There are various dates when it is best to sow plants, of course it depends a lot on where you live. The Mediterranean will sow plants much sooner than the mountainous region and the continental part.
I sow peppers, tomatoes and eggplants during the second half of February.
Many gardeners will advise that it is better to sow plants later than too early. And although I somewhat agree with that, for the area where I live it is better to have larger and therefore more resistant seedlings when we plant them outdoors.
Since the cold weather is quite long, and with it a short season of warm weather, larger seedlings begin to flower and bear fruit faster.
The first season after moving here, it happened that a lot of our tomatoes did not ripen fully, so at the end of the season we had a handful of green tomatoes.
But let’s go back to sowing. We sow the plants by filling the container with the sowing substrate, then we press the substrate a little to remove the air, and add more substrate if necessary. Then we water it.
For this, I recommend getting a spray bottle with a fine stream. You will need the same when watering young seedlings later.
More about the spray bottle here.
After we have watered the substrate, it is finally time to sow the seeds. Open the seed package that you bought and spread the seeds gently on the surface of the substrate, then put a thin layer of substrate on top and again water everything together a bit more, but be gentle so you don’t move the seeds.
Then be sure to mark what you just sowed and put the mark in the container.
After that, put a piece of transparent film or a bag on top, in order to retain humidity, and cover with a sheet of paper if the seeds require it (before sowing, check the instructions on the package, since certain types of plants/seeds require light in order to germinate) you can use old newspapers, sheets from promotional catalogs etc.
Then place the pot with the sown seeds in a warm place, since the seeds germinate best in warmth. Check daily whether the surface of the substrate is wet and spray it if necessary and return the foil/bag and paper back. When you notice that the first plants emerge through the substrate, remove the foil and paper, and move the plants to a bright place. A bright spot can be a windowsill, or you can buy a lamp for plants.
Since we don’t have much sunlight in out house, 2 years ago, we decided to invest in a couple of growing lamps, but if you have a window with enough light, definitely use it, just don’t forget to turn the plants once in a while since they will lean towards the light source.
