Seed Starting Part 2

It's beginning to look a little more like spring outside (the snow is down to just patches in the yard instead of multiple feet deep everywhere) so I didn't feel quite so crazy starting my second batch of seeds today. It's amazing what a difference a few weeks can make! My last batch of seeds are up and beautifully green (although the Brussels Sprouts in particular are getting pretty leggy - anyone have any tips to help with that? I have two grow lights over each tray, and I try to run my hands over them every few days to toughen them up, but it doesn't seem to be enough. I would appreciate any tips you might have!)

I'm really loving the soil blocks - I didn't need to water at all while the seeds were under the clear plastic "greenhouse" dome, and I've only watered once or twice since (don't worry, I check them daily, and they've never dried out). I did have to move the parsley blocks into a smaller greenhouse tray because they take so much longer to germinate (I hadn't thought that through when I started), and they held together wonderfully, both when I took them out and when I moved them back. I am amazed that it's been a full month and they're still holding their shape, even after light watering and being moved around twice, without any paper pot or net or anything.

So I was very confident this afternoon starting my second batch of seeds. The plan was to start my tomatoes, peppers, spinach, lettuce, and rutebagas (I've never grown those before - any tips on those? I'm guessing they're pretty similar to other brassiccas?) I've noticed that I have a bit of a compulsion about buying seeds - and I also have trouble throwing them out if I have partial packages from previous years - so I had multiple packages of tomatoes (and multiple varieties, as well!) dating back to at least 2014 (some of them you couldn't even read the date on anymore . . .) I did manage to finish off one package today (although somehow it was the newest package. *sigh*)

In case you're curious, here's what I planted (I should confess - this is more for my benefit than for yours, to help me remember how many of what seed I planted, and where it is on the tray!)

On the far left, I planted three blocks of Seeds of Change "San Marzano" tomatoes (those were the ones I ran out of - and of course those were the ones I wanted to plant the most!) I filled out my main tomato crop with twelve Seed Savers Exchange "Brandywine" tomatoes (my absolute favorite for flavor, but I had a lot of blossom end rot in that variety last year), and just for fun I'm starting two blocks of cherry tomatoes (which I read somewhere actually have the best nutritional profile of all of the different kinds of tomatoes - so maybe I should plant more of those). Next I put in a row of four jalapenos (I don't have high hopes there - those were the seeds from 2014, and they were from a 50 cent packet I picked up at the grocery store on a whim). Then I put in five Seed Savers Exchange "Joan" Rutebagas along the bottom edge (I'm really excited to try those). And finally I filled in the box with a dozen spinach seeds ("Bloomsdale Longstanding" - my old standby), four "Red Velvet" lettuce, and four "Buttercrunch" lettuce.

It's hard to believe that my next garden task (in just two weeks!) will be planting peas, lettuce, spinach, and onion sets out in the garden. It seems impossible that my currently snow-covered garden will be warm, dry, and ready to plant in just two weeks, but it happens every year - and the progress that's been made in the last two weeks gives me reason to hope!