Beginner Gardening: Flower seeds and heating mat, 2 by MaypopLaurel

MaypopLaurel wrote:
I start all vegetables and flowers, not direct sown, in 1\" plug trays and on a 4\' mat. My potting bench is in a west-facing basement which has a glass wall. Plants are on the mat for as long as possible, even after plugs move to pots. Natural afternoon light is supplemented with double banks of fluorescent lights. Flowers and more cool tolerant vegetables are moved to shelves above the bench as I run short of mat space. There are banks of lights on both shelves. Tomatoes, eggplants and peppers are the last off the mat. The longer they stay on the mats, and have good light, the stronger the plants. Make sure to pot up your starts based on their individual growth. Here are photos of this year\'s garden. There is a second layer of shorter plants under the top boxes.