What is the best way to sow flowers inside, so you can plant them out in the summer?

Question

Next year, I'm planting LOADS of flowers, I'm planting them all around my open field near the trees. I'll probably be sowing about 1500 seeds indoors. A lot of the seeds are Annual Foxglove, Hollyhocks, Columbine, Snapdragon, Balloon Flowers, Zinnias, Penstemon, and many more, that I've forgotten. Which is the best, and healthiest way to grow them inside? I was thinking of getting these things called "biodomes" where it can fit 60 seeds, but i would need to many. I might be getting a mini green house thing for indoors, which has floresent lights, and about 4 rows of soil. What is the best way? Any suggections or advice on any of these plants or on sowing them inside? I live in ontario, canada, zone 5, and i will be sowing them side Anyway from Janruary to April. Thanks:D

Answer 1

Wow, that's an awful lot of seeds Dan. First of all you are going to need a place with a bright light source that will reach all those seedlings. I would guess that the mini greenhouses with florescent lights would be best, but you might need more that one for 1500 seeds. If you have a spare room you could set up some tables and place florescent fixtures with one cool and once warm florescent bulb in each above each table. Make it so the fixtures can be raised and lowered because they will need to be no more than 3 inches above the seedlings at all times. This is how I do it for my seedling, but I only start a few hundred indoors. Anyhow, you can get some seedling flats from garden centers, fill with starting soil and plant away or you can get peat cells, but 1500 can get pretty pricey. You said that you would be starting the seeds in January, but that will be too early. You only need to start the seed 6-8 weeks before your last frost. Start them any earlier then you will be looking at leggy plants that will suffer more stress when planted outside. Besides, the older they get the harder they are to keep alive indoors. Well, I hope this helped some.
Good luck