starting seeds indoorsStarting seeds of for your garden indoors is a great way to get a head start on your growing season. Not only that, but it saves you money and you have more hybrid and heirloom plants to choose from through mail order catalogs, plus it’s lots of fun and great exercise.

Our family has been enjoying gardening together for years. Starting seeds inside is one of my favorite things about gardening.

Recently it has been reported that seed companies are actually running out of seeds because of the high demand from families who are starting seeds because they are tired of the high cost of food and want to be sure that their food is safe.

If you are thinking about getting your food locally, it doesn’t get much more local than your own back yard or community garden.

Starting Seeds for Beginners

The first thing to consider before is what type of vegetables or flowers do you like?

If you are just starting out with vegetable gardening, be sure you like radishes before you plant a whole row of them. Of course, if you are in a community garden or growing extra for others, that would be fine.

Also, it’s best to start with those type of plants that are easy to start from seed. Some easy vegetables to grow if your just learning about starting seeds include tomato, radishes, lettuce, cucumbers, zucchini, garlic, leaf lettuce, arugula, snap peas, Swiss chard, and kale.

You also need to keep in mind that their are cool weather annuals and warm weather annuals.

Easy sun loving annuals which also make good cut flowers include: zinnia, celosia, sunflowers, Mexican sunflower, scarlet sage (Salvia splendens) bachelor’s button, gomphrena, cosmos, and Snow-on-the-mountain (Euphorbia marginata).

Below is a informative video from P. Allen Smith with great tips on starting seeds indoors.

Sowing Seeds

Start with well moistened soil mixture, moist but not soggy.  A good way to tell if your soil has the right soil moisture content, take a handful and squeeze it in your hand.  It should be the consistency of cake.

Sowing seeds in trays or or other containers are done by broadcasting the seed rather than planting it in rows as you would outside. This simply means to sprinkle the seeds over the well watered soil mixture.

  • General rule of thumb is to plant the seed should be planted no more than twice the size of the seed.Tip: Check to see if your seeds need sunlight to germinate, if so, do not cover them with soil.
  • Place the covered seeds about two to four inches from your artificial lights if you are using them. You can even cover your container with a clear plastic wrap to ensure the soil doesn’t dry out while the seeds are germinating. Once they are up, lift the cover to provide ventilation and eventually uncover them completely.

Hardening Off Your Seedlings

Now your plants have their second set of leaves on them (called true leaves) and your ready to transplant them. Yea! But wait, first it is best to harden them off by placing them outside to get them used to their new environment. Basically, you are getting ready for reality.

To harden off your plants, you can put them in a cold frame, greenhouse, or take them out during the day and bring them in during the night for a few days.

Gradually leave them out longer each day. Morning sun is fine, but if we happen to have a scorching 80 degree day, as we sometimes do here in the mid-south, be sure not to leave them in that much heat and sun all day.

After three or four days of this, you may transplant them to your regular garden if your frost date has past.

Tip:While hardening off your seedlings you will also need to thin your seed tray. Your strongest plants will be transplanted or “picked out”, directly to the ground or into put into 3 1/2 or 4 inch pots, to reduce competition and give plants a better chance of survival. This is the hardest part for me! I hate to pull out the little seeds that tried so hard to be good!

Transplanting Seeds Grown Indoors

Once your plants are hardened off, as described above, you are ready to transplant them to your garden.

Transplanting is simply taking your plant from its original container and placing them in their permanent bed outside. You do have that ready don’t you?

To transplant successfully, gently pull the plant from its container by taking gentle hold of the seedlings between thumb and forefinger.

Be sure to keep as much of the growing medium as possible to prevent transplant shock. Use a trowel to dig a small hole for you seedling and place the plant in the hole. Water well.

Tip: Plant seedlings on a cloudy day to help prevent transplant shock. Watch carefully, preferably in the morning, the first week because they will wither. Don’t worry though, this is normal and watering will allow them to bounce back quickly.

Starting Seeds Inside Supply List

  • Buy seeds from a mail-order catalog or from a local garden center.
  • Choose the right container. Containers from home are fine such as milk jugs, seed flats, peat pellets, garden pots, or paper cups. You can get fancier and buy containers made especially to start seeds in, but it’s not necessary. Some plants, such as pumpkins, melons, tomatoes, peppers, and gourds are grown in pots so the roots are not damaged when transplanting.
  • Purchase a soil-less seed growing mix. You can find bags of soil-less mix that say “Seed starting growing mix” and we highly recommend them. You may want to use “organic seed starting mix.”Tip: Whatever you do, please don’t use garden soil. You may choose to mix your own by using 1/3 vermiculite, 1/3 perlite, 1/3 milled sphagnum moss.
  • Fertilizer is a must since soil-less mixes contain very few nutrients. Start fertilizing with a weak fertilizer solution a few weeks after the seeds germinate.
  • Figure out when to start your seed by checking the back of the seed packet to find the recommended starting times. Our last frost date for Nashville is April 15. Check with your local extension agent for your own frost free date.Tip: You may want to plant gourds and pumpkins for fall. Most of them can be harvested 90 days after planted so just count backwards from the time you want to harvest them to your planting date. For example, we used to plant our gourds and pumpkins in May or early June which meant they were ready by August and moldy by September and October when I wanted to use them for decorations. l
  • If you don’t have a sunny window, you may need to supplement your light with artificial lights called grow lights. You can buy these online or at home and garden stores.

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