Seed starting

Just over a week ago, we started our seeds for the 2020 growing season. This was also the first day of the Covid Quarantine here in Wisconsin. I've been working from home since March 17. Darcie has been reporting for work to a patron-free library. I'll likely be working remotely until the end of the Wisconsin "Safer at Home" quarantine: April 24. Such strange times. 

While the times are strange, one benefit (aside from a very short 30-second commute) is that I can make a daily check of our seed starting progress by looking across the room. I'm happy to report we have 100% germination after just a week. What's most amazing is that we had good germination on tomato seeds we saved in 2015!

This year, we opted away from using coir and instead used a richer seed starting mix.  Same heat mats, lights, and humidity domes as usual. So far, so good! We will treat these plants better and give them fertilizer in hopes to have delicious tomatoes this summer. 

Our plan for this year has 13 or 14 tomato plants, arranged with a climbing trellis instead of tomato cages. It should help me manage the single-vine method that helped us achieve better results (as defined by crop yield) last year.

Progress!