Spring is in the air- at least on some days, and most likely anyone who is a gardener has been thinking of ordering seeds and planting. We have received our vegetable seeds and are awaiting the arrival of our herb and flower seeds. We will sow some of the seeds directly into the ground once it warms sufficiently but a good many of them will be started indoors within the next several weeks.

Why start plants from seeds
There are several reasons for starting plants from seeds Vs. buying small potted plants. Typically you can find a much greater selection of seeds than you can find plants. While you might have a relatively small number of local greenhouses that sell potted plants, access to online seed sources is nearly unlimited. Generally garden stores carry only the most popular plants and these might not always be the best or what you are seeking. We normally plant 3-4 kinds of tomatoes and 4-6 sweet and hot peppers. We make a wide variety of tomato-based items and the right ingredients make all the difference in the world. It seems we can never find the exact variety we are looking for unless we buy seeds. Also, even if a store carries what you are seeking, it might be sold out when you come to buy and plant. If you need to buy the item a month prior to planting to ensure you have it, you might just as well grow your own. It also costs much less to start from seed rather than buy small plants. A packet of seeds costs from $1.50 - $3.00; typically the price of just one plant. Often a packet of seeds is more than you need but if you have gardening friends, trading seeds could reduce cost and improve variety even more.

Just like everything else- not all seeds are equal when it comes to quality. Cheap seeds or those harvested and processed from a not-so-reputable source will have low germination rates and could also result in sub-standard plants. To ensure the maximum germination rate, only fresh seeds should be used. Most seed packets have a date code on them indicating they are for a particular calendar year or that they should be planted before a certain date. We use a lot of herbs in our Garden Spirit natural soaps, scrubs and bath salts so we order our seeds from a proven source and sow them throughout the year to make sure we have the best and freshest herb ingredients possible for use in our products.

If you are an organic gardener, you have a wide selection of organic seeds to choose from. Growing them yourself ensures they are started from scratch in an organic manner. Another very important reason for starting from seed is that it allows you to control the size of your plant at time of transplanting into the garden. And from a satisfaction standpoint, there is nothing quite like orchestrating the entire cycle from sowing of the seeds to harvesting of the produce. Believe it or not you might just form an attachment to your little plant babies. Several years ago we planted our seedlings into the garden a little too early and we lost over three dozen tomato and pepper plants due to a late frost. When we went out in the morning and saw the devastation to our hand-reared plants we nearly cried.

Other reasons for starting seeds indoors is to ensure a much greater chance of survival. This is true of some items such as thyme, lavender, sage, parsley, rosemary. It is also difficult to keep track of seeds when sown into the garden amongst other mature plants. The last thing you would want to do is accidentally step on or till up your newly planted seeds before they sprout. Tiny sprouts are also very vulnerable to the elements and very succulent tasting to pests from rabbits to slugs.

When to start your seeds
You want to sow your seeds indoors 6-8 weeks before the intended planting in the garden. This is primarily true for annuals as perennials can be planted throughout the growing season. Having gotten burned (actually frosted) several times, we have taken a fairly cautious approach and now plant our seedlings outside on Memorial Day weekend here in south-central Wisconsin. So this year, that would mean sowing our seeds indoors somewhere between April 7- 14.

What is needed To sow seeds and care for seedlings indoors, you will need soil, pots, a heat source, a light source and some sort of enclosure to help maintain temperatures and humidity levels. You can start seeds either in soil or soil-less mediums. We prefer to use soil because it allows the seedling to be relatively undisturbed from germination through planting into the garden.

There are many potting soils one can use but we have had great success with Fafard 3B soil mix. This mix seems to have the right consistency and nutrients for good germination, root support and plant growth. Don’t even think of using garden soil for seed starting; it is much too dense and it might contain weed seeds and other unwanted material.

Seeds can be started in open flats (similar to a large cake pan) or in individual pots. I prefer individual pots because with open flats the seedlings will need to be transferred to individual containers and there is chance for damage to the tender seedling. For pots, we prefer square ones for maximum space utilization- plastic, approximately 3in. square and 4in. deep with drainage holes in the bottom. These are much the same as those you would get a plant in from a garden center. If re-using pots, make sure they have been scrubbed clean to minimize the chance of any infection to the new seeds or seedlings

Heat, light, humidity
The source of heat, light and humidity can be anything from an actual greenhouse to a plastic tent over the seedling pots. We have made an “incubator” table that allows relatively good control of heat, light and humidity from germination till the seedlings are approximately 6in. tall. Our incubator is approximately 4ft. long, 20in. deep and 10in. high (from bottom to lights) when the lid is closed. Light is provided by two regular 40W fluorescent bulbs and two grow-light fluorescents. If you are going to purchase any new fluorescent lights, make sure to get the newer, energy-efficient ones. Once germinated, seedlings require a high degree of light, at least eight to 10 hours of natural sunlight. The rule of thumb is, for every hour of natural sunlight give your seedlings two hours of artificial light, I recommend 16 hours of light per day. Keep in mind seedlings need much more light than full grown plants. Without adequate lighting seedlings quickly become spindly, leggy, weak and disease prone.

Some heat will be generated by the lights but in our set-up additional heat is provided by several heating pads with variable temperature controls. The heating pads are placed on the bottom of the incubator and covered with a plastic trash bag to protect them from moisture. If soil temperatures are too low, seeds may actually rot before they sprout, or they’ll germinate very sporadically. If temperatures are too high, the tender seed embryos will wilt and die before they sprout. Most seeds will sprout with a soil temperature between 68 and 86 degrees F. For the vast majority of plants the optimum soil temperature is 75 degrees both before and after germination.

We control the amount of time that the light is on by a simple appliance timer. The temperature is adjusted by the setting on the heating pad control and also by opening the lid on the incubator varying amounts. Humidity remains relatively high when the lid is closed but does drop somewhat when opened slightly.

OK, let’s start sowing

1. To begin, put some potting soil into a pail, add hot tap water and mix thoroughly untill the soil is uniformly moist. A good test is to squeeze a fistful- if water runs out freely, it is too wet. If you can just coax a few drops out, it is just right.



2. Put the moist soil into the pots and tamp it down somewhat to compress it. Fill the pots within about one-quarter inch of the rim.



3. Put the seeds into the soil. This varies in difficulty depending on the particular seed. The easiest are the larger, light colored ones like tomatoes and peppers. These can just be placed on the soil surface and poked in with a small dibber (or anything that is about one-eigth inch in diameter at the tip). Push the seed approximately one-quarter inch beneath the surface of the soil, put some soil over the seed and slightly compress the soil with your finger. We like to put 2-3 seeds into each pot. This ensures at least one seed germinates. If all three germinate, we can then select the hardiest one to nurture. The more difficult seeds are those that are very tiny and dark colored- like basil and thyme. For these tiny little rascals, we just sprinkle some onto the soil and either make a series of pokes with the dibber or put another very light layer of soil over the seeds and press the soil down slightly. With these little seeds, you will probably get more than the recommended 2-3 but the seedlings can be planted as a cluster rather than individual plants. Be sure you label the pots as to what seed it contains.

   

   Many sprouts and seedlings look very similar and it could be some time before the identity of the plant is clear. Either put some tape on the pot or put a little marker into the soil (a popsicle stick works good) and write on it with waterproof ink.



4. Once the seeds are sown, the pots need to be put into the incubator. The heating pads in our incubator don’t cover the entire bottom surface so we try to place as many pots as possible on the pads with the balance alongside. In actuality, it doesn’t seem to make much difference in germination time whether the pot is directly on the pad or not. Again, make sure some moisture barrier is placed between the heating element and the pots. If adequate water was added to the soil you shouldn’t have to provide any additional at this time. Once the pots are in the incubator I like to put a very thin sheet of plastic over the pots to keep the soil moist. Clear plastic is best because you can see any seeds that have germinated and you can then remove the plastic from over the pot. It is important to remove this plastic once the seed has germinated to allow for growing space and ventilation.



5. Keep the soil moist and warm and monitor the germination process regularly. If you have not placed plastic over your pots or once it has been removed, it is important to keep the surface of the soil moist. A mister works good for this as the water droplets are very small and gentle and won’t dislodge the seeds or harm the very fragile sprouts. It is best to have the temperature of the water the same as that of the air in the incubator. We actually keep filled mister bottles inside the incubator for this purpose.

Caring for young seedlings
Because all seeds require different times to germinate, it is a good idea to sow seeds in batches, keeping those with similar germination times together. For example, basil germinates in 3-5 days, tomatoes 5-8 days and lavender 14-21 days. This will allow for easier care as you will not have to deal with a class of teenagers with some preschoolers mixed in. You will be able to remove the moisture cover, begin fertilizing, move the seedlings out of the incubator and begin the hardening process for all plants in a given class.



A seedling will emerge with its first set of leaves (its “baby” leaves) called cotyledons. Once several sets of the true leaves appear, very light fertilizing can be started. I recommend organic fish emulsion for this purpose. Use the fertilizer at half the recommended strength and feed the plants weekly. The young plants will grow toward any light source so it is important to rotate them regularly to keep the stems growing straight.

When the seeds were sown, several were placed in each container to ensure germination. This is now the time to cull the plants such there is only one left in each container. If there are more than one seedling per container, the tallest and healthiest one is left and the others are removed. The easiest way to eliminate the unwanted seedlings is to snip its’ stem off at soil level with a sharp pair of scissors. Doing this might be somewhat painful but it really is necessary to ensure the very strongest plants are left for planting. There are some exceptions to this rule of thinning and one exception is thyme. Because the plants are so tiny to start with I will allow clumps versus individual plants to grow and then transplant the clumps to the garden.

In addition to our incubator, we also have a cart that provides an intermediate environment for the young plants. Once the seedlings get too big for the incubator (too tall and close to the light source or start to become too spindly) or we want to free up the incubator for another batch of seeds, we move them to this intermediate environment. This cart has a frame on it covered with clear plastic. Depending on the size of the seedlings and their needs, a light source can also be placed above the frame. This plastic enclosed frame allows the plants to receive as much natural light as is available and also protects them from drafts and cool air. We have a walkout basement so when it comes time to begin the hardening process, the cart can just be wheeled out the basement door to the outside.



Acclimate the young plants
The process of acclimating your seedlings for outdoor life is called “hardening off”. This process transitions the young plants from their relatively mild and stress-free indoors to the fairly harsh conditions of the out-of-doors. Elements that should be good for plants like sun, wind and even rain will most likely kill young plants if they are exposed to it suddenly or for a long period of time. The sun will scald them, the wind will break their stems and moderate to heavy rain will drown them. Even if plants did survive the transplant to the outdoors without hardening, the shock would be so great, it would take time for the plant to recover. Chances are the plant would never be as hardy or as far along as it would if it had been hardened gradually. Hardening the plant increases it’s tolerance to bright sunlight, strengthens its’ stem to withstand being buffeted by the wind and promotes abundant root growth so it can tolerate large variations in moisture.

At least 1-2 weeks prior to planting outdoors, place the seedlings outside in a sheltered spot where they will receive only filtered sunlight and be protected from strong winds. A north facing wall or a shady porch are ideal locations. Be sure to monitor them to see how they are reacting and make sure the soil remains moist. If they seem to be suffering from their new exposure, bring them back indoors for the day. If they are doing well, leave the plants outside for half the day before returning them indoors. Each day leave the plant out for a couple more hours and in a progressively less sheltered area. By the end of a week the seedlings can be left outside all day and night (as long as there is no chance of frost or excessively cool temperatures) in either sun or shade, whichever light requirement the plant has. The intent is to have the plant acclimated to the specific conditions it will encounter when permanently transplanted.

Transplanting to the garden
The ideal weather conditions for transplanting is a calm, cloudy, misty day, this protects the plants from the powerful and harsh effects of the bright sun and wind. If the weather does not cooperate, plant late in the afternoon so seedlings get their start in the cool of the evening.

Dig a planting hole that is large enough to allow roots to spread out and deep enough to allow the plant to rest at the same depth as it was in its container. Add compost to the bottom of the hole to ensure loose and fertile soil for the roots to take hold. Fill the hole half-full of water and wait for the water to drain out. This is called puddling and it provides much needed moisture to help establish the young plants. Make sure you follow the specific information on the spacing requirements of each plant. Correct spacing takes into account the width of the plant at maturity. For instance Carnations (Dianthus) should be spaced 8 to 10 inches apart whereas Anise (Myrrhis) plants should be planted 24 inches apart. This will ensure plants are not overcrowded as they mature.

Gently remove the seedling and the soil from the pot. Position your hand at the base of the plant against the soil with the stem located between your middle fingers to cradle the root ball. Turn the pot upside-down and push against the bottom of the pot to dislodge the plant and soil. Set the plant in the center of the hole with enough soil under it so the stem will protrude from the soil the same amount as in the original pot. Carefully replace the soil around the roots filling the sides completely with soil. Tamp the soil down around the plant gently but firmly. When transplanting tomatoes with long spindly stems, bury the stems right up to the topmost cluster of leaves and new roots will grow along the buried stem. This is easiest done if the stem is positioned horizontally in the hole- from the roots to the first leaves.

Starting plants from seeds does take more time, space and some resources but it also provides the greatest plant selection and probably the healthiest plants and the greatest harvest. It is also, without a doubt the most rewarding way to establish a garden. Good luck to you with your seed starting ventures and Happy Gardening.

Should you have any questions regarding seed starting or any other gardening related issue, do not hesitate to contact us at gardenspirit@tds.net

You can view some of our established gardens (photos from last year) at www.gardenspirit.net