2023 Seed Starting Adventures

My 2023 seed starting adventures!

Seed starting is off to a weird start for me this year. Instead of planting everything at once, I've taken it slow, starting things at random times & using what I have.

My setup is super simple this year. 

I'm just using my huge bay window as my "greenhouse." I found a super cheap metal shelf at the thrift store & it works perfectly for organizing my seedlings. Because I'm working in small batches, it didn't make sense to bring out my large flats, so I'm using containers I got at Dollar Tree. They work really well as a greenhouse within a greenhouse & keep everything organized. It's easy to take the containers to the sink for watering. As the seedlings get bigger & are transplanted into larger pots, I use the lids of the containers as trays. I'm also using a super cute mini greenhouse I got at the thrift store.

To transplant, I'm just using the cups I had from years past. I cleaned them out at the end of the season last year, so they were ready to go this year. I also got a few supplies at Dollar Tree.

I'm still using my Jiffy Peat Pellets for the actual planting, although I did start the mystery peppers in just soil. I used to have super fast germination with the peat pellets, but it's been slow this year.

I ordered some Burpee seeds during their clearance sale in October, so I've used them.

Because peppers take forever to germinate, I started a few in January (They became the mystery peppers because my marker washed off their variety!). They are doing so well right now. I also started about 20 Confetti pepper plants. They were doing well for a while & then they started to die off. So I'm down to about 6 plants of that variety. The last pepper variety I started was California Wonder. I usually have good luck with them, but I didn't this year for some reason. So out of 15 seeds, I only got 6 plants.

I started my tomatoes a little bit later (but still early for my growing zone!). I did start a tomato for my grandma super early, though. She loves yellow pear tomatoes & I actually got it together enough to start one early for her. Also, yellow pear tomatoes are indeterminate, so I didn't have to worry about a one-time harvest. The tomatoes I started are Early Girl & SuperSauce. Early Girl are determinate & SuperSauce are indeterminate. I wanted some indeterminate tomatoes because I want to try to build a tomato trellis this year.

I'm done with my tomato & pepper seed starting for the year. I still want to try some flowers, though. I'm trying to go quality over quantity this year & staggering my seed starting times has really helped with the overwhelm I sometimes get when I start many seeds at once.

Are you seed starting this year? If so, tell me all about it!