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Ulla Bisgaard wrote:For me, one of the essentials for a productive garden, is to be able to grow your own seedlings. First of all, it saves money, but if you do it using a greenhouse, grow room, nursery or caterpillar tunnel. You can get a head start on planting, and grow things that don’t grow well in the season you are in.
Many factors go into determining what solution to use. It all depends on money and the climate you grow in. Here on our homestead in Southern California, we grow food all year round. We are in grow zone 10b, so we get very little frost, and very high temperatures in the summer.
During the summer we grow squash, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, cucumbers, asparagus, melons, fruit and berries. In early spring and late fall peas, okra, cassava, beans and grains.
During the cold season we grow root vegetables, herbs, herbs, cauliflower, broccoli, cabbages, lettuce, kohlrabi and other things that like a cooler temperature. In order to be able to harvest and plant at the same time, we start our seeds inside in our small grow room.
We have tried having a greenhouse, but it got way to how, for us to grow anything, but if you live in one of the cooler grow zones, a greenhouse or caterpillar tunnel, is a fantastic tool. It was the same goes outdoor nurseries like cold frames.
Here we decided to convert one of our bathroom showers, to an indoor nursery, since our house had 3 full baths, which is more than we need.
First we covered all of the walls and the floor with reflective sheets, only leaving holes for the shower outlet and control. We put a strong grow light in the ceiling, build shelving units, and added extra grow lights where the light couldn’t reach, plus a fan to promote air circulation. We added a timer control the light system and fan. Last I bought a connector for the shower, so I could attach a hose for watering the plants. One important thing to remember, when you make and grow indoors, is to prevent fungus gnats. To do that I cover the soil in my planters, with vermiculite when seeding and transplanting. We also water from below, as soon as roots have grown.
You will be surprised of how much can be fitted into this small space. I have added a video to show it.
During summer when we can’t grow lettuce outside, I also grow those in the nursery, along with seedlings for the next season and during the cold season, plants coffee, and cassava that doesn’t like the colder temperatures, and grows from cuttings. Today I am going to plant mulberry cuttings, so they are ready to plant out, in spring. I also grow seedling starts for succession planting. I can fit approximately 600 seed starts in my small grow room, which is plenty for our needs. When I transplant into larger pots, I use biodegradable paper bags, which can be planted with the seedling. This prevents transplant shock, when they are ready for transplanting after conditioning to outdoor temperatures. Because we don’t have transplant shock, the plants grow faster and stronger. Note that this also can be done using soil blocks.
When starting seedlings indoors in potting soil or compost, the plants will eventually need a liquid fertilizer. Here I use water from our ducks swimming pool.
I don’t know a lot about using green houses and tunnels, so if you do, please share your experience with it.