from babies to soldiers

I started some seeds for the vegetable garden a few weeks ago and they are doing really well!  I don’t think I’ve ever had such great looking seedlings!  My babies are rapidly becoming soldiers!  (Although now that I’ve written that I don’t really think it’s the best description, perhaps adolescents?  I’m open to suggestions…) 

I’ve been wracking my brain trying to figure out why they are so lush this year.  Here are some of the things that I’ve done differently:

• I used a heat mat to help aid in seed germination, removing after sprouting
• for the peppers and tomatoes I’m using the rootrainer kit that my husband gave me for my birthday last year
• I started the tomato and pepper seeds two weeks earlier than I have in the past, I just find that our yard gets minimal direct sun and if I start with stronger healthy plants then maybe they’ll do better once transplanted to their permanent homes outdoors

This week I hope to transplant the tomatoes and peppers into four inch pots, I just need to get some screen from my local hardware store to line the bottoms.

Heirloom Pepper Variety: Marconi red pepper

Heirloom Tomato Varieties: Black tomato, black plum tomato, Matt’s wild cherry tomato, mountain princess tomato, and brandywine.

In case you are wondering, I bought most of these seeds from Urban Harvest. They’re out of Toronto, which is nice because it’s not too far away, they have a good selection with great descriptions of the varieties (sometimes I think I need one of everything), and friendly customer service.

Which seeds have you started?