Starting Tomato, Cucumber, Watermelon, and Pepper Seedlings
Yesterday, April 7, 2008 , I planted my first seeds of the year. If you’ve never started your own plants from seed before, you’ve got to try it – it’s amazingly simple! Here’s what I did.
First I collected my supplies:
- A plastic starter tray complete with transplanting inserts (72 cells)
- Some potting soil
- Plastic labels (plastic margarine container lids cut into strips)
- And yes, seeds
Then I filled the cells with the potting soil and lightly patted them down. Each cell then received a finger poke in the center. My daughter and I then dropped two seeds in each little hole. (The weaker of the two seedlings will get pinched out after they’ve sprouted.)
Here’s what I planted:
Peppers
- Blushing Beauty
- Early Prolific
- Fat ‘N’ Sassy
Tomatoes
- Oxheart
- T & T Monster
- Brandywine
- Betterboy
- Sugary
- Sweet Baby Girl
- Sweet Cluster
Cucumbers
- Summer Dance
- Improved Long Green
- National Pickling
- Diva
Watermelons
- Sweet Beauty
- New Queen
- Canada Early
Of course, I wanted to plant a few more varieties, but I was slow to get my seed order in. So I still wait for Lemon Boy and Big Beef tomatoes, Jade Star and Sweet Favorite watermelons, and Atlantic Giant pumpkins.
Then I covered up my little seeds with soil, dampened the soil with water from a spray bottle on ‘mist’ setting, placed a clear plastic lids on the tray, and placed them all under two florescent lights I had set up. (That gives me four bulbs/tubes set about six inches above the soil.)
So now we wait. I only started planting my seedlings indoors last year (as opposed to directly sowing them in the ground), so I’m still working on perfecting the art. Last year a lot of plants were leggy, but I think I’ve figured out the reasons why – but that’s for another post.
As for now, my question for you is: When do you start your seedlings? Lemme know!
Update: April 12, 2008
Here’s what things look like after five days. Several cucumbers are a solid inch tall already, the tomatoes have just started to appear (you can see them in the background, and a few watermelons have popped out of the dirt. I’m always amazed at how fast these things sprout!
Update: April 21, 2008
I got my other seeds (see above) shortly after my last update. Here’s a couple of pictures of what everything looks like now.
April 8th, 2008 at 10:59 pm
I’d really like to hear how your watermelons turn out later in the year.
I started some seeds already in February. I’ve got some good sized purple cone flower, sweet basil (already “harvested” some when I pinched back the plants), and parsely. I also have some yarrow seedlings started from seedheads a neighbor gave me. I just took the six healthiest and put them in pots today. Last week I started some liatris bulbs and a couple bags of daylily roots.
I’ve run out of room under my lights and I still haven’t started the vegetables! We’ll probably buy some more bulbs and attached them to some of the wood shelving in the basement.
April 9th, 2008 at 12:01 am
I’ll be sure to keep you posted on those watermelons. Last year I got two or three softball-sized watermelons that never got ripe. But the year before that I got two basketball-sized melons that were delicious!
My trouble is lack of space too. I don’t have a basement, but I do have two little kids who love digging. There’s only so much space at a height above three feet!
April 24th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
I will post current pics of my plants later today…I started my watermelons and pumpkins last week and they are growing! I’m very interested in how and where you plant your watermelons….as my father claims they just can’t be effectively grown here….( I would love to have a great crop to prove him wrong…lol) A tip for pumpkins…. we plant in peat pots as the roots are easy to disturb….(that is also from my father) How are things growing now???
April 24th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
The watermelons I’ve grown have been in my hoop-style greenhouse (cold frame). I can’t say how ‘effectively’ they grew, but the two melons I got in 2006 sure tasted good!
The watermelons I planted in 2006 were originally in peat pots that I transplanted into my greenhouse in the last week of April. Of the six seeds I sowed, only one actually survived long enough to produce. The ones that didn’t produce were planted in peat pots on April 7th, transplanted into the greenhouse on the 29th. Both were watered on automated soaker hoses. No fertilizer.
Things are growing pretty good now – though I’ve had to re-seed a few things.
April 28th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
I only had 2 come up out of 5 and I hope they make it……hmmmm, I need a hot bed or cold frame…..off the south of the house! Ps….only 3 more weeks until garden time!!!! I hope the weather stays nice!
May 2nd, 2008 at 5:19 am
It is so goo to see that your plants are growing well. My tomato seedling which are 20 days old started to grow well till now. All the leaves are becoming lifeless and dull. Not sure what the problem. I am getting worried. Any suggestions?
May 2nd, 2008 at 6:10 am
Hmmmm, perhaps you can further explain what they look like. Are they turning color? Drooping? Leaves curling? Or even better if you can, email me a picture and I’ll write a post about it! (dave@albertahomegardening.com)
May 15th, 2008 at 11:19 am
Thanks for the great pictures and information. I live in Zone 0/North of 60 and have no chance of ever moving my plants outside the house. I planted my tomatoes and peppers in mid-February. If you thought your plants were leggy, imagine if they were planted on a window sill in the arctic when there was only 8 hours of daylight. But they are all flowering now and I’m anxious to see if they’ll produce ripe fruit. (Now we have 20 hours of daylight, and I have to make an effort to give them enough hours of darkness).
Next year I’m not sure if I will wait or not, but I may build a shelf greenhouse to provide more light. Cheers, great blog!
October 19th, 2008 at 7:23 pm
Thank you for posting your pictures of pumpkin seedling. I teach Kindergarten and will be taking my class to the pumpkin patch next week. I have been trying to collect pictures showing the pumpkin life cycle. Many of my kids have never experienced a garden, most live in apartments. I look forward to sharing your pictures. Thanks again!
May 31st, 2009 at 12:02 pm
I have also grown watermelon. Here in Nova Scotia I start planting watermelons outside around end of May (now). I start them under fluorescent lights a few weeks before (12 weeks ago) and then after a few weeks I place them by a sunny window (melons like sun). I purchased the Canadian variety (opposed to Californian variety which is not grown easily here). Last year I had a melon that was larger than what you buy at the store and very sweet. I am planting mine today or tomorrow along with the cantaloupe and squash. It has remained cool during the nights here (3-9 C) which is to cold for indoor started plants to go out. When the temperature overnight does not drop below 10C you can plant your melons (15C is best but in Nova Scotia without a green house you would be waiting until late July to plant them). I recommend placing a blanket of plastic wrap around your plants stem to keep the soil warm and moist below (you should also use loose well drained soil for best results). Partially bury the plastic wrap or other soil blanket material so it does not blow away and become trash! Good luck on your gardens : )
June 15th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
I was wondering how you prevent your tomatoes, which you start as seedlings inside), from becoming too ‘leggy’. I planted a bunch inside and most of them are leggy! How can I stop this from happening next year? Thanks Dave!
June 16th, 2009 at 5:06 pm
It’s all about the light! The more light you can get them, the better they like it. Grow lights work great – or if that’s out of your budget, a cool and warm bulb in a florescent fixture just slightly above your plants work pretty good – though they too will get a little leggy after a while if that’s all the light they get.
June 24th, 2009 at 9:23 pm
Hey there!
Wonderful post. I have a question you may or not be able to help with: my watermelons shot up in my container (plastic small sections with plastic lid) and so we transplanted them to a container Black plastic large bucket type) outside, now it was really warm but they were watered and had plenty of good soil- what do you think went wrong? Because they were wilting by the end of the day and then I transplanted to a clay pot inside and they continued to wilt! I’m heartbroken because they were doing so well- do you think we should have just transplanted them directly into our garden? Your advice would be most appreciated as it seems you have green thumb.
Thanks!
June 25th, 2009 at 12:31 pm
It’s hard to say for sure, but I’ll give you my first guesses. Chances are it’s a combination of a few things. First of all, melons hate to be transplanted, so try to do as little as possible. You might want to start them in peat pots so you can plant the whole thing in your garden. I’m not sure how big your watermelon was when you transplanted, but the bigger the melon, the more difficult it is to successfully transplant. It’s a balancing act to know how early to start them indoors so they mature fast enough, yet aren’t too big to transplant successfully by the time you want to put them out. Also try to transplant on a cooler, cloudy day. Intense heat tends to stress transplanted plants. I hope that’s helpful and I hope your watermelons make a recovery!
June 27th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
That was most helpful- I thought the heat and over transplanting might be the problem. I appreciate your help!
Also, how big do you think they should be because they were seedlings about three inches high at most and two leaves (at the top) on each seedling? I didn’t think this was very big. Also we didn’t use peat pots but we scooped up all of their soil with them and planted them outside. They were in peat-sized divisions.
June 30th, 2009 at 3:55 pm
Three inches shouldn’t have been too big. Have they recovered at all now?
June 30th, 2009 at 5:37 pm
The poor little things completely died! So sad becuase they were the best of all my seedlings, too.
March 22nd, 2010 at 9:20 pm
last year i planted three watermelon (early canada) and three cantelope plants what I did not know was you only need to water them every three or four days two of the watermelon’s died the one had some golfball size fruit . However I had some cantelope that were over four inches across that was my first year with that kind of fruit/melon this year i have a variety of peppers same watermelon and cantelope and lots of flowers and tomatoes totaling almost three hundred plants . so far I have over thirty peppers and thirty tomatoes corn,broccolli,basil,thyme,and many others.this is my third year gardening i live in northern alberta and am 24 years old.
March 26th, 2010 at 4:20 pm
Hi, Im new to the whole gardening and planting business, but it’s always been my dream to start a vegetable garden. In Edmonton, the season is pretty short, so Im starting tomatoes and other plants indoors. Id just like to know how to set up the fluorescent lights (in addition to the sunlight the plants get) over my plants. ive put them in a 5 shelf greenhouse bought from home depot. Thanks!
March 26th, 2010 at 8:56 pm
Roula, if it were me, I’d make sure I had one cool and one warm fluorescent bulb. Then I’d mount them just a few inches from the tops of my plants.
April 30th, 2010 at 3:37 pm
I started my seeds indoors all mine have came up good but i used the green house cover on mine to keep all the moisture in how long should i wait before not keeping the lid on them
May 6th, 2010 at 8:42 pm
Megan, I usually take the cover off mine when the first true leaves start to appear.