Germination success!

As I mentioned I decided to get a germinating tray. It seemed like an additional expense, and I was already about $80 in the hole. But it has been completely worth it. And if all goes well I'll be using it again and again.

It's a cheap plastic tray with compartments and a clear plastic lid. The base of the tray has a network of troughs that circulate the water, but in reality the condensation drips down, so I'm not sure how useful the troughs are.

The tray comes with peat pods that expand as you add water. 

My whole reason for starting this blog is I made a cool discovery...

Our little house has a heating system that it spotty at best and at night it can dip down to 57. For those of you east coasters that's not that cold. But it's colder than the little seeds like. Apparently 70 is the optimum.

I discovered that placing the tray on the stove top (while the burners are off of course), the temperature inside the tray is 69 even when the house is at 57). Also it's right below a skylight so it's really the perfect spot. Add to that we can keep the stove light on and if it was fluorescent, then the plants would be getting 24hr light and a nice warm temp.

So I reviewed the Earthbox capacity and planting instructions and decided how many of each I wanted to start with. I soaked my pods and planted my seeds per the instructions on the germinating tray. 

I also consulted the seed packets and soaked the peas overnight before planting. 

Within a day or two all the seeds were coming up except the Shiso, which says it needs sunlight to germinate. It's been vacationing outside during the day so we'll see what happens. I may start over with it.

Anyway we are on our way...