Farm 2013: Onions Started

9 cartons planted

A growing station has been going for a few weeks now.  I set up some lettuce and herb seedlings back in January.  Unfortunately with the cold weather the temperature in the basement has not been ideal.  While we have lots of young seedlings nothing is of harvest nor transplant size.
Today I dusted off my second seedling station and started the onion seeds.  As I continue to learn how to farm one thing I have uncovered is that starting onions by seed in our climate is not optimal for full size bulbs.  Most farmers transplant onion sets, which are small onion bulbs, sometimes started by other companies in better climates.  And some farmers, like myself, start their onions on their own farm.
I'm big on reuse and composting of items so of course I've been saving half gallon milk cartons for months now for seed planting.  I cut the cartons in half lengthwise.  The half used when pouring the milk is relegated for transporting treats for the ladies, like their hot oatmeal this morning with our 4 degree temperatures.  The other half half which is still sealed, is saved for seed starting purposes.

Grow lights lowered

I filled the carton half way with soil.  Added a slurry that included some organic fertilizer, mixed the soil & slurry.  Once the soil was mixed, I layered the seeds on top, added a little more soil and a dusting of water and covered them with plastic lids to help hold the moisture in.  The grow lights were then lowered to just above the covers.