It's time to start onion and leek seedlings!

Even in the throes of a cold and snowy winter, gardening thoughts are never out of mind.  And with daylight hours lengthening and gardening items starting to appear on store shelves, it’s time to think about starting seedlings.

That’s exactly what the Community Garden’s manager Karen did today, starting seedlings of long growing season onion and leek seeds.  Parsley will get started in early March, with tomatoes following in the middle of that month.

Karen saves packaging over the winter from store-bought greens and berries and recycles them as growing containers.  This not only keeps the packaging out of the landfill, but eliminates the need for expensive seedling starter kits.  Just save the containers, buy a bag of organic seed starter, some seeds (hopefully obtained through a seed swap), and you’re ready to plant!

Here’s all you need to start your onion-family seedlings

Start by labeling the containers with the type of seeds you’ll be planting in each, then puncture the bottom of them with 4-6 drainage holes (depending on the size of your container).  Place these in a tray and fill about 1/3 full of the organic seed starter, then add water to moisten.  It’s okay if the water drains into the tray, as the seed starter is slow to absorb water, but will do so over the next few hours.

Lightly tamp down the soil, then evenly and liberally sprinkle the seeds over the surface.  Cover the seeds with additional starter to depth indicated on seed package.  Mist with additional water, then place the tray(s) in a warm area.  No need to worry about sun or heat lamps until the seedlings are about 1” high.

   

                                                                       Prepping seedling containers        Containers ready for misting

Karen started containers of King Richard leeks, Talon onions and an heirloom red onion.  Be sure to check back in a few weeks for a report on progress!