Starting Seeds Indoors for Beginners

Seed starting is something that many people find intimidating, but it really shouldnt be. There are many benefits to starting your own seeds, the main one being that you can grow any variety you wish, you aren’t just limited to the transplants sold in your area.  I always recommend that people learn to start seeds indoors. The worst thing that happens is that it doesn’t work correctly, but you will usually have enough seeds left to try again.  Plus, making mistakes is the best way to learn, I still have challenges (screw something up)  from time to time and need to refine my technique. But you will never get anywhere if you don’t try.

The first thing you need to take into consideration is timing, so you will need to learn when your frost free dates are.  There is a good calculator here which will tell you all you need to know by entering your zip code. Vegetables and flowers can be broken down into cool weather and hot weather crops.  The basic difference is that cool weather crops can be put out before your last frost date and can take some light freezes and can usually be put outside 4 weeks before the date of your last frost. Warm weather crops will be killed by a frost so they should be put out after your last frost date.

Cool weather crops are :Lettuce, peas, Broccoli, Cauliflower, Cabbage, Beets, Scallions, Kale, Swiss Chard, Spinach, Carrots, Radishes

Warm weather crops are: tomatoes, Peppers, Eggplants, Melons, Cucumbers, Zucchini, Beans

Carrots and radishes don’t transplant well and cucumbers can be transplanted but are easily damaged when doing so. I no longer start cucumbers indoors because I find very little advantage in doing so, the ones started outside from seed quickly catch up to and overtake the ones I start indoors.

In general you start seedlings 4-6 weeks before you plan on putting them outside. I usually start lettuces and greens about four weeks before I want to put them out because I usually harvest them as baby greens and sometimes I start tomatoes eight weeks before the frost date if I have enough room under the lights for some big seedlings.

Light is the main consideration when starting seedlings.  If you have a sunny window that might be all you need.  6 hours of direct sunlight is usually the minimum recommendation but more is obviously better.  All our seedlings are grown under lights, it is easy and inexpensive to set up. and I would suggest fluorescents for the beginner (I still use them exclusively) unless you have a very sunny window.

All the box stores sell a two bulb set up that holds 4 foot fluorescent bulbs.  The two bulb set up will be perfect for growing up to two trays (standard 10″ X 20 ” trays) worth of seedlings, in other words it will effectively illuminate a four foot by one foot area under the light.  You will want to purchase either daylight or cool white fluorescent bulbs, I have had success with both types. We use three or four bulb light fixtures and fit four trays under each light.  They can often be found used on Craigslist, that’s where we got ours.

If you use a fluorescent light, you are going to want to keep it within an inch or two of the growing plant, (or top of the tray for germinating seeds). Much farther away than that and the seedlings run the risk of getting long and leggy.  You also want to set up the lights on something adjustable so you can raise or lower the fixture as the plants grow.  I usually attach chains to my fixtures and hang them from a nail so they can be easily adjusted.

Another helpful item is a timer.  I usually buy one of the $10.00 ones that are for sale everywhere.  They are simple, no digital screens or anything, just buttons that you pull out or push in that correlate to the time of day you want the light on or off.  I usually keep mine on from between 16-18 hours a day, you want a minimum of 6 hours of darkness for the plants to rest.

The only other things you need are some sort of container, media for the container and something to water with.  For a container you can really use anything, you can buy the inserts for the 10 inch by 20 inch trays, you can reuse yogurt containers, or even buy disposable bathroom drinking cups. Anything that will hold the growing media will work.  I would definitely suggest poking a hole in whatever you are using because its easy to over water and if there is no place for the water to drain, it will pool up in the bottom of the container and most likely stunt or kill the plant. Because you are going to use containers that drain, it is best to have them in a tray of some sort so the water doesn’t get everywhere when you water.

As for a growing media, that is a large subject and one I wouldn’t worry too much about it.  You can go purchase a potting mix from just about anywhere and it should work for you.  Ask the people who work at the store what would is best.  I wouldn’t worry too much about it as long as you are buying something halfway decent.  You can eventually mix your own if you like, or ask others what they are having luck with, but if the seeds will grow in your garden, they will grow in regular garden soil inside as well.  I use an organic mix, so I have to shop around a bit, or mix my own, but I’ve used a compost/vermiculite mix that worked very well.  I prefer a mix to just using garden soil because the mix has a better structure and gives the plants the best possible start.

When its time to plant, a general rule of thumb is to plant twice as deep as the width of the seed.  You should follow what the seed packet suggests thought.  Some people keep their seeded containers on top of the refrigerator until they germinate, the extra warmth helps them come up faster, but you need to keep an eye on them and get them under the light as soon as you see green poking out of the soil.

As for watering, that is something that you will just have to learn.  When you plant the seeds, water them well, until water is coming out the bottom of the container. After that there are a lot of variables involved, such as soil structure and size of the plants.  If it seems dry just below the surface  water them.  I find that as a general rule of thumb, I water every other day.  With bigger seedlings, in bigger pots, you need to water less often, but you use more water.

That’s a basic overview and should be enough to get you started.  There are as many different ways to start seedlings as there are people who are starting them.  Once you give it a try and have some success,  you will look into different methods and tricks, such as presoaking seeds, starting them in paper towel, humidity domes, germination mats etc. I often start hard to germinate seeds, such as some herbs, in paper towels. But if you get a low germination rate, have leggy seedling or end up accidentally killing some of your seedlings, don’t give up, start over and try again, nobody was born being an expert at anything and minor disasters are part of the learning process.