Indoor Vegetable Gardening Carrots and Soybeans

It's been about a month since I planted the carrot and soybean seeds indoors. I think they look pretty good, no signs of disease and the leaves are a nice healthy green.

Reading Round Up: McRibster Edition

Urban Farming with Kids: Seeking Simplicity Through Seeds, Chicks, and More

Nestle Crunch Girl Scout Candy Bar Is Real, But Not Yet Available, Says Girl Scouts

London 2012: Growing for gold with Olympic gardening

McDonald’s Austria Has A Deep-Fried McRib

Determine food freshness with edible silk stickers

Have you started your seeds yet?

Have you started your seeds yet? When is your target planting date?

It's still too early for me, I won't start mine until the 4th week of March. That may not seem like enough time for the plants to mature, but having a heat mat and grow light really accelerates plant growth. They cut off at least a week's worth of time, if not more, from the seed sowing schedule. Last year was my first year with a grow light and I underestimated its effect on the seedlings. They got so large before the weather warmed up that I had to stop fertilizing them in order to slow their growth.

My target planting date is mid May. Given how mild the winter has been though, things might warm up sooner this year. I'll wait and see what the next few months bring and reassess my schedule by May 1st. If the overnight soil temperature in the containers is warm enough I'll move up my schedule, if not I can wait.

I've come to realize there's no point in hustling plants outside, no matter how eager you are to start gardening. If it's too cold for the plants they'll just sit there and sulk until it warms up. You can even permanently stunt the growth of certain vegetable varieties if you put them out too early. It's better to be safe than sorry, waiting one or two weeks to put plants out doesn't hurt.

Hmmm, maybe I should add that to my rooftop vegetable gardening tips. What do you think?

Subscribe and learn more about growing food: