Seed Start:

Starting a Garden Indoors with Seeds

by N.A. Rogers

In much of the U.S. of A., the only way to utilize the full growing season is to start your plants from seeds indoors. In regions where the last frost can be as late as the end of May, and the first frost as early as the onset of October, a shortened growing season can mean a stunted garden season and a severe limitation on plants and flowers which would otherwise flourish.

One solution is to choose plants native to the region for your garden. But a more workable solution is to cover a large tabletop or counter surface with newspaper one day in March, obtain some potting soil, seeds, and pots, and give the upcoming season a booster shot and start early.

Are you cheating? Maybe. Oh, but who cares!

Here's a list of all the things to keep in mind and the stuff you'll need:

Location
Your best bet is a room with south-facing windows which receive direct sun for at least 6 hours per day. If you don't have anything like this in your house, that's okay too. Fluorescent shop lights are very inexpensive and quite easy to set up.

Supplies and Equipment
You can buy something called commercial flats at any department or home supply store for less than five dollars. They are flat trays with individual compartments designed to hold one seedling. An even cheaper alternative that works just as well are cardboard egg cartons. They’re biodegradable while providing drainage and can easily be cut apart when it’s time to transplant your seedlings outside.

Potting soil is a good growing medium, but if you want to really give your plants a super start, you can mix up potting soil with compost and peat moss. Or you can leave the soil out completely and grow in peat moss, vermiculite, and compost.

This is what Granny did: at the end of each growing season, she dug up several buckets of rich soil from the garden and baked it in a 300 degree oven for a couple of hours to sterilize it. In spring, she brought it out to use as potting soil for new seedlings.

Seeds
Tomatoes, carrots, basil, asters, nasturtiums, marigolds, petunias, and pansies are all good candidates for starting indoors, but you needn't go only by that tiny list. You can start practically any plant from seed indoors.

When to Plant
The bulk of garden plants can be started indoors about six weeks before the anticipated last frost. In most northern states, this means seed planting time is mid-March. Transplant the seedlings outside when they’ve reached 4-6” in height, after the final frost.

My Granny's Seed Starting Method
Loosely fill each egg cup with enough garden soil until you're just below the top. Do not pack down! Use your index finger to poke a hole about an inch deep into the soil. Drop seeds into the hole. For large seeds like beans, use only ONE seed per cup. For tinier seeds, sprinkle a pinch into the hole, like you're seasoning cayenne pepper powder and someone coming for dinner doesn't like spicy foods. Rake soil over the seed with your fingertips to lightly cover it.

Move trays to a sunny window (or beneath shop lights or grow lights). Water well, but don’t oversoak. Loosely cover each egg tray with a sheet of clear plastic wrap. Now the most important part: Let them be. Check daily for signs of moisture, and when the soil is dry, lift the plastic wrap and mist well with a mister, then recover. Remove the wrap when seedlings have two leaves, or they touch the plastic. When the seedlings are one or two inches tall, it’s time to thin them. In any container that holds more than two seedlings, cull all but the hardiest so that they’ll have the best chance at rooting and growing. Water and mist frequently until the last frost, then transplant to your garden outside.