The other day I asked N to chop some carrots for dinner. He took out our large blue cutting board (that's it off to the side) and looked around in despair. "Shaela, can we please, please, please move some of these somewhere else?!" he said, referring to the little plastic dishes of seed-starting mix that are scattered all over our kitchen. (Not to mention the asparagus in the corner.)
This year I have been setting all the freshly planted things out on the kitchen counter, since I don't have heating mats to help keep the soil warm in the unfinished basement where my lights are set up. The little lamp is for dishes that have two kinds of seeds in them, when one has sprouted and the other hasn't. I tried to plant things with similar germination times together, and so far I haven't needed more than one lamp. I did the same thing last year, but with large seedling flats. The flats were a little more space efficient, but the lamp was sometimes inadequate for the sprouted plants while waiting for the slow-pokes.
Once the plants come up I take them downstairs, and the population downstairs is growing - so far I've got daylilies, impatiens, cauliflower, and cabbage down there - but I am far from finished planting. I swapped seeds with a good friend last weekend (yay! she had rainbow cherry tomatoes!) and sorted a bunch more seeds into my "plant this soon" baggie. Soon it will be time to move the early birds into nursery pots, and then the crowding will start downstairs.
This is just the most fun time of year - for me at least.
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