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applestar
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Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

heating mat empty spots...

So you get your flurry of early starters that HAS to get done, like tomatoes and peppers sprouted, and even the eggplants are starting to grow. You sow the seeds and put them on the mats to germinate, and diligently move them under the lights one after the other in a production line... And realize, HEY, I've no more seeds planned to start, but there are a couple of empty spots on the heating mats... Such a waste not to be making use of that....

Do you feel like that at some point during the spring seed starting chaos?

If I were smart, I would tell myself, "Job well done! First phase is winding down." :D Instead, I'm casting around and checking my garden planting map for this year, wondering if there might not be a scrap of space left to plant something else, or to see if I may have forgotten something that should have been started. If I wait another week or two, I could potentially start watermelon or squash... Maybe. So many people talk about starting them inside, but I decided that I'd rather DS them under a cloche, so why now? :roll:

Well, that's OK, I found Purple Passion Asparagus berries still on the stalks. I guess I'll try starting those. Even though I have absolutely no place to grow another asparagus bed, I've never tried growing them from seed so it's an experiment (...or so I convince myself). And Eric/DD mentioning TPS got me wanting to grow them so even though it's a bit late, I'll grow a few of those as well. Heh. :wink:

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rainbowgardener
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Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 6:04 pm
Location: TN/GA 7b

I don't leave spots empty on the heat mats, but if I don't have something else to plant right then, I just spread stuff out from crowded in cells, to one per cell and leave them on the heat mat. They do grow faster that way than their buddies that get moved off....

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applestar
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Joined: Thu May 01, 2008 7:21 pm
Location: Zone 6, NJ (3/M)4/E ~ 10/M(11/B)

I've been pre-germinating the asparagus seeds (rinse and turn over on moist paper towel twice a day) -- Today a half dozen of them germinated! :()

Sowed the germinated seeds in a 4" pot. :wink: TPS are already on the mat and I thought that was a good idea rainbowgardener, so I spread out the tomato seedlings last week and they literally jumped in size. :D

They have been and will be camping outside until Saturday when the leading edge of the cold front is expected to arrive.



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