When is the right time to start seedlings for a new season? Every gardener has their own date on which they start their seedlings and they are convinced that this date will make their seedlings strong and big. But is that date good for everyone?

The starting date depends mostly on the conditions that can be achieved during the germination period. High temperatures and lots of light will make the seedlings germinate and grow faster than in less-perfect conditions.

While I had a wood stove in the bedroom, I’ve started my seedlings around the middle of March. With high temperatures right next to the stove, my seedlings were always perfectly ready for transplanting in the middle of May.

During the years this changed, and now I don’t have a wood stove in my apartment. When the house was built, the smoke holes on the chimneys were made only on the ground floor, so now I can’t have a wood stove on the upper floor. That’s why we have air-conditioned heating, and this means that I don’t have a quick germination space. 

This is why I tried to have a germination chamber inside the basement, but it turned out it was hard to heat an unheated room, and my seed trays ended up in the house. We made a germination closet, which will make the seedlings grow faster.

Now the only problem is space. Before I only started tomatoes and peppers inside the house, but due to the cold springs we’ve been having the past couple of years, I ended up starting almost all of my plants early. There’s no point in sowing onions or lettuce directly to the garden when the March and April temperatures are way too low for the seeds to start. The mornings might not have frost temperatures, but daily temperatures are ofter under the growth threshold. Of course, this means that I need lots of room for my seedlings, and not everything can be grown at the same time.

This is why I’ve made a sowing plan in which I’m starting with the sowing in December.  I’ve decided to start the chili peppers, onions, leeks, and some of the flowers much earlier than usual.

Peppers grow slowly and they won’t mind the early sowing. If they get too big, I can transplant them earlier, since all of the chili peppers will be grown in the containers. If there will be frost danger I can always bring the containers indoors. 

Leeks and onions will be started early, but since they are not too sensitive, I can leave them outside in March and April. They need the heat to germinate and start growing nicely, but won’t mind the colder conditions once my germination closet starts filling up with other varieties.

As for the flowers I went with early sowing of the Surfinias, Petunias, and Geraniums. I usually buy the plants for my balcony, but this year I will try to start them at home. These plants need to be big enough to start flowering in May, which means I will need to start them much earlier.

I’ve also started some of the new perennials and early annuals, just because I had some spare room in the closet. Like leeks and onions, I will leave them outside once the closet starts filling up with more delicate vegetables.

The plan was to sow my seeds on my new workstation in the basement, which my hubby made for me from the scrap material. Hubby moved his workshed to the bigger basement(we have 2 basements) and there was no use for the old yard buildings, so he took down everything except the garage. There was lots of good wood left, so now he’s fixing up the smaller basement for me and building me a work table, shelves for the gardening materials, and more shelves for pickled goods and jars. 

The new desk will work perfectly for me, but due to the unusually cold December we’ve been having, I ended up only filling the containers and running to the house. My hands were completely frozen and my nails turned blue after just 30 minutes of work. I had to leave the containers with soil inside the germination closet to heat up the soil, and I’ve sown my seeds 3 days later (last Wednesday).

The closet has been equipped with grow LED lights, a big white LED light, just to be certain the seedlings will get enough lights, and the 50w heating wires. Heating wires aren’t too strong, they can reach only up to 40°C(104°F), but since the closet is inside the house which is heated to 24°C (75°F), there is no need to have stronger heating wires. Just enough to lift the temperature for a couple of degrees. I turn off the house heating during the night, but 2 strong radiators are set to keep the temperatures above 17°C (62°F).

We’ll be making another shelve inside the closet, with just the lights and without the heating for the seedlings that don’t need as high temperatures as peppers and tomatoes. The shelve will be heated at room temperature, and it will be enough for nice growth. 

The whole heating/lighting setup looks a bit messy for now. Hubby set the lights and wires to be easily removed and changed just until we get the perfect conditions. When we see what works the best, he’ll make the setup permanent, with hidden wires and mounted lights.

For now, the setup seems to work, the seeds are starting to germinate. Lots of flowers are already outside, after just 4 days, and the seedlings are nicely green without any signs of lack of light. I was late in turning the lights on for Alyssum and the seedlings were completely yellow, but since I’ve turned the lights on they are now nicely green. 

We’ll see how long it will take for the peppers to germinate. I hope they will start growing very soon. I have lots of seeds more to sow.