The egg cartons are prepped and ready and filled with potting soil mix.
The next thing to do was get the potting soil nice and moist. Then I would let the trays drain a bit and plant the seeds. At first I tried to use the spray attachment on my kitchen sink and that was WAY too much water. The potting soil was drenched!
The carton on the left was soaked by my overzealous kitchen sprayer! The carton on the right worked much better.
I quickly learned that pouring water gently into each little space was the way too go. See above, right.
After letting the trays drain for a couple of hours, it was time to plant some seeds. My sister-in-law, Kay, came over to plant some seeds as well. We planted broccoli, sweet peppers and tomatoes. We used toothpicks to poke small holes in each little space and gently coaxed a seed inside. Then we covered the hole with dirt. The seeds were planted to a depth almost equal to their own size. I planted two seeds in each space. Most of the other stuff we like to grow can be sown directly outside or started a little later in the season. *We started our seeds the first weekend of March. I am just now getting around to posting this!
We then labeled the trays so we could remember what we planted. This becomes very important later on as I moved different trays around so that they could get better sun exposure.
Rimmed cookie sheets or jelly roll pans work really well for holding the egg cartons. You can fit two 18 space egg cartons and one 12 space egg carton on each tray. These individual cartons can be rotated in the tray to help specific seedlings get more sun.
To help give the seeds a germination boost, I made a mini greenhouse out of old dry cleaning bags. I have been saving these bags for years in a big ball in the far corner of closet and they have finally proven their worth. I put a cookie sheet/tray in each one and tuck the ends under and I have a free greenhouse!
Our bedroom has a nice big window that has southern exposure so I set up two tv trays to set the seedlings on. I open the blinds each morning so that they can get a full eight to ten hours of sunlight. Once the seeds germinate, they will need more light. I will need to supplement with some artificial light. I shut the two kitties out of the bedroom each morning. They are not fond of this, but I know that Sydney (our calico) would have a field day eating tiny seedlings.
So for now, the seeds are snug in their little sunny greenhouses.
