Beginner Gardening: New bees Seed Junkie chit chat Come in!! 12-14-09, 1 by lycodad

lycodad wrote:
Okay - I'm back from my long winter's nap (along with extended visits to far away relatives). My mailbox was piled with seed catalogs from everywhere! Time to think about Spring again I guess..

DJ, where are you? Zinnias and Marigolds are easy for me here in NY, but it's a little early to start right now. Usually I do seed starts in mid-April to plant out around Memorial Day. Here's the easy way I do it. Take a half gallon cardboard milk carton and cut it in half length wise making two halves that look like little boats. Poke a couple of holes in the bottoms for drainage and fill with good quality potting soil. Dampen the soil down a little bit and evenly spread your seeds across the top, add just enough soil to cover the seeds. Germinate in a warm spot (top of refrigerator), then move to a cool windowsill to grow out. Gradually move outside to a sunny porch to harden off. In 5 or 6 weeks you should have a nicely leaved crop that can be easily sliced with a knife into 2" squares for your transplants.

Marigold and Zinnias are simple for me, this may also work for several other plants. Anybody else do this?

Al