An Indoor Greenhouse
Cabbage Seedlings
In my last article, “Semper Gumby”, I mentioned that I started sprouting cabbage and snow pea plants indoors. Today I wanted to describe the process.
First, I purchased a Jiffy Greenhouse. I paid about $6.00 for it. It has 72 peat pellets in which to start seeds. I definitely did not need that many cabbage or pea plants in my family garden so I have only used 24 pellets.
The pellets expand and are ready to be used with the addition of warm water. Carefully pour the warm water over the pellets that you are ready to use. The pellets grow to be about 1 inch tall.
The sides of the pellets are surrounded by a thin netting. I gently squeezed the netting to loosen and fluff the peat. I also made sure that the netting was not covering the tops of the pellets. I then planted 2-3 seeds per pellet.
You cover the tray with the clear dome that is provided with the greenhouse. Then, you place the tray in a warm spot away from direct sunlight. I wanted the tray out of the way and safe from little hands. I decided to put it on the top of my china hutch in my dining room.
Two days later, tiny sprouts were everywhere. All of my cabbage seeds have germinated and are already an inch tall. The pea plants are sprouting at a slower rate, but are growing. When 100% of my pellets have plants growing in them, I will remove the dome and place the tray in a sunny location.
When true leaves are present on the stems of the plants, I will cut back all but the strongest plant in each pellet. This ensures adequate room and nutrition for the remaining plant. As much as I dislike thinning out vegetable plants, it is necessary for the best growth and production.
The most important thing is to not over water your pellets. It would be easy to drown the plant. The peat needs to be damp, but not wet. The pellets become light brown in color when they require water.
Just like a baby’s skin burns easily, a baby plant will not thrive if you plant it without gradually exposing it to full sunlight first. When the seeds have become plants and look ready to transplant, start the hardening off process. Begin in the shade first. Over several days, gradually expose them to more and more sunlight until they are in full sunlight.
Now they are ready to be planted in your garden. Plant as you would plant any growing plant from a gardening and/or feed store. Dig a small hole deep enough to cover the pellet completely. Gently pat down the soil around the plant’s stem. Then water.
Sprouting plants from seed costs less than purchasing plants from a store. It is easy and requires very little effort on your part. You can also purchase pellets to refill your greenhouse, which makes the process less expensive in the years to come. It is also fun. Children love to help in the process as well as observe the seed transform into a plant. My smaller kids gasp with delight as they see the first shoots breaking through the soil.
Gardening is rewarding. From sowing seeds to collecting seeds, gardening is a full circle process. Most people get caught up in harvesting vegetables and fruit. After all, it is the best reason to garden. You get to literally enjoy the fruits of your labor. But don’t overlook the small pleasures of gardening. An indoor greenhouse allows you to witness the birth of a plant.
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Thanks for this post. I have done this in the past but not for years. Now that we live in a townhouse my gardening has become compact, but I think I can do this to save money. I’ve been building a container garden since we moved and I would prefer to start my plants from seed rather than to pay for all those plants. Thanks for the inspiration.
Hi, we bought the same type of greenhouse and boy does it work well.
> Every seed we planted came up. Now all we have to do is put them in
> bigger pots until it is time to plant. We well leave them in their
> original pot and slice through the netting before putting them in
> larger size pots. We may live in Ga. but we have had freezing weather
> here for a month. We had 3inches of snow 2 weeks ago and are
> expecting some by Tue. This year has been very cold. We wont put out
> our plants until the end of April or 1st of May when we have our last
> freeze. We are only 35 miles from Chattanooga, Tn, so it gets cold
> here. Our days get up between 40 -50 during the day but drop into the
> teens or 20′s at night. We garden organicly too and we raise
> blueberries to eat, give away and sell. We have about 50 plants and
> they keep us pretty busy during the months of Jun to Aug. We want to
> fence in about an acre and connect to our chicken house. We are going
> to get some goats and let the chickens free range. We had chickens
> for years but had to get rid of them when my husband got sick. But
> this spring we are getting new ones. We had 24 before and they gave
> us all the eggs we could eat and sell. We miss our chickens. Years
> ago when my children were small we had goats and I milked them. But
> when our children grew up and moved away with families of their own we
> got rid of them. About ten years ago we bought an old farm house and
> renovated it and got back to basics. It took a while with the house
> because we did it as we had the money. We were just about to get some
> goats again with Jim got sick. But since he is recovering so nicely
> since his transplant the Dr. is releasing us to get on with our lives.
> Thank the Lord. And we want to get back to doing what we started.
> Oh Well, don’t want to bore you. Thanks for the e-mails. Pat from
> Ga.
Just read your article in ‘Countryside’ magazine…very inspiring. My husband and I are in the process of purchasing (Lord willing!) an old farmhouse with a half an acre, and I’m chomping at the bit to start gardening!!!! Now if only I can convince my husband to get chickens
I find great pleasure and joy watching my chickens. I also love not having to purchase eggs at the store. They are cheap and fairly easy to raise once they fully get their feathers. It is an excellent second step into homesteading. I wish you and your family the best!
Lara
Lara, You are just the inspiration and teacher I’ve been looking for. I also found your site through your article in Countryside Living, and I just “treated you to tea” as a small thank you for all the effort you put into sharing your knowledge and love of farm life. We started a flock of laying hens 2 years ago. Last year we got a baby goat who will be our milk goat next year, and this year I hope to raise a few turkeys for larger family meals. (I do the livestock, my husband is the grower). I look forward to learning a lot from you.
Irma,
Thank you so much for your kind words and for treating me to some tea. I really appreciate it.
Laura, I know it’s a newbie question, but I have to ask. You don’t take the netting off once you’re ready to transplant the plants outdoors? The netting doesn’t keep the roots too balled up?
I ask because last year, I actually took the netting off of all my plants and it took several hours to do it for all of my plants.
Karen,
Great question! It was one that I had to look into. I went back to the instructions that came with the greenhouse. It states, “Gently pull back netting on top of pellets.” It does not say anything else about the netting. I then went and looked at all of my plants, which are doing well. The roots are coming right through the netting. Therefore, I do not think that the roots get too balled up in the netting. I hope this answers your question and saves you a lot of time next year.
Lara
Ugh! I hope your seedlings are doing better than mine! My plants were beautiful but they are getting way too big for the peat pots. Since we’ve had the same freezing weather as all the east coast I can’t even move them to the outdoor greenhouse yet. They are getting spindly and I don’t think the roots will be very strong. I have a tunnel garden ready for them but even under plastic these cold temps are keeping the soil too cold. Outside, the spring plants I direct sowed in January under frost cover (lettuce, spinach, radishes, etc) are nothing more than 2 inches high. Usually we are harvesting by now!
http://www.ruffledfeathersandspilledmilk.com
Laura,
Thank you so much. While I’ve enjoyed learning how to garden, I definitely didn’t look forward to peeling the nets off without trying to break any roots already sticking their way through!