Today is the winter solstice, our shortest amount of daylight all year. It's been a cloudy, gloomy month with very little snow, which means no cross country skiing or snowshoeing. In spite of holiday preparations, the blase weather is beginning to weigh down. I decided to start a new tradition: plant herb seeds indoors to help lift the darkness of winter solstice.
The lighted plant stand in my basement houses a small collection of tropical bonsai trees in the winter. It's a chilly 60 degrees there, so germinating seedlings will require extra heat. We added a seedling heat mat just large enough for one flat, and then draped the shelf with plastic sheeting to help retain the heat and humidity.
I mixed my seedling soil mixture---one third peat moss, one third vermiculite, one third sifted compost. Then I planted peat pots with basil seeds and parsley seeds, which will take a few weeks to germinate. The herb pots are situated on the top shelf of the plant stand next to two bowls of spinach seedlings. This is my indoor garden, and it will have to suffice until spring. Happy Solstice!
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