Northern Gardening: 7 tips to starting plants indoors, start with a well equipped room
Are we ready for Spring yet? In order to have a great garden in the Spring in it necessary here in MN to get a really early start. Celery is one plant that needs a lot of time to grow, so I start celery in January. The big part of the task is below, getting the supplies and room ready, cause look out, Spring is going to be here soon and there is plenty of prep work to do if you’d like to save money and don’t have a full fledged greenhouse. Here is what you can do to get off to a good start:
1 Have your seeds ordered by the beginning of January. Why? You will probably want to start some of them in January.
2. Have a designated plant room that will allow for dirt & water spillage. Why? Nobody is perfect and the theory of relativity is true in a plant room.
3. Paint the room entirely white. Why? White helps bounce light around the room so all plant areas receive the light they need.
4. Equip the plant room with as many strong shelves as possible, the shelves should be able to handle heavy seed starting trays full of soil and lights
5. Buy enough 40 inch shop lights to cover shelves. Lets’ say your shelves are 3 feet wide by 6 feet long: for one shelf you will need 6 shop lights. Why so many? The plants need a lot to grow.
6. Get tarps enough cover shelves. Why? To contain water and dirt that otherwise would (as in 2.) fall
7. Get a big garbage can to mix your own starter soil. Why? You just need a lot of soil for this project
More tips to come, stay tuned to www.cedar-hill-farm-minnesota.com and our blogs for updates.