Get a jump on Spring… grow flowers, herbs, and vegetables from seed. Save money and see how easy it is.

Planting Supplies: Use sterile containers, almost anything will do (egg cartons can’t be sterilized and are too small for seedlings to develop properly). To sterilize old containers soak them in a mild bleach solution of (1/4 cup of bleach in a sink full of warm water for 20 minutes. Buy new pots at the hardware store or garden center. Plastic and peat pots are usually the cheapest. When it’s time to go into the ground, the peat pot goes in along with the seedling. That is useful for difficult-to-plant seedlings—squash, cucumber, pumpkin, dill, cilantro, parsley. Use a sterile soil mixture to protect against fungus. Purchase seed-starting dirt (usually labeled “sterile” at garden centers or grocery stores.

Proper Planting: Fill containers 2/3 full with seed-starting mixture and water. The soil should feel moist all the way through, but not sodden. Small seeds (lettuces and other salad greens, broccoli, columbine, pansies, etc.) should be planted in 5” x 7” pots. In each pot, use your finger, a pencil, or a chopstick to make three narrow trenches ¼ inch deep. Drizzle the seeds along the furrow. Cover seeds with planting mixture to fill the pot. Moisten with a little more water. Mix very tiny seeds, such as poppy, lobelia, and impatiens, with clean sand before planting to ensure even distribution. Large seeds (for tomatoes, basil, peppers, calendula, zinnias, echinacea, marigolds, etc.) poke a hole in the middle of a three-inch pot and set the seed inside. Place an additional seed at the side of the pot. Cover with soil so that the seed is twice as deep as it is large. For larger pots (6” to 8”), plant three seeds. Label containers using small garden labels, popsicle sticks, tongue depressors, paint stirrers, masking tape, etc. Be sure to write with indelible ink. 

Proper Care: Set the planted pots on trays or cookie sheets, surrounded with pebbles. Water the tray, keeping the water level below the pebbles. Then wrap pots and tray in plastic like a miniature greenhouse. Keep seedling trays in a warm, well-ventilated spot but out of direct sunlight. Try on top of the refrigerator or near the clothes dryer. Add water to the tray daily, more frequently if necessary to keep the top of the soil moist. When seeds begin sprouting, remove plastic covering and put trays in direct sun or under supplemental lights. Sprouting takes from three days to two weeks. Transplant seedlings to individual pots once each plant has at least three sets of true leaves—a small version of the shape of the mature leaves. The first greenery to unfold from the seed looks like a child’s drawing of a leaf. True leaves follow. Continue daily watering until it’s time to plant outdoors. Once a week, add liquid fertilizer to the plant water, following package directions (available at garden centers. 

Proper Light: Seedlings require eight or more hours of direct light, so natural light may require an artificial supplement. If using artificial light only, seedlings need 14–16 hours of light daily. Place seedlings in a southern exposure window. Or set up supplemental light over a table or sturdy shelves. Use two ordinary fluorescent shop light fixtures and two plant light bulbs or one cool fluorescent and one plant light. To make it easy for you, put lights on a timer. Keep your lights 4–6 inches above your plants, raising them as seedlings grow.

Next month we will transplant your seedlings…HAPPY GARDENING !