Hi Carol,
I always start stuff inside--I'm not a vegetable gardener, but I start some annuals and perennials under lights. There are also lots of people who swear by the winter sowing method--which is a lot cheaper, since the electric bill isn't involved! If you are interested in that, go over to the winter sowing forum--they are very helpful.
I use the regular 4-foot shop lights, which you can purchase at any hardware store. I suspend them from the ceiling, using flexible wires, so I can raise and lower them as needed.
My favorite planting trays are the Gardener's Supply APS 12. A little pricey initially, but, you can clean them at the end of the season and use them again and again. I use a good seed-starting medium with these trays. Lights are on a timer, set to be on 12 hours/day. I have a guest bedroom that becomes the "growing room" for about 2+ months each winter!
When you start the seed depends on what you are growing. Seed packets give instructions on how many weeks to start them prior to your plant out date. Perennials would be started earlier than veggies, I think.
I really do this to give myself the opportunity to play in the dirt and see things sprout, when I've had it with New England winter! I always have more than I can use, so my gardening buddies are appreciative of the leftovers, too.

Emily
Western MA

I just winter sow all my perennials, trees, shrubs & a few cold-hardy vegetables starting in December. The plants are much healthier than any I've started from seed indoors because the seeds sprout when it's right for them to do so and don't need hardening off. It's also a fun way to spend the long, dark, dreary winter evenings and the rewards of stuffing your flowerbeds with plants you grew yourself for mere pennies are incredible.
Glad you asked this question as I'll be interested in what others with experience have to say about GUL.

Regular 2 tube, 4-ft fluorescents suspended on chains from a homemade PVC light stand. I also have a 4-bulb unit that I got when we were doing major rose rooting, but that is overkill for perennials and annuals. Seeds get started in aluminum baby loaf pans with drainage holes poked in the bottom. The pans are filled with pre-moistened seed starting mix, put in baggies, and placed on top of the light transformers for bottom heat. When they sprout, the whole thing gets moved to under the lights. Then when they get big enough to handle, transplanted to potting soil in six-packs.

It's been several years since I've started any perennials from seed simply because for the most part I'm more interested in varieties that are vegetatively propagated. Annuals can be started as early as you like, and potted up when necessary. I also have used the lights to give an early start to things like dahlias and callas.

I took over an upstairs bedroom to start seeds indoors. I bought a couple mini-greenhouse assemblies and hang lights from short chains. I can fit 15 trays under the lights.

I used 4' shop lights with cool bulbs. I have read that it might be better to use one cool and one warm but I've found the seedlings do just fine with what I have. I leave the lights on 24 x 7. The lights should be about 2" above the seedlings in the tray. For the most part I use the basic cellpack trays that hold 8 6-packs. Keep the lids on the trays until the seedlings sprout. I started using a potting soil from my local hardware store. But then I found smaller bags from Ocean State Big Lots for much less money and the seedlings did just as well. I hadn't even paid attention to if it had fertilizer included in the mix. I did use a liquid root stimulater root fertilizer on the perennials I started.

I also did some repotting of mainly perennials into yogurt cups and 3" pots this year. I started perennial seeds in Feb and Mar and planted them out in early May for the most part. I moved one of my greenhouses outside for the hardening off process while other seeds were still inside under the lights.

The green seedling trays in this picture were $1 from Christmas Tree Shops and worked great when I only wanted a small amount of a particular plant.

I started the seeds over a couple different timeframes. I started the perennials first and got them off to a good start and then started a lot of annuals in early-April.

I did a lot of wintersowing this winter as well. I have the space to start indoors and I found the seedlings were much larger than those I WS'd and many are blooming already. It does take much more work though (and $$ for electricity).

nice setup! That must keep you quite busy in winter.

I notice your greenhouse has caster wheels. I have a similar greenhouse, but no wheels. Did you add them or did it come like that?

I found the plastic cover on the greenhouse not very effective at keeping plants much warmer during cold spring nights. I was always dragging the trays back in to the garage for protection, never knowing or sure if I needed to or not. Sometimes I added extra blankets over it or stuffed blankets around the bottom open part, but still no way to monitor the inside temp.

The plastic was definitely great for protecting the tiny seedlings from hard rains.

Very good to know that I can use regular 4' long double fluorescents. I have overhead beams and a high ceiling, so I'll be able to hang them and adjust the heights every day.

What I'd love to grow, among other stuff, is big blue delphiniums. Never available in separate unmixed colors. A neighbor grows some and I found out she starts them from seed indoors.

Thanks for all the advice! You've saved me a ton of money (because I can use standard lights and recycled plastic & alum. pans).

Carol

I've started stuff from seed for 25 years and used to grow under lights, but the winter-sowing method is much easier and cheaper. No worries about electric bills, sterilizing soil and containers, damping off, watering, fiddling with hardware, etc. I also do a lot of spring sowing and direct sowing outdoors in the Spring. I've also discovered that scattering seed in the fall where you want plants the next year works too!

However, that said, starting early under lights is good if you want tomatoes in July or huge Yvonne's Salvia like Mskee grows. I used a simple 4 foot shop light, 4 foot florescent tubes, with 1 warm and 1 cool bulb. I had several Garden supply APS systems, which cut down on watering considerably. But I've also used plain old 6 packs.

Apparently, they now have LED grow lights which are a more expensive investment up front, but very inexpensive to run.

Wendy, the assemblies came with the castors. I got them from Ace Hardware. In the spring I put one of them in a protected corner outside the house and the seedlings did very well overnight. I did find a couple varieties didn't like being put out too early but live and learn. Once the trays were outside in the greenhouse I never moved them again. I don't even harden off zinnias anymore. I've found I can plant them as soon as I take them outside.

I generally always did a lot of zinnias from seed each year but last year started a handful of perennials. I was so pleased with how quickly they grew I decided to expand the setup to accommodate more flats and this year went absolutely crazy with seeds. It was a great way to spend the winter. I think by early-June I had planted out over 450 plants! I'm trying to fill out the newer backyard area so this was a great cost savings for me even with the expense of electricity and some trays and soil. I'll definitely continue to start perennials each winter.

Hi newbie here. Love your website!:)

I'm new with indoor growing except for a few tropical plants. I want to grow veggies in side. I've been reading alot on lights. What kind of bulbs do you use? I read there's T5, T8, T12. Are regular shop lights T12?

1 have a few light questions please. I have a 36" w window with 2 shelfs I want to use for seeds. I can put a reg. flourescent or a grow light over it. Which would be best?

Also, if you were going to buy 1 4' light for growth after you take them from the windoow where they germinated, and it would go thru the whole cycle growth and fruit(tomatoes), flowers. What would the bulb be? and how many bubls would it have 2 or 4?

Thank you so much! Mona