Think Spring! Questions about starting plants from seeds

Parent Cafe
1

Yeah, it’s only February and I do live in Ohio, but yesterday was 75 degrees and next weekend is my first community garden meeting of the year - I WANT to Think Spring!!!

I usually just buy the vegetable and flower plants I use when it’s planting time. However two things have me thinking about trying a few indoor pots of seeds for starters. One, for Christmas my son bought me an attractive, tall metal planter that is clean and poised to hold some pots - at least until it’s really spring and I can put the planter outside. Second, I repainted same S’s room (he moved into an apt) and that space is now a spare room and my office AND gets GREAT sun - it was built to liken a sleeping porch so wall to wall windows that get lots of afternoon sun. I sort of figure, why not try a few?

So, are there certain vegetable plants you have had good/better success starting from seed? Tomatos? Peppers? Please give me suggestions/tips! I will start doing some raised bed planting of early spring plants MAYBE in mid-late April. I’m zone 5b.

( I did plant garlic this past fall for the first time - super excited to see how it does!)

2

I read something interesting about planting baby plants in bags of soil.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/gardening-techniques/bag-gardening-zmaz10amzraw.aspx

3

I actually saw that. However I wasn’t wanting to split open a bag of dirt in my spare bedroom/office!

4

I have raised seedlings from seeds, tomatoes, peppers, zucchinis. Just about anything can be statrted from seeds. I use peat pot. For vegetables, it takes 4-6 weeks to germinate. Flowers about 8 weeks. So you are not too early. You should keep them moist and when they sprout, they should get sun.

5

I was trying to figure out how to do this as I’m also short on space… I thought maybe if I had a flat cardboard box that I could fit the soil bag in. I am trying to do a balcony garden. This might be useful for planting herbs.

6

Herbs are the best! I have kept a container of parsley going all winter in my kitchen which doesn’t get much sun, but it has survived and I appreciate having a bit of fresh parsley to add to eggs and such!

7

I like mint, basil, and coriander/cilantro. It would be nice not to have to buy it at the store.

8

Growing it from seeds is a lot of fun, and isn’t that hard. I tend to buy the seed started things they have , but you can use egg cartons just as easily. You have to keep them moist to get them to sprout, then you need to make sure they have enough light. You don’t need a fancy grow light, a standard flourescant fixture will work, I hung mine from some chain in my front bay window, so I could adjust the height as they grew. It worked great last year, the only other thing then is that when the weather gets warmer, you take them outside to hardy them, before planting. I have had great luck with tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and herbs, too.

9

I adore cilantro but fail with it, and basil, from seed. will try again.

In addn to the right moisture (not too little, not too much,) you have to aim for even temps… Watch out for setting the pots in a window, if it might get cold overnight. Kitchen is usually good.

10

Avocados from seed are cool, tho don’t plant them upside down like H! He managed to plant each one upside down but they all sprouted and now we have to find good home for all of them.

Agree that herbs are great and grow quickly, plus delicious. We grew Rosemary from a cutting instead of seed. It was very easy. We started with a small pot of basil and it has thrived in the ground.

11

The plan is to continue to grow these plants outside once they become hardy. Avocados aren’t going to cut it in Ohio!!! :slight_smile:

I have gardened quite a bit but not from seed INSIDE. I have done lettuces, flowers, etc. from seed outside - inside is a new adventure to get a jump start.

12

Oh, ok. Sorry. Avocados are the only thing we have grown from seed in recent history. Herbs would likely have to be indoors in your winter.

13

I started seeds two weeks ago in my basement, which is a steady 58 degrees. I use a metal rack (like from Lowes or Home Depot- kind of a bakers style I guess.) I also use lights, because I’ve found that is really the key to growing successful seedlings that actually make it. Without overhead lights, seedlings get weak and leggy. You want stout and straight seedlings.

For lights I use a two bulb cfl fixture - Lowes sells two different slim bulbs in the 4’ length. I think one is a “natural sunshine” and one is a “grow”. I started with three 4’ fixtures and then doubled them the next year and couldn’t recall which bulbs I’d bought so I ended up with two different styles. Anyway, I hang two 4’ shop light style fixtures from the underside of each shelf. I start with just one shelf and then expand as I repot plants as they grow.

I also have one heat mat that holds one tray (~2’ long by 18" wide.) I’ve had it for years and years and I use it to start heat loving plants like tomatoes, ground cherries, jalapeño peppers and tithonia (Mexican sunflower, not a true sunflower.) When I repot the plants after their first set of true leaves then I tuck away the heat mat for the year.

In the other tray I start herbs and other plants that don’t need tons of warmth to start- like celery, dill, fennel, leeks, stevia, New Zealand spinach, etc.

I have plastic 4"x4" pots that I bought from the local nursery. I use normal potting soil and then put a thin layer of seed starting mix on top. I hate peat pots or paper tubes or egg cartons- they seem to always go south with some sort of fungus. Once the seedlings start, always water from the bottom (put in tray and allow the pots to pull the water up. Don’t leave lots of standing water.) I wash the pots with a 10% bleach solution before storing them for the next year.

The lights are on chains so they can be moved up and down as needed.

When I repot the plants I use large cottage cheese/yogurt/ricotta containers with four notches cut out on the bottom. This gives most plants enough room to grow until they go outside to harden off and then get planted in the garden.

For things like chard, lovage and columbine, I use the winter sowing method that you can read about at A Garden For The House. Kevin’s method of throwing the hardy seeds out in late fall/early winter in plastic gallon milk cartons really does work and as a bonus the plants grow up pre-hardened off.

14

It’s really fun to start with seeds indoors. As sunny as your room might be, you will do better with some grow lights to make sure your plants don’t get too leggy. You can buy fluorescent lights and a baffle to place them in. Get a broad baffle and it will help to disperse the light so that you can fit more under it. The plants should be VERY close to the light, they can even touch it since they won’t get hot. I put mine on a timer and hung it from an adjustable chain over a kitchen counter.

You want to get lights that have the highest lumens and are about 5000 degrees Kelvin (which is the color of sunlight, or something like that). I got the smaller diameter fluorescent tubes and found some that were about $8 each at Home Depot. When the plants get big enough, “harden them off” by taking them outside on days that are warm enough.

Tomatoes, basil, and cucumber are very easy and fast to start from seed. Peppers take a little bit longer. If you put more than one seed in a little pot and have to thin them out, I just eat them - at least if they’re cucumber seedlings. They’re delicious!

15

Also, tomatoes and cucumber seeds should be germinating in less than a week. You want 6 weeks or so before you move them outside. Sometimes it’s hard to keep up with how fast they grow!

For basil, I get lazy and just buy supermarket basil and cut some off, strip off the lower leaves, and put it in a glass of water. You usually see roots in about 10 days.

And as cold as it is, you can start peas and carrots outside from seed very soon.

16

"For vegetables, it takes 4-6 weeks to germinate. "

It depends on the vegetable and freshness of seeds. Cucumbers take about a week to sprout for me. Eggplants take the longest.

I start mine in peat moss pill-like starters. No mess, no fuss. You can find these in any hardware store that sells gardening supplies. The brand is Jiffy:

http://www.jiffypot.com/en/products.html

I bought a few tray kits and reused the trays 3 years by refilling them with fresh pellets.

17

Here’s some more info on grow light colors:

http://www.tomatodirt.com/tomato-grow-lights.html

18

Some won’t like their roots disturbed when you transplant (I think cucumber is one, at least here.) So when the time comes, you make a hole to match the first pot (you can push a matching empty one into the new dirt to carve it out.) Let the original pot soil dry out just enough to hold its shape, slide the whole thing out intact and place it in the new hole. (Make any sense?) Then, water and etc, as usual.

I’ve never had luck with peat pots. For me, they don’t disintegrate in the new soil.
Will start onions soon, since they notoriously need time in the NE. I have a few small potatoes saved from last year, starting to sprout. I had split an order with a friend who just threw his on the dirt, put straw on top, and his yield was 3x mine.

19

Thank you for your ideas and tips - great to hear from those who have tried these methods!

I’ll be honest, if sunlight (lots of it!) isn’t enough then I’ll probably bow out and just purchase plants and seeds for outside when the time comes. I’m not wanting the investment or strategy of rigging up plant lights etc. I have a meeting with the master gardener at our community garden this coming weekend - maybe I’ll ask her opinion.

Either way, can’t wait for gardening season!

20

Some great tips for starting seeds cann be found on the Feb 12, 2016 podcast of Your Bet Your Garden:

http://www.npr.org/podcasts/381443696/you-bet-your-garden