Starting seeds indoors is an exciting way to kickstart your garden and extend your growing season. There are many great reasons to start your vegetable or flower seeds indoors. You’ll save money by buying seeds rather seedlings, you’ll have a wider selection of plants to grow, and you’ll give yourself a little bit more control over the germination of your plants to avoid potential climate or pest interruptions. Don’t be intimidated—seed starting is easy with these steps.
Let's Get Started!
Whether you’re a seasoned gardener or a newbie, here’s a step-by-step guide to successful seed starting. To get started you’ll want to choose the vegetables or flowers you plan to grow and purchase or gather the supplies you need. You don’t need a fancy greenhouse or expensive supplies to start your vegetables. Make sure you designate a safe, warm, and dry place away from drafts and pets to put your seeds as they germinate. A south-facing or sunny window with a large ledge or a space to put a table in front.
Choose Your Seeds
When selecting the vegetables or flowers you want to grow, consider your local climate and growing season. If you haven’t already purchased your seeds, you’ll want to do that right away. You can purchase from The Tilted Whale or other a garden suppliers. Once you have your seeds, read your seed packet carefully to determine whether the variety of plant you have can handle transplanting well. Some vegetables, such as root vegetables, don’t transplant well and will need to be direct sowed—they’ll go right into your garden. The seed packet, or our Planting Guides, suggest the proper planting times both indoors and outdoors for the plant variety in your region.
Gather Supplies
Select a potting soil with light, loamy texture, and a blend of vermiculite. Use pots or plant trays that are 2-3 inches wide and deep. Feel free to recycle materials like yogurt containers, eggshells, or toilet paper tubes.
You’ll want to labels for each seedling tray. Certainly, you can purchase plastic plant labels, but many people use ice cream sticks, plastic butter knives, or even chopsticks. Be sure to use a WATERPROOF pen for labeling. When you cover your seedling containers, use clear plastic kitchen bags or food wrap.
Eventually you will need slightly larger pots to transplant your seedlings. Some people start their seeds in trays with individual cells. You may prefer this to starting seeds in a flat and having to separate out roots later to transplant. Whatever method you use, make sure that your containers are clean (if you used them last year make sure to wash in a diluted bleach solution to get rid of disease) and have adequate drain holes.
Sow Your Seeds
Now we’re ready to begin planting! First, moisten your potting mix evenly with plain water. You don’t want your soil to be soggy, but moist like a damp sponge.
Next, fill your pots or tray evenly with soil. Make sure not to tamp the soil down, as you want it to remain light and fluffy in the container. Using dry hands, open your seed packet and drop 1-2 seeds in each cell of your tray, or in each pot. Make sure to read the seed packet be clear on whether your seeds need to be deeply or shallowly planted. Make an indent in the soil where you want to plant the seed. Some seeds require ‘light stratification’ in order to germinate. For these seeds, just place them on top of the soil, and pat them lightly…then keep moist by misting with water.
Next, label your seed trays with the type of seed, and date planted. Water your seeds gently and add nutrients if needed. We like using spray bottles or squirt bottles, so as to not displace seeds or damage seedlings.
Put the planted container inside a clear plastic bag and tie it loosely around the container. You can also cover the tray with plastic wrap making sure the wrap stays off the soil surface. Placing the plastic around the containers keeps the temperatures warm and the soil moist so you most likely won’t need to water it again until the seedlings sprout.
Situating Your Seeds
Move the seedling trays to a safe, warm, dry place away from drafts. The reason you want to put your seeds here first is that windows are typically drafty and the direct sunlight can actually dry out your pots and flats or heat them up and increase the moisture to strongly. A good place is on top of your refrigerator (where your seedlings can use the heat to germinate) or on a table in your kitchen.
Depending on your plant variety, seeds can sprout anywhere from 7 days to 2 weeks. Don’t worry if they take a little longer. Sometimes they need warmer conditions to germinate. Once the seeds sprout and break through the soil surface, remove the plastic and bring your containers to your window where they can receive as much sunlight as you can give them in your home. If your windows are a bit drafty place a towel along the edge to minimize the flow of air.
Seedling care involves watering, feeding, and temperature control. You’ll want to check your seedlings daily. Your goal is to keep the soil evenly damp as consistently as possible. You don’t want them to dry out too much. Use room temperature water to reduce shock to the seedlings. An easy way to water very small seedlings is by misting them with a sprayer.
Every couple of days you should rotate your seedlings to ensure that they’re getting even amounts of sun on all sides. Otherwise, you'll see them begin to lean in one direction. Two weeks after your seedlings have germinated, and when the plants are well established you can begin adding an organic liquid fertilizer to your water. A good rule of thumb is to water the seedlings once a week until they’re ready to go into the garden.
Congratulations New Plant Parent
Don't be intimidated! Seeds starting is easy if you follow these steps! And don't forget to check out our seeds and seed starting kits at The Tilted Whale!
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