Seed Sowing Saturday

I sowed De Cicco Broccoli & Rossa Di Trento Lettuce last week but had issues uploading the pics.  I'm going to be following the sowing schedule of Dave from The Home Garden & doing Seed Sowing Saturdays.  I like the schedule it puts me on since part of my issue last year was not having seeds sown at the right times and running out of summer growing season so my great plan fell apart.

These are the first Heirloom seeds I started to grow this year.  The reason I picked Rossa Di Trento Lettuce? It's from Italy!!  Also it sounded very fancy. The fact that its so pretty was a huge bonus.  I love a pretty salad!  Will let ya know how it tastes!   I only put 1 seed in each section hoping to not waste any seeds with having to thin them.  Every seed grew!

Look at my itty bitty 1 week old lettuce seedlings!!!

I love this seed sowing container!  I can grow 49 seedlings in it.  I bought 2 last year from Veseys and I'm going to need to buy another 2 this week.  I planted 49 lettuce last week & another 49 today in my 2nd container so I just need to sow 28 more and my spring lettuce plants are done. These containers enable me to grow solid seedling plugs without damaging the roots when I remove them like other containers I've tried.

The cover has spikey things on top and are used upside down to put a small dent in the soil so you have a place to put your seed.  Best part?? It's dishwasher safe!  I love it!  It's also self watering with corners made to easily add water.  It is easily the BEST container I've ever tried.

This is my first year growing Broccoli so I'm really looking forward to seeing how it comes out. I'm starting out small - 4 plants last week, will plant 4 more in a week and then 8 in the fall (possibly more if I swap out lettuce spots for extra broccoli plants).

Here are what my 1 week old broccoli seedlings look like. Aren't they so cute??

Today I sowed another 49 lettuce seeds but this time I used Grandpa Admire's.  I really liked this one because it's slow to bolt which is what I need in the heat of the summer.  It's also a butterhead so I'm thinking it's a great mix with the loose leaf lettuce I sowed last week.  WOW going to be a lotta lettuce!!

I put 1 seed in each spot again so hopefully they will germinate as well as the last batch.

Below are very sorry looking lettuce plants I've been trying to grow over the winter without lights in my kitchen window. Obviously, not very successfully.  I have them under lights now so hopefully they'll grow  (don't know why I didn't do it earlier then now!).

Here's my current set up. I have a metal shelf with a T5 high output light.  It has 2 different types of lights: 2 for growth and 2 for blooming.  I've ordered 2 growth bulbs to replace the blooming ones since I'm interested in good strong seedlings.  I have another light set that will be here hopefully by Monday so will be able to put like-heighted seedlings together to help with light intensity.  That will give me 2 shelves worth of room.  Over the summer I'm going to have to seriously consider what I'm going to do so I can grow veggies over the winter.

I want to send out a huge THANK YOU to Lynda from Cortina Creek Farms for sending me celery seeds.  This will be my first time growing celery and I'm very excited!  I will be saving my own seeds this year too and will be sending some your way!!

Happy Sowing Everyone!!!