Video - Starting Seeds Indoors

Starting seeds indoors successfully requires 5 things:

1. A good growing medium
2. A growing container
3. Good seeds
4. Sunlight
5. Water

This short gardening video from Iowa Gardening Magazine shows a few quick tips for successfully starting your seeds indoors to get a head start on your garden this year. (See below video for some helpful resources.)

Gardening in the Zone: Starting Seeds Indoors
Richard Jauron discusses how to start your garden seeds indoors to get a jump start on your garden.


Helpful Supplies For Starting Seeds Indoors:
   

Starting Seeds Indoors - Part 2

Continuing from Tuesday's post, here are some tips for planting your indoor seeds, thinning, watering, and getting them growing well in preparation for moving them outdoors later in the spring.

Planting Seeds:

Image via WikipediaAfter your heat-treated soil has cooled, fill planting containers firmly but do not pack. Allow about 3/4-inch from the soil surface to the rim of the container. Water well and let drain for several hours. Place seeds on the soil surface. Use a piece of window screen or old flour sifter to sift soil over the seeds to the depth indicated on the seed packet.

If you use compartmentalized trays or individual peat pots, place two or three seeds in each pot. Do not cover too deeply, as this may reduce or prevent seed germination. Just like planting directly in the ground, a general rule is to cover no more than four times the diameter of the seed.

Apply a fine spray of water to avoid washing the seed out, causing them to float to the soil surface. Household window sprayers are suitable.

Cover the containers with plastic sheets or panes of glass and place in a cool room (60 to 65 degrees) away from direct sunlight until germination. By doing this, you will almost eliminate the necessity of watering the bed again before the seeds germinate. Be sure to keep an eye on it though. DON'T let it completely dry out, and be sure to keep checking for seedlings, as they will need light once they appear.

Germination can take anywhere from a few days to a couple of months, depending on what you are growing, so patience will have to be one of your virtues.

When seeds germinate, move them gradually (over two or three days) into brighter light. When the seedlings have developed the first true leaves (the leaves above the cotyledons or “seed leaves”), thin to one plant per container if using partitioned trays or peat pots. Use tweezers to pinch off unwanted seedlings rather than pulling them, to avoid disturbing the remaining seedling.

If seeds were planted in larger containers, transplant into individual peat pots or other small containers. An alternative is to thin the seedlings so they are spread about 1 1/2 to 2 inches apart and leave them in the larger containers. This method, however, makes inefficient use of seed and space.

Water your seedlings carefully. Small containers used for starting plants dry out quickly. On the other hand, soil kept soaking wet inhibits seedling growth and may kill the plants.

Seedling (Photo credit: arimoore)Moving Seedlings Outdoors:

About one week prior to planting-out time, gradually expose seedlings to longer periods outdoors unless temperatures are below 50 degrees. At the same time, reduce watering to a minimum as long as plants do not wilt. This will help the plants adjust to full exposure without undergoing undue shock at planting time.

When it comes time for planting in the ground, carefully remove the plant from its container, keeping the roots intact. Dig a small hole in the garden plot and place the plant into the hole. Cover up the roots completely nearly up to the bottom leaves of the plant. Pack down the soil around the plant and water. Watch your garden grow!


Seed Starting Supplies:
   

Starting Seeds Indoors - Part 1

Well, it's about that time!  For many, March is the start of gardening season, as in most areas it means it's time to start seeds indoors for your spring and summer garden.

Image via WikipediaStarting your seeds indoors will lessen the amount of time you have to wait to see results in your garden, and many people prefer to grow their plants indoors first to ready them for the growing season. It can also be motivational and satisfying to see those little sprouts all bright and green in your window, after a long cold winter!

If space is available near a sunny window, start seeds four to eight weeks before the plant-out date in your area (average date of last killing frost). I know it's tempting, but starting too early can result in spindly plants due to crowding and lack of sufficient light.

Planting Containers:

Almost any container with drainage holes in the bottom will work for planting. You can recycle and use paper milk cartons cut in half, Styrofoam cups, small baskets, tin cans, or reusable plastic trays or pots. For convenience, however, you may wish to start plants in the plastic trays and pots available at garden supply centers. Peat pellets can also work well.

Image via WikipediaPotting Soil:

Use a rich, well-drained soil. Potting soils made for African violets and other house plants usually are suitable and do not have weed seeds. They are, however, more expensive than soil mixes you can make at home. If you use soil from the yard, it should be top soil that is well drained and not high in clay.

The best soils are often found around established shrubs and trees. Add sphagnum peat and sharp sand to the soil in a ratio of about one-half volume of each, and mixed thoroughly.

To kill weed seeds and some damaging soil fungi present in your commercial soil, place the soil mix in shallow trays or baking pans in an oven for 45 minutes at 250 degrees. For best results, the soil should be moist.

Be sure to check back Thursday, when we'll cover tips for planting and germinating your seeds for best results, and transitioning them to your outdoors garden!


Seed Starting Supplies:
   

Choosing Seeds for Your Garden

Good evening!

We are continuing through your 2-week step-by-step guide to starting your own sustainable garden.

We are about get down to the nitty-gritty, and start planting…. But there’s one more thing I forgot — first we have to choose our seeds! Here are some tips to help with the process.

Image via WikipediaChoosing Healthy Seeds
Choosing viable seeds can sometimes prove tricky. A seed may appear just fine to the eye, and yet not have within it the strength and vitality to produce a healthy plant.

If you save seed from your own plants you are able to choose the best yourself. So how do you figure out which seeds to preserve? When looking at growing plants for seed, it is not the blossom only which you must consider, but the entire plant. Why? Because a weak, scrawny plant may produce one fine blossom. Looking at that one beautiful blossom, you may think ahead to the numberless equally lovely plants you are going to have from the seeds. But just as likely as not the seeds will produce plants like the parent plant.

So in seed selection the entire plant should be considered. Is it sturdy, strong, well shaped and symmetrical? Does it have a goodly number of fine blossoms (or fruits)? These are questions to ask in seed selection. (I learned this the hard way last year, when I saved seeds from some gorgeous morning glories blossoms, which were growing on a straggly, weak-looking plant. My new seedlings this year are also turning out straggly & weak so far…. Hopefully they’ll perk up soon!)

Size is also another point to hold in mind. If you purchase seeds, you have no way of knowing anything about the plants from which these seeds came — all you have to judge from are the seeds themselves. If sizes vary, by all means choose the largest and fullest seed.

The reason for this is that a new plant must depend for its early growth on the nourishment stored up in the seed. And so if we choose a large seed, we have chosen a greater amount of food for the young seedling. The seedling feeds upon this stored food until its roots are ready to do their work. So if the seed is small and thin, and the first food supply insufficient, there is a possibility of losing the little plant.

The third thing to look out for in seed is viability. Some seeds which look to beImage via Wikipedia all right may not develop at all, for various reasons. Seeds may have been picked before they were ripe or mature; they may have been frozen; and they may be too old. Seeds retain their viability or germ development power for a given number of years and are then useless. There is a viability limit in years which differs for different types of seeds.

If buying seeds, check the packets for expiration dates. If you are saving your own seed, in most cases it will be best to throw out unused seed after 2-3 years, and always be sure to stash your seeds in a cool, dry place!

Okay, ready to plant? Good! In our next lesson, we will get down to planting, so hopefully you’ve got your tools ready! (If you need help finding good garden tools, there are some suggestions here: http://www.newholisticliving.com/sustainablegardening.html )
Rose.