’ve been having lately, I’m leaving the heating wires on during the night. I keep the temperature between 19°C and 22°C (66°F-71°F) and up to 25°C (77°F) during the day.

Most of the seedlings are out, except for the flowers that need a really long time to germinate. Peppers have started growing past couple of days, and it seems the conditions we’ve set up for them are enough. In the next couple of days, I’ll sow the rest of the pepper seeds. 

Some of the flowers, leeks, and onions are already getting fairly big, so I’ll be moving them to my unheated shelf. The unheated shelf has lights but without a heating wire. Still, the house temperature is never under 15°C (59°F) so the seedlings will be warm enough, but won’t grow like mad. 

I have planned to sow tomatoes and peppers until January 15th, so that they will have time to germinate and grow until February 15th when I’m starting brassicas, chard, and early lettuces. After March 1st I’m starting annual flowers, herbs, and spring lettuce. In the middle of March, I’m hoping the temperatures will be high enough for most of the flowers, leeks, onions herbs, and lettuce to be moved outside so that I could start cucumbers, sunflowers, melons, and amaranth, and on the April 1st it’s time to start the zucchinis. This way the heated shelf should have enough room for all the seeds that need warmth to start. 

Growing the seeds on the window sill is not an option since all 4 are already overcrowded with house plants, so I have to find a way to grow hundreds of seedlings on just two shelves. I hope the plan will work and I’ll shape plenty of seedlings in May.