Seeds to sow in the northern greenhouse during January for planting out in the spring include. Pacific Hybrid delphiniums, pansies, verbenas, vincas and summer-flowering carnations. Run the house at 50 degrees. Want a 60-degree bench in a 50-degree house? That’s easy – just lay electric hotbed cables (such as those you use out-of-doors) in the bottom of the bench and place an inch or two of soil or sand over it to spread and conduct the heat.
Vermiculite or Soil? They both have advantages for seed sowing but I find a combination of the two is the best. Fill seed pans two-thirds full with your usual soil mixture and firm it well. Then add one-quarter to one-half-inch of horticultural vermiculite. Fine seeds especially do well in the vermiculite and as they grow they reach down into the soil and plant food it contains. A good mixture for seed pans is two parts top soil, two parts well-rotted leaves or other humus, and one part sand. Put these through a half-inch screen and mix together thoroughly.
Sow each kind of seed in its own container. Then there will be no danger of seedlings becoming mixed. Only a fairly large garden or greenhouse can use a whole flat of seedlings of one variety if you have very many varieties, so use smaller containers. Half pots, small wooden boxes (such as cigar boxes) with holes in the bottom or even coffee cans will hold enough seed of one variety for a great many gardens. But all should have drainage holes and need a layer of coarse material in the bottom to take care of excess water.
Before sowing, water the containers lightly. This applies whether you use vermiculite or not. Scatter the seed thinly and cover with approximately the seed’s own depth, if using soil or deeper if in vermiculite. Very fine seed, however, require no covering if in vermiculite. Cover and shade very fine seed with glass and newspaper until it germinates. Coarser seeds require only newspaper protection.
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