The beginning of January marks the time I use to get ready for my gardening. Need some starting from seed gardening tips? If so, this post is for you! I will share my tips for starting seeds indoors along with how to keep them thriving once you move them outside. Most people encourage you to know what zone you live in before starting seeds. I would agree because this information is needed for the different varieties of plants you might want to grow. I simply just googled “Gardening Zone I live in”. Once you know the zone you can then decided what plants will tolerate your weather and when to start your seeds indoors. I use grow lights and a portable greenhouse. Both can easily be purchased online or in your local garden center. In my area I like to start my seeds mid- February.
This year my seedlings will be started a little later since we are going on vacation during the Winter break. This really will not hurt the plants because I buy seeds that are 40-60 days to maturity. I also start them under grow lights to help strengthen their root and stem system. You can do this but lowing the light to just above the seed pods and only moving it upward once the seedlings start to grow. This way the seedlings are not fighting for light. Secondly, I plant all my vegetables and fruits in raised beds ( pictured above). The soil we have is very hard and compact, the raised beds help the roots to grow and acclimate to transplanting faster. Once my seedlings have started to out grow my greenhouse and the weather warms up I start introducing them to outdoor temperatures.
A portable greenhouse or cold frame works best for this. I will transport my greenhouse to my front porch when temps are consistently around 40-50 degrees and frost is no longer a threat. I water only once a week to get the plants used to not having water daily since we do have both dry spells. Although lately the Spring weather has been a tad rainy so I try not transplanting them to the ground until the soil is less flooded.
Once you transplant your seedlings help them grow by protecting them. For my root vegetables I place cheese cloth on them. The exception is my potato towers ( pictured above) they get a nice layer of weed protector around them as shown. Once the temperatures reach consistently in the 60s I will remove all cloth.
After years of gardening I will say seedling placement and how many seedlings you have are vital. They all will not make the transplant. Most seed packets tell you if they recommend being transplanted or not. For beans, carrots, corn, potatoes I start them in the ground. Everything else gets started under grow lights and then moved into my greenhouse. The carrots pictured above were not weeded out and the seeds just left. While I got a crop they were not the size of the normal yield because of it. Every year I learn something new and try different tricks to get my gardening producing the best it can.
My last starting from seed gardening tip is plant flowers! I start flowers indoors along with all the other plants. The flowers attract all the pollinators and shield your garden from elements. Last year I planted corn next to Sunflowers and Zinnias. Not only did they all help each other from not falling over the yield of blooms and corn was amazing!
What are some of your Starting from seed gardening tips? I would love to know in the comments!
