Growing Indoors

Today in Portland was sunny and the temperature made it up to 65 degrees; not too bad! And today in my basement it was 68 and sunny for 13 hours straight, just like it is every day--not a cloud in the full-spectrum sky! I planted these seedlings on the 19th, and the lettuce, peas, and some of the tomatoes are up.

My brother's start technique is to plant just the right number of plants for what he wants, and to do it in big peat pots suitable for transfering out of doors. I do things differently, and plant in a 4-to-1 ratio of seedlings to desired transplants. I sow into small trays and along the way select out the most robust starts to transplant into bigger pots. Thus as the plants grow larger and there is less space under the T5s, I've selected out the most vigorous plants.