Vegetable Gardening

[OakLeaf]

You'll need someplace to store your 'yak anyway. Why not in the greenhouse?

FWIW, I never had any trouble with my tomato seeds (or the other nightshades). The soil has to be maintained at 80-90°F (27-32°C) until germination, and the pots and soil should be sterile.

If the ambient temperature is low, to maintain the soil temperature, the heating pad should be set on high and the flats should be loosely covered (and if you're using a household heating pad, make sure it's one that's rated for moist heat!). With a tight cover you could probably get away with setting the pad lower, but then you'd run into troubles with moisture control and ambient molds. I never did invest in a thermostatically controlled seedling heat mat, but I always kept a soil thermometer stuck in one of the cells.

My sweet corn's up . Pre-sprouting the seeds indoors under a damp paper towel for 36-48 hours gives me close to 100% germination of untreated seed, even when the soil temperature is only 60°F or so. I haven't done sweet corn in several years just because it's so resource-intensive - and it's not in the best spot in the garden - so we'll see how it does. I'm going to kidnap some horse manure from my new neighbor.