Earlier this month I started planting seeds in anticipation of the upcoming garden season! Yep, I started a whole operation in our basement and planted just over 100 seeds in one weekend. In the past, we always bought transplants from local nurseries to start our garden, but I’m taking on a new endeavor this year and intend to sell plants at our local Farmer’s Market so I needed to plan ahead for that as well. This all came from one pack of sunflower seeds that I bought last year that we planted outside. They did so well that I decided to branch out and try more seeds this year. So here we are!

I wanted to focus on selling just herbs, but I decided to branch out and sell flowers and vegetable plants as well. So far I’ve planted cabbage, chives, cilantro, lettuce, beets, carrots, rosemary, lavender, celery, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, and more. Since most of those are early spring crops, minus the herbs, I didn’t plant as much to sell. We’ll also transplant some to our own garden. But I do plan to plant more herbs and summer vegetables just for the market. Here’s a photo of my set up.

Not only did I buy indoor lighting just for the plants, but I also invested in these nice rolling racks. And I had to invest in potting soil, trays, heating mats and containers. The clutter you see above on the bottom shelves are all seeds, pots, containers, and farmer’s market supplies that I am planning to move to a third shelving unit which I haven’t purchased yet. There are Amazon links at the bottom of the post to all the items if you are interested.

I also decided to keep a journal of everything I planted, when I planted it, when it germinated, and growing times. I hope to also keep track of what I sell at the market.

The fun part has been watching the sprouts break through and start to grow. Almost everything has germinated within the last two weeks. There’s some stuff that will take a little longer, but it’s all been very exciting.

My father loved to garden. Growing up, we had a huge PVC arched green house in our back yard where my dad grew thousands of tomato plants. It was fun to visit the green house during the winter because he kept it nice and warm with two wood burning stoves. He’d even get up at two or three in the morning every night just to go check the fires.

Back then, my family did what they called “truck patch” gardening. Several elderly neighbors had vacant lots in our neighborhood and allowed my father to plant a garden on the lots in exchange for all the tomatoes and vegetables they could eat. My dad also sold tomatoes to local grocery stores and to anyone who stopped by.

I wasn’t much of a gardener until we bought our house in 2006. We’ve had a garden ever since. I think my wanting to take on this huge project and sell at the market comes from my father, and I like to think I’m honoring him in some way. We didn’t always get along, and I’ve had some trouble with grieving even though he’s been gone since 2016. I understand his excitement and love for doing this now though more than I ever did back home.

I’ve done I don’t know how much reading on germination times, cold stratification, heating mats, soil, seed cells, seed depth, watering, you name it. But that’s how I am with any project that I fall in love with and dive head first into. Above is a picture of my rosemary and lavender which I’m using heating mats and plastic cell lids to keep warm.

In the coming weeks, I’ll share more about how everything is growing and let you know how the market turns out.

Here’s a list of the items I purchased to get started:

Seed Trays – I purchased two kinds, but I love these the best because of their size. I can plant 50 small cells in one tray. They even include potting tools.

Reusable Seed Cells with Lids – I love these! they include planting tools, plant labels, and some nice little potting tools.

Large Peat Pots – I didn’t shop around long for these. They do the trick. I planted herbs in these larger cups so they can go straight to the market.

Small Peat Trays – These are great, and like I said, you can fit 50 cells in one of the trays above.

21 Culinary Herbs Seed Kit – I collected a lot of seeds last year from existing plants, but there were still some things I wanted to grow that I didn’t have so I bought this variety pack.

Rolling Shelving Unit – These things are huge! And a great price. I love them so much I bought 3 more just to use for other things in my basement.

Heating Mats – I admit I was worried about using these, but they have been great. No complaints. I highly recommend if you want to start summer crops or herbs that need warmer soil indoors.

Indoor Grow Lights – Another great buy! So easy to install these.