Now that you purchased your seeds, and your garden calendar planned out, it’s time to talk about getting that garden started! If you are planning on starting your plants from seed, the first step to getting your garden started is to start certain seeds indoors.
Why Start Seeds Indoors?
Some plants require a longer growing season, and for climates with shorter growing seasons, it is definitely recommended to start seeds indoors to make sure that they will have time to mature and bear fruit before the season ends.
Cool weather crops that you might want to start indoors would be plants like lettuce, broccoli, cabbage, onions, collards, etc. For warm weather crops, you will want to start tomatoes, peppers, sweet potatoes, certain herbs, and others indoors. This will ensure that your crops have enough time to mature before the weather changes and they stop producing.
Supplies You Will Need
Aside from your seeds, you will need a few supplies to get your indoor seed-starting setup going. You can upcycle some of these to help cut down on costs, but overall, buying these supplies shouldn’t break the bank. Here is what you will need:
- Seed starting soil (probably cheaper to buy in your local garden supply store)
- Seed cell trays
- Seed flat trays (no drain holes – same size as seed cell trays)
- Humidity domes (you can also upcycle some old totes or containers if you can find the right size)
- Potting soil (probably cheaper to buy in your local garden supply store)
- 4″ pots (buy the number of plants that you want to grow)
- Plant labels
- Heat mat
- Grow lights or 5000-6500 lumens shop lights
- Chains (optional)
- A fan
- Watering can, upcycled milk jug, or water pitcher
- Table or shelves
*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This means that if you purchase an Amazon product from a link that I share, I will receive a small commission, at no extra cost to you! Thank you for supporting me! ?
Your Seed Starting Setup
Once you have your materials, you will need to set up your growing space. You will need to have a way to hang your lights, and a place to set your plants underneath. Many people use shelves, which seem to work out pretty well.
Depending on the kind of lights you buy, you may need to have your plants closer to the light, or farther away, so you must account for that when you are deciding on your setup. Seedlings will get leggy (tall, thin and weak) if they are reaching for the light too much.
Some lights come with chains so that you can adjust the height of the lights pretty easily. This is one way to control how close your plants are to the light.
My setup does not allow for me to adjust the height of the lights, so I had to get creative. When my seedlings are small, I use Solo cups underneath the trays to lift them closer to the lights. As they grow, I take the cups out so they have more room.
Starting Your Seeds (the Fun Part!)
Check your calendar to see when it’s time to start your seeds. If you start them too early, they will become root-bound in their small pots, and they will outgrow your space, very quickly!
When it is time to start the seeds, moisten the seed starting soil and fill up the seed cell trays with the moistened soil. Set the seed cells inside the seed flat tray. This will allow you to water your seeds from the bottom. (I like to cut out one cell so that I easily pour water into the flat tray without having to lift out the cells.)
Add your seeds at the depth instructed on the seed packet. For most plants, I usually like to add 2-3 seeds in each cell and thin the weakest ones later. This also helps you make sure that you have enough plants, in case some seeds don’t germinate.
Don’t forget to add plant labels. You’d be surprised at how easy it is to forget which plants are which, even once they start coming up!
For seeds that need warmer temperatures to germinate, you can add a plastic dome over the top until they sprout, and then take it off once you start seeing them come up out of the soil. Some seeds, such as peppers, need a lot of heat to germinate, so you can set those on a heat mat to help speed up the germination process.
Side note – most seeds actually don’t need light to germinate, so you don’t have to turn the light on until you see your first sprouts. Once you see those sweet little green stems popping up, turn on your lights. The seedlings WILL need them! To simulate nature, it is recommended to keep them on for 18 hours, and turn them off for 6 hours. You can use a timer to help with this, or you can just turn them on when you wake up, and turn them off before bed.
Once your seeds sprout, pay attention to the watering needs of each plant so that you can give them what they need. Some plants like more water, while others thrive in drier soil.
Lastly, remember that fan I told you to have handy? This is where that comes in. If your seedlings have a little wind, it will strengthen their stems. That way, when it’s time for them to go outside, they won’t be completely shocked by being blown around. The fan also keeps the air moving, making it harder for mold to develop.
Potting Up Your Seedlings
When your seedlings get 1-2 sets of true leaves (meaning they grow 1-2 leaves beyond those first two that sprout), it’s time to move them into bigger pots. Fill your 4″ pots with regular potting soil (NOT seed starting soil), and transplant your seedlings into them. You will only want to plant one seedling in each pot at this point.
I like to set the pots in the flat trays, so that I can still water from the bottom. But even if you choose to water from the top, it’s still good to have that tray on the bottom to catch any extra water. It also makes it easier to carry all the seedlings in groups, rather than individually, which brings us to the next topic.
Hardening Off Your Seedlings
If you were to grow your seedlings indoors, and then just pop them in the ground when it is warm enough, there’s a good chance your plants may not do well.
Because the environment inside is much different than the environment outside, your seedlings will need some time to adjust to the changes. Sometimes plants can get sunburnt if they are suddenly exposed to the sun for a long time without time to adjust. Other plants may be too weak to handle the full force of the wind. If they have only been bottom watered, they will not be accustomed to rain. To help with these issues, we do what’s called hardening off.
About a week before you plan to put your seedlings in the garden, you should begin allowing them to be exposed to the outside in small doses. Begin with 15 minutes in a shady area on the first day. The next day, try 15 minutes in the sun. Then increase the time each day until they can handle hours outside without getting sunburnt or damaged. Then they’re ready to go in the ground!
Next Steps
If you have made it this far, congratulations, you have successfully started your plants from seed! That is a feat in itself!
Now comes the fun part – let’s be honest – it’s all fun! Now you get to watch your plants grow huge and start producing!
Don’t forget about the seeds that you need to direct sow in the ground. We will discuss this in the next post!
Have you ever tried starting seeds indoors? If so, what other tips would you give to starting them indoors?
Photo by Akil Mazumder on Pexels.com
Posts in this series:
