Starting Seeds Indoors

Growing your own plants from seeds is a great way to save money on your garden. Grow your own seeds indoors early in the year so they are ready to be planted when the weather is warm enough.
Starting seeds indoors is a great way to extend the growing season.

Warm season vegetables like tomatoes and peppers and cool season vegetables do well with being started early and transplanted later into the garden.

When To Start Seeds Indoors and Picking Your Seeds

First step is deciding what seeds you would like to grow for the vegetables you would like in your garden. You can find seed packets at most general stores. Also be sure to check out your local garden center, where you can find seeds in the packet, but also in bulk. You might also buy seeds from some seed catalog companies. We grow a large amount of vegetables in our garden, so we always buy in bulk from some seed companies. 

Seeds need to be started early enough to be a good size when transplanting. You should start seeds indoors generally between 6 to 8 weeks before the average frost date. You'll want to read each of the seed packets to see what it says for when to plant seeds indoors for each type of seeds you'd like to grow. 

Some seeds are fast growers and others take a little longer. Fast seeds may only take a few weeks to grow large enough to transplant into the garden, while others are slower to germinate and takes the seeds longer to grown. 

Every growing zone has different seed starting dates based on the average first frost. On the back of the seed packets, will tell how many weeks ahead of the first frost date to sow the seeds. 

Indoor Seeds Starting Supplies

There are several seed starting supplies and equipment around, but the basics are seed planting trays, a good quality soil mix or peat pellets.

You can use eco-friendly pots that can be planted right in the ground at the time of transplanting or plastic cell trays, where you will remove the soil cube with the seedling in it to plant.

I like to use the peat pellets. They are available already in a peat pellet kit or you can buy them in bulk and put them in the tray yourself. Then add water over the tray for the pellets to absorb and they will expand and be ready to plant in. Water them in the trays and watch your seeds grow.

But any growing container will do just fine.

In addition to the essentials needed for starting seeds indoors, you might also want to get glow lights, a heat mat, and fertilizer. But these are not needed.

Location and Temperature

Seeds like warm temperatures to grow. This is why if you want to start them ahead of time, indoors works well. Warmer temperatures trigger the seeds that it is time to start growing and they will germinate and grow better than in colder temperatures. If you have a dark basement, seeds can still grow there with the proper equipment, like grow lights and a heat mat. 

How to Plant a Seed

- Fill your seed trays with a seed starting soil mix. Make sure the soil is loose and not packed in. If using peat pellets soak to get them so they expand and will be ready for planting. 

- Its convenient when sowing seeds to have the seeds from one vegetable in one hand and use the other hand for the actual planting.

- Make a hole in the soil first and gently press the seed into the soil to the correct planting depth. A good rule of them for planting depth is twice the side of the seed. 

- Gently cover each seed with soil and pack it down lightly to ensure the seed is covered. 

- Be sure to label what seeds you planted. I like to use popsicle sticks for an easy way to label.

My son helped with the labeling :)

- Water the seeds by putting water in the tray and it will be soaked up by the soil. Also use a spray bottle and mist the tops of the seed trays. If you want you can cover the seed trays with plastic wrap or the clear lid that comes with some of the kits. This will retain moisture and create a greenhouse effect and hold in some of the heat. Once the seeds have sprouted, you don't need to cover them any longer. 

-Keep the soil moist but not overly wet. 

-If the seedlings are growing near a window, occasionally you will need to turn the trays so the plants are exposed to sunlight on all sides and don't only grow and lean in one direction - toward the window.

-  About a week before you plan to transplant the seedlings outside in your garden, you will need to harden them off. Hardening off is a term used in gardening for getting seedlings used to the outside. To do this, start by placing the seed trays outside for a couple hours each day. Increase the amount closer to the time of planting and eventually leaving them out all day.

- Transfer your seedlings and plant them into your garden. 

Seed starting is a fun early season gardening project. It takes a little time but has huge rewards with leading to a bountiful harvest.

Easy Cold Weather Vegetables to Grow

Garden season is right around the corner and here at the beginning of March we are anxious for that Spring and Summer weather. I know I am anyway. Well even though you think of garden season not to start for another month or two, it's is a good idea to know when you can start your vegetable seed.

You can extend your growing season by planting these cold weather crops in early Spring (as well as late Fall). The nice thing about cold weather vegetables is that they can be planted outside as soon as the ground can be worked. Cool weather vegetables are meant to be planted in cooler weather. So Spring and Fall. Plant in early Spring for spring harvest and late Summer for Fall harvest.


Several cold weather vegetables can be direct sewn by seed:

• Collards
• Kale 
• Kohlrabi
• Leeks
• Mustard greens
• Parsley
• Radish
• Spinach
• Beets
• Carrot
• Cabbage
• Turnip
• New potatoes
• Lettuce/Salad greens
• Swiss Chard
• Green Onions

An early garden harvest with radishes, green onions, spinach, lettuce, arugula, and kale

Other vegetables do better having a head start planted as a transplants

• Cauliflower
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Kohlrabi

There are lots of benefits to gardening in early Spring and late Fall. It's not as hot and humid as in the summer, making working outside a little easier. You don't have to water as much. There are less bugs, especially mosquitoes. Plus there are a ton of great vegetables to grow during this time! Some take a little more work, but today we are going to talk about some of the easier ones to grow. I am in zone 5, but believe these would be fairly easy to grow in any zone with the right conditions. Look at the map to find your zone that you are in. 

We have a cold frame, where we start our earliest seeds in the greenhouse, then we plant them in the cold frame soil to grow. This gives us about an added month to our growing season. But here usually end of March/beginning to mid April (depending on the weather) we direct sow these cold crops outside in the garden. 

Lettuce

The crisp leaves are perfect for every salad. It is wonderful to grow your own lettuce for salads and other meals. There are so many varieties to choose from loose-leaf, butterheads and bibb lettuce, romaine lettuce, and crisp head lettuce. Also, plant a mix for blend of mixed greens. 

Lettuce can be directly seeded as soon as the soil can be worked. Lettuce grows best when the soil is moist and outside temperatures range from 40 to 70 degrees F. Sow lettuce seed about a quarter of a inch deep and roughly and 6 inches apart in rows or a broadcast the seed in a square area for leaf lettuce. Leaf lettuce is ready to harvest in 45 to 55 days. For head lettuce, plant roughly 12 inches apart. It is ready to harvest in about 80 days. 

Spinach

Spinach is packed full of nutrients and great to add to a variety of recipes! Spinach is fast growing. 

Spinach can also be direct sown in early Spring or late Summer and plant about half an inch deep.

Spinach leaves are ready to harvest as soon as the leaves are ready to eat, usually in 3 to 5 weeks. To harvest simply cut the outer leaves off about 2 inches from the ground, and let the inner leaves grow until the next cutting. This will allow for longer production. For larger spinach leaves, simply let them grow a little longer. You can harvest leaves and it will continue to grow and provide more. Spinach does tend to bolt when temperatures get warmer than 75 degrees F, so try to harvest as much of your spinach in the cool temperature. 

Radish

There are also so many kinds of radishes! Round, long, white, red, mild taste, or stronger taste. We mainly use radishes for salads or to snack on, but there are also some delicious looking recipes you can use radishes with as well. I prefer the mild tasting radishes, while my husband enjoys the ones with more of a bite to them. 

Direct seed radishes in early Spring and late Summer by planting 1 inch apart in rows. By doing the spacing at planting will save time of thinning out as they get growing. Radishes need the amount of space to develop. 

Radishes are ready to harvest in about 30 days. Be sure to not leave them in the ground too long or they will split, become too hot in taste woody texture. To harvest simply pull the radish out of the ground at the base of the plant, this way the stem shouldn't break off. Radishes store for a long time in the refrigerator in a sealed container so you can enjoy them for a long time. You can also eat the radish leaves. 

Green Onion 

Green onions are great in salads, to add a little sweet oniony flavor to any dish, and to cook with. My husband likes to also eat them raw. 

Green onion can also be direct seeded to the garden as soon as the soil can be worked. Green onions plants can be grown from seed, sets, or transplants. The seeds are very small and take a little longer. We like to use onion sets! They are bigger and so create a little bit of a head start with your green onions. The onion sets, or bulbs can be planted in early Spring or late Fall as well. Actually we plant them all garden season long! But they are a great cold crop vegetable. For the onion sets, we dig a trench then place the onion sets about an inch apart and bury them in. 

Green onions are ready to harvest when the plants are at least 6 inches tall. Green onions are ready to harvest in as little as 30 days. If temperatures are right, let them continue to grow to form a little of the round onion ball at the end. Use the green onion plant as well as the white onion bulb for cooking. 

These are consistent plants in our garden that we plant and enjoy every year! Its very nice to start the growing season with easy crops and also to end the season. There are other great cold weather crops to plant as well (in the list above), but I find that these are the easiest and most commonly eaten. 

You might like a new seed sower and garden gloves to kick off the start to the garden season! 

Do you grow any of these in your garden?