These are the first wave of seeds I'm starting indoors on a heating pad. I use an old dark room thermometer stuck in the same seed starting mix as the seeds to monitor soil temperature. Once they germinate and show indications of the first set of true leaves, they are weaned off the heat, transplanted into individual pots and placed in the greenhouse.

Here's the first batch:

Abutilon - Tennent's White - Abutilon vitifolium

Balloon Pea - Lessertia frutescens

Bell Flower - Canarina canariensis

Desert Bird of Paradise - Caesalpinia gilliesii

Brazilian Coral Tree - Erythrina crista-galli

Caterpillar Bean - Scorpirius muricatus

Cigar Flower - Cuphea lanceolata

Giant Honey Bush - Melianthus major

ooooh so exciting!

I wish I could get motivated.

Maybe tomorrow....

Getting motivated is not really a problem .. the real problem is making room in the greenhouse once they start sprouting!

Same here, Anne. I have to start thousands of seeds in order to have plants to sell at market as well as plants for the veggie garden. I have to wean them from the warmth as quickly as possible since I only have two lighted shelving units in the house and I lost space in the GH when I put in the sink w/counter. But I have been sowing seeds in the GH this year and I am so glad I put the sink and counter in. I will find room somewhere!

This year I am trying something different. I am sowing the lettuce in plug trays and leaving them in the GH to germinate. That will save me a lot of room because I do a minimum of 6 trays of lettuce, 288 plugs each.

Wowza! That's a LOT of lettuce! I always start with the 'takes longest to germinate' ones first. The morning glory's go last because they are real thugs and even though they are last to start they end up mugging everything near them with 'hugs' before I can get them in the ground.

You are starting some interesting plants!
I have been planning on getting a few things started before January is over, so I better get kicking!

Seeing others starting always helps motivate - even if you are 4 zones warmer.

I like the weird ... more to come too! Every time I come across a new seed site I go though their entire catalog and look up ones I'm not familiar with. I've discovered some really amazing and jaw dropping plants that way .. like Trichosanthes kirilowii. I found this two years ago.

HI! Thought I'd jump right in...Anne, I didn't look up all your seeds but the Desert Bird of Paradise grows wild here and there are always seeds. If you need any please let me know. I am just starting to get seeds started because I have no where to put them as seedlings. The majority of seeds can be direct sown here in the High Desert. Of course many of you sell your plants but we (my sister and I) won't be able to do that until maybe next year. We had hoped to get some things to grow over the winter and our carrots, radishes and sugar peas are still alive but growing very slow. We had an early start of cold weather and many nights now of frost. The sugar peas are never covered and the carrots and radish get covered with plastic at night.Just something we thought we would try.

I sure enjoy everyone's input here!

Thanks Pat! I just might take you up on your offer of seeds later on if I don't have luck with germination. From what I understand, deserts tend to have drastic temperature extremes between day and night.

That hairy little Chinese Cucumber flower is very cool!!

It is indeed! It's a night bloomer and has an awesome fragrance.

We have lift off! The first to germinate is the Desert Bird of Paradise - Caesalpinia gilliesii! The cotyledons were totally encapsulated so I took an exacto knife and cut the coat along one side.

One of the problems of starting seeds indoors on heat mats is that the seed coat does not have time to soften up enough for the cotyledons to break the coat so the cotyledons get trapped. When I see this happening, I immediately do 'surgery' to free the cotyledons.

I do surgery sometimes too!

It can be tricky sometimes!

Just noticed another one popping up! This one is Abutilon - Tennent's White - Abutilon vitifolium.

To me, this is the most exciting time!!!

For me too!

You have better hands than me. When I attempt that I usually massacre the cotyledon.

Karen

You do have to be careful. If you catch it before it starts putting out a lot of hairy roots, you can safely remove it from the soil, do what you need to do then put it back. I use an exacto knife and toe nail clippers and repeat my seedling mantra over and over as I work - which is:

Leaves can be replaced, stems cannot.