Seedling Update

Despite a few life issues that caused me to dump my last tray of peat pellets, my seed starting goes well! =) I now have 5 about 1 month old seedlings: 2 Cowhorn Pepper, 2 Thai Dill & 1 Broad Leaf Sage (ones in front in the pic below). In addition to those, I have several wee seedlings, still in the pellets. The Jiffy peat pellet greenhouses are certainly the way to go for excellent germination, in my opinion. Put a heating mat underneath it, make sure to keep the dome on & in a week you'll already have close to (if not better than) 90% germination! I now have 6 pellets each (minus one I tossed because I messed it up) of the following types of veggies: Roma VF Tomato, Brandywine Tomato, Big Rainbow Tomato, Jalapeno Pepper, California Wonder Bell Pepper & Garlic Chives. Not counting the garlic chives (as they really should be directly sown, in large numbers), I used my strong seedling selection method to get one really healthy looking seedling in each pellet. To do this, I'll start by putting 2-3 seeds of the veggie in one pellet. I'll wait for all of them to germinate, then pull the weaker looking 1 or 2 & be left with the healthiest looking seedling to eventually grow into a healthy adult plant. When detemining which one to leave & which ones to pull, I look for stem health (straight, thick, etc.). I also don't want a leggy seedling. So, the shortest healthiest looking one is usually the keeper. I also don't want ones where the seed shell has had a hard time falling off. I've used this method for years now & it's a type of unnatural selection that works very well & leaves me with healthy seedlings that I don't have to worry about babying along for several weeks to get back to what will be a healthy adult plant. :) Anyway, hope your seed starting is going well & Happy Gardening!