basement growhouse

so by now my basement is full of amazing little seedlings.  the first week of march i got my tomato seeds (4 different types) and the eggplant seeds (just one type this year) started.  the eggplants have taken longer to get going, but by now the tomato and pepper plants are really going strong.  once the seedlings start to develop their first set of real leaves, i transfer them into potting soil.  i use a very advanced technique learned in elementary school of just using plastic cups to grow the seedlings in.  i poke holes in the bottom of the cups so they can drain well and usually end up cutting off the top rim too so they aren't quite as tall.  you have to make sure though that you remember to write the name of the plant on each cup.  it's pretty easy to tell a pepper from a tomato plant, but if you have 4 different kinds of tomatoes, it is sometimes hard to tell them apart.  i have way more plants growing than i'll need, but it's just so hard to discard the seedlings.  plus i love being able to give some of the plants away for others to have in their garden.

 

   sun gold tomato (yum) 3 weeks after sprouting

 

   4 week old pepper plant

   tiny eggplant seeding that i just potted today.

 

   the petunias are filling out 

   i took this picture of my peppers today.  it is really looking like a pepper plant now

 

   lots of tomatoes

 

   this is the grow light setup.  i keep the lights on for about 15 hours a day