February means I am well into seed starting for the year! It’s exciting to see those newly planted seeds turn into sprouts and begin growing. Every year I try to plant a large variety of vegetable garden plants including the must have tomato and peppers plants. I also enjoy getting a lot of ornamental seeds growing too. Below you can see a video of where I’m at with my seed starting, take a look at some of the process of starting seeds, and check out the seed starting setup I use.
Important Points Covered in the Video
- Plastic Cups for Seed Starting (mini-greenhouses)
- Grow Lights – I just use simple fluorescent shop lights. I’m switching to LED bulbs as they go out. (48″ ballast)
- Heat Mats
- When to Start Tomato and Pepper plants
- Frost Date – For Us around April 15th
- Seed Starting Setup
Vivosun Heat Mats
In the video I showed these seed starting heat mats from Vivosun. The mats are flexible and can slide onto a 4ft long shelf that is about 20 inches deep. They have other sizes are available that may fit your shelves if you are using different sizes than I am.
The link includes a bundle kit that has a thermostat for adjusting the heat mat temperature. You can buy those separately or not at all if you choose. Link: Vivosun Heat Mat (aff) If you just want the thermostat here is the one I bought: Vivosun Thermostat (aff.).

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