Starting Seeds

Starting from seed is the best use of money and gives you a lot of control. For the cost of 1 plant, you can have 100 seeds. Even good nurseries have a small selection of varieties, but the varieties available for order are endless. You can time them to have the perfect size start at just the right time.

Should I start seeds indoors or outdoors?

It depends on what you grow and how you learned to garden. Cover crops need to be really simple to start outdoors. And some thingss do fine starting outdoors. For me, indoors has been more successful for most of my veggies.

Especially for tomatoes and herbs, I always start indoors first. I'm slowly adding cabbage and kale, and peppers. They'll all do well started indoors. I also like to have surplus starts of all kinds so that I can pop something in when space opens up.

I have started some veggies outside, beets and melons. For the beets and beans, I do feel a pre-planting soak or even pre-sprout improves my results. It has also helped to use a pretty solid cover over the seeded soil to keep the moisture steady, like newspaper or burlap. Keeps the weeds from taking over before your seedlings can get their heads out.

Strengthen Your Gardening Skills

Getting ready for Seed Starting

Wherever you are, pick seeds and varieties that are going to thrive in your conditions. How long is your growing season? What are daily conditions like in the summer? What is your elevation? If the garden seeds you pick aren't adapted, they'll need more attention and water while producing poorly. Do yourself a favor, be selective.

Containers for seed starting

I've started in many different containers, and did ok with all of them. The main success factor is for seeds to stay evenly moist as they sprout and grow. For those of us that sometimes forget to check, I like the starter trays with a water reservoir or tray so that I can water from below and keep the trays wet longer. If you do a lot of starts, flats to start with might be a good idea.

Techniques for starting seeds

Seeds & Sprouting

Viable seeds are basically seeds with a little plant inside them. Not all seeds are viable or easy to start. Some seeds have hard coats or anti-sprout chemicals that break down over time. Special conditions may even be needed, like a long cold spell.

Most seeds sprout easily, so long as they have soil and water, with light and any nutrients they need as they grow. Buy from reputable seed companies and only what you can use before they get old. If the seeds have low germination rates, you can just start more seeds to account for it.

Transplanting

Because I start many seeds indoors, successful transplanting in an important part of my garden system. The plants should be healthy and not rootbound as planting time grows near. I start putting them out in a shady spot to acclimate to outdoors and the sun intensity. I'll need to keep them from drying out while I watch for a cloudy or rainy day. I may have to go ahead & transplant, but I'll use the rain when I can.

If my pre-planning was good, I'll have transplant size starts ready when they are most likely to thrive outside and produce a crop. Planning takes knowing my first and last frost dates, crop days to harvest, and best transplant dates. I also need to know how quickly seeds sprout and reach good transplant size.

My favorite way to use transplants though, is to have extra plants of all types to stick in an unexpected spot I find. Herbs, salad greens can get tucked under other plants or in shady spots. Having backups is always helpful for when the plants already in beds die.

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