Tis the season…to plan the garden and resist the urge to start the seedlings too soon!

That’s right today’s post is going to go over HOW-TO start Seeds indoors.

The biggest problem I have is resisting the urge to start too early. But it’s so hard when the seeds come in or I happen to have seeds left over from last year. However, the best way to avoid that is to check your areas predicted last frost date. You can find that here at the gardener’s almanac.

First, we will go over the step by step guide to starting seeds indoors, then we will talk about the many products that can help make your seed starting a bit easier.

9 steps to starting seeds indoors

1. Soil– Get a good quality seed starting soil. Avoid using old soil left outside in the yard with weeds. Seeds can be fickle and starting them with good soil will help them. A good soil usually consists of vermiculite, perlite, and coconut coir or peat moss.
2. Mix water with the soil– It will be a nice dark fluffy soil, light and spongy when it has the right amount of water mixed in.  Start with less water, you can always mix in more later. It should feel like a freshly wrung sponge. Still wet and squishy but fluffs right back to its original shape.
3. Containers– Pour the soil into the containers you plan to use. OR use a soil blocking tool to make your squares you plan to plant directly in. The roots of the plants grown in soil blocking tend to be stronger and healthier due to no growth restrictions of a container.
4. Plant-Make a dent in the soil about the depth of the seed’s width. Larger seeds will go in deeper and smaller seeds will need very little soil covering them. The less energy the seed must spend while growing the better and the right depth will help your seed germinate.
5. MARK YOUR SEEDS. It’s so easy to forget which is which. Mark your seeds if you are doing more than one type of seed. You can recycle plastic containers to use as markers or you can use rocks and waterproof paint.
6. Water- your seeds by lightly misting the soil.  When the soil has a few leaves, you can switch to watering in the tray instead of misting but for now you want the seedlings to stay moist but not wet. Too much water can cause mold and rot your seeds. You want them wet but not soaking wet.
7. Cover- Cover the seeds with plastic or with a tray lid to help hold humidity in. If you have high humidity already you might not even need to mist the soil. Just check daily for dryness.
8. Temperature- If your room is not around 70-75degrees Fahrenheit, then placing the tray on a heating mat will help with germination.
9. Lighting-Place in a sunny area or under a growing light.  Seedlings will love 12-16 hours of sunlight a day once they emerge.  Keep the lights about 2 inches above the plants. If the plant is too far from the light, they will get really long and skinny (leggy) and their stalks will be weak.

REMINDER

Seedlings do not want to be transplanted a lot of times. Therefore, the less times you disrupt their fragile new roots the better. That said if the seed is a large seed such as a squash seed, start with a  larger container then the seed starting trays.

Calculating when to start seeds begins with looking at your last frost date and the amount of time it takes for seeds to germinate. For example, columbine take 180 days to bloom. You can plant them outdoors between 6-8 weeks of growth, they also take 2-3 weeks to germinate before they will sprout. So if you are starting columbines indoors you want to start them 10-12 weeks before your last frost. Many plats like peppers can be started 6-8 weeks before your last frost because they will only have about 70 days from the time they sprout to the time they are ready to harvest. So check your last expected frost date and check the plants requirements for starting indoors.