Germination

Isn't it beautiful? These are Carmen peppers, a green-to-red, elongated, thin-walled, sweet Italian pepper that I love to grill or eat raw.

It took some experimentation to refine my seed-starting technique for pepper, eggplant, and tomato seeds, so I will share my secrets for successful germination.

Start with a good sterile commercial seed-starting mix. I pour it into a big bucket and add about a gallon of warm water, mixing it into mud with my hands. To start seeds, I use the little six-packs I saved from purchasing annuals. It's important that the initial container is not too large, because heat is the key thing. The heat mat has to be able to warm up the whole pot, which it will not do if you start out with 4" pots. Yes, you will have to transplant them into 4" pots in a few weeks. It's worth the extra step.
Once you have scooped the mud into the containers, no matter what the seed package says, place the seeds on TOP of the wet mix. They need the light! Then place the six packs directly on the heat mat. Don't put them in another tray, because they won't get warm enough. Yes, it will be messy when you water. Try a plastic drop cloth UNDER the heat mat if you're worried about the mess.
Water twice a day so that the mix never dries out completely. The holes in the six packs will ensure that the seeds aren't sitting in a puddle and won't rot.
Place your light (I just use a 4' fluorescent shop light) as close to the top of the containers as possible. If you have trouble getting the whole thing warm enough, drape a piece of plastic over the light.

Make sure you use good quality surge protectors and don't overload your outlets. Check frequently when you first set everything up to be certain that nothing is getting too hot and causing a fire hazard. With commercial heat mats and fluorescent shop lights, you shouldn't have a problem.

I do my germination in the basement, starting peppers on March 21, and tomatoes and eggplant March 28. When the plants are large enough to put in 4" pots, (mid-April) I move them to a friend's greenhouse until I'm ready to put them into the garden. Here in Upstate NY, I usually don't put out tomatoes, peppers or eggplant until Memorial Day.

So why start seeds when you could buy plants? First, because I want to grow and eat certain varieties that I can't get unless I start them myself. Also, the commercially grown plants at the big-box stores have been causing all sorts of disease problems in recent years. Plus, once you have the heat mats and the lights, it's MUCH cheaper to buy seeds than it is to buy plants. I haven't done the math, but I bet it wouldn't take long to recoup the start-up cost if you have a medium-sized vegetable garden. But the best reason for starting seeds? To have the satisfaction of seeing those gorgeous little babies sprouting up when there's still snow on the ground outside!