Growing Green: Starting off Strong (Tip #3)

Next up is a pretty easy part of gardening: planting seeds. Planting seeds is a very easy thing to do. Most seedlings sprout well in a variety of soils and with a variety of watering techniques. But then, because of issues with light, watering, and fertilizer, problems often begin about two weeks after germination. (Germination is the term for seedlings poking through the soil). These factors are responsible for a myriad of issues related to seedling care, so I'll focus the next three posts on those three topics.

Today I'm talking only about the planting portion. And first thing, you need some seeds! 

Buying your seeds: Which company is best? 

With me, there is no seed snobbery. I have purchased seeds, organic and non-organic, from Fred Meyer, Walmart, Territorial Seed Co., Snake River Seeds, Johnny Seeds, D&B, Webb's, Home Depot, Lowe's, and more. I have always been able to grow the seeds I purchased and haven't once encountered a pack of duds. I wouldn't hesitate to purchase from any resource convenient to me. 

These days I get most of my seeds from Johnny Seeds, occasionally picking up a pack from D&B or Home Depot if I've forgotten something. I appreciate a few things about the way Johnny Seeds does things. 

1. The first is the resealable flap at the top. Most seed companies don't have that, which leaves you vulnerable to spilling or things getting into the packets. 

2. The second thing I love about Johnny's is the amount of information that they provide on the packaging itself:

Something to look for when buying seeds:

One tip to maximize success with germination is to make sure the seeds are fresh before you buy them. The back of each seed packet has a stamp of some kind, telling you what year they were packaged in. 

If the date is within the past two years, I'd feel confident buying it. (Not that three year-old seeds won't grow, but I personally wouldn't want to start out with a pack of seeds that is already three years old.) The stamps vary for each seed seller, but should look something like this:

Advanced Move: Seed Saving

I don't want to get into the weeds too much here, but since we're talking about purchasing seeds I think it's good to mention seed saving as well. 

You can save seeds from this year's plants and then plant them in next year's garden. This eliminates the need to purchase more of that item commercially. Now, most gardeners don't save seeds because it's so easy and inexpensive to purchase them. But after the series of years we have all endured, people are starting to think more about sustainability than ease. With that, seed saving is becoming a more popular option. 

Each kind of plant has a different best practice for how to save its seeds, and I have found helpful information readily available online. I've had good success with saving several varieties of plants that are known to be easy to save seeds from, but am still in the process of learning. 

For now I'll give one tip related to buying seeds from a seed company: If you think you might like to seed-save in the future, make sure to purchase open-pollinated and heirloom varieties of seeds now. Seeds from genetically modified plants (hybrid) will not produce fruit that is true to the variety you took it from, if at all. So if that's something you are interested in, look for this kind of label on seed packets:

Start Indoors or Direct Sow?

Some gardeners directly sow their seeds in garden beds outside, while others start their seeds inside. Why is that? How do you know which seeds need to be started inside and which ones can do outside right away? Here's a short breakdown:

Most of the time, people start seeds indoors so that they can get a head start on the growing season. Remember, plants don't like cold. In our area the night-time temps are often cold (dropping below 32 degrees) until May. Since the cold returns again in October, it's nice to be able to increase the number of days you can grow things! By starting indoors, you add weeks to months onto your growing season. But you certainly don't have to do this. 

I start most things indoors. 

When Should I Plant my Seeds?

At the end of January or beginning of February, I plant onions and leeks. Then I have a long break until March, when I start the rest of my seeds. I'll post a chart that shows when I start each kind of seed indoors but know that I don't ever do this exactly. Sometimes I have it on the calendar to start my summer squash and don't get around to it for another week or two. I don't sweat it. The chart gives me a general idea of when things will be happiest to transplant by the time our last frost date comes around, but nothing is set in stone. 

What I really like about planting this way is that it makes the work seem like no big deal. One week I'll plant some herbs, then another week I'll plant some lettuces. I keep everything handy in my garage, so it's all set up and ready to go. I used to do one big planting day for everything and it felt like such a production! But if you'd rather have a "one and done" garden, by all means go for it! Lots and lots of people do it that way.

My Planting Schedule:

January 29th (15 weeks until last frost)	Onions, Leeks
February 12th (13 weeks until last frost)	Cabbage, Eggplant, Celery, Bell Pepper, Jalapeno
March 11th (9 weeks until last frost)	Chives, Oregano, Lavender, Tomatoes
March 25th (7 weeks until last frost)	Summer squash, Kale, Luffa, Chinese Cabbage, Basil, Sage, Flowers (Zinnia, Sunflower, Calendula, Chamomile, Toothache Plant, Sweet Alyssum, Marigold)
April 1st (6 weeks until last frost)	Winter squash, Cucumbers
April 8th (5 weeks until last frost)	Borage, Cilantro, Dill
April 15th (4 weeks until last frost)	Lettuces, Spinach
April 22nd (3 weeks until last frost)	Direct sow into garden: Sweet peas, 1 row each of Carrots, Beets, and Radish
April 29th (2 weeks until last frost)	Direct sow into garden: Potatoes
May 6th (1 week until last frost date)	Direct sow into garden: 1 row each of Carrots, Beets, and Radish
May 11th (last frost)	Transplant everything outdoors except warm-loving crops (tomato, pepper, eggplant)
May 27th (2 weeks after last frost date)	Transplant warm-loving crops. Direct sow into garden: 1 row each of Carrots, Beets, and Radish (last batch of these until fall)
June 3 (3 weeks after last frost date)	Direct sow into garden: Beans (bush and pole), Corn

You may notice that I have some items listed as "Direct sow in Garden." These are the vegetables that do not transplant well and are happiest if you sow them directly into the garden. I never start these things indoors. I just wait for the soil to be warm enough outside and plant them directly into my raised beds.

If you've decided that you don't want to start seeds indoors, simply wait until your last danger of frost date and then plant seeds directly in your garden. 

Okay, now on to the actual planting of seeds!

Supplies Needed for planting:

1. Any container with the capacity to hold soil. I try to choose BPA free plastics these days, but wasn't always able to be picky. Literally anything that can hold dirt can be used. 

• These are my favorite nursery pots: Square Nursery pots 4 Inches
• These are my second favorite nursery pots: Ohuhu Extra-Thickened 4 Inch Plastic Plant Nursery Pots
• Do make sure that whatever you plant in has good-sized holes in the bottom. Don't be stingy with the size if you are drilling the holes yourself. The bottom of a nursery pot has a lot of holes in it to make sure drainage is adequate. When I first started out I didn't put large enough holes into my containers and dealt with a lot more root rot.

Close-up of the bottom of a nursery pot

2. Some soil, preferably amended but don't let it stop you if you can't fuss with amendments right out of the gate. You'll do just fine with a bag of organic soil from Home Depot. 

• For information on how to amend soil, see my post, Amending for Success: Tip #2.

3. Seeds. 

4. Some way to water your seedlings gently while they germinate. 

• Dumping a cup of water on a tiny seedling will pummel it and could cause it to snap. 
• I use a rain shower waterer that attaches to any 2-liter soda bottle, which came free with the seedling pots I ordered from Amazon. I'll share a picture to give you an idea of what I mean, but you could simply poke small holes in the cap of a 2-liter soda bottle and that would work fine. 
• Some small waterers also have the rain shower spout and they would be great as well. 

The seedling watering tip that I use.

Steps to planting: 

1. Pre-moisten the soil

• Soil is naturally hydrophobic. It helps everything to settle in nicely together if you work some water into your soil before planting. 
• You want the soil to be damp but not soppy. If it resembles mud, you've gone too far!

2. Label every pot

• Just trust me. You think you're going to remember what you planted, but you won't. Later, during the bottom-watering and hardening off phase, the nursery pots get mixed up often. If that happens you can end up with tall brussels sprout plants blocking sunshine in the middle of your cauliflower row. Ask me how I know.
• I use painters or masking tape--whatever I have on hand.

3. Fill your container to about 3/4 full 

• The soil is going to compact a lot once you water the seeds in, so make sure you've got a good amount of soil in there. Just make sure to leave a lip so it doesn't overflow every time you water.

4. Check the back of your seed packet for planting depths

• If you don't have the original package the seeds came in (as happens often when people share seeds), here's a general rule to follow: If it's a big seed, it needs to be buried under the soil a good bit (3/4 - 1 inch) so that it doesn't dislodge itself when it's working its way out of the seed casing. For example, if you don't cover a mammoth sunflower seed properly, you run the risk of the root exposing itself as it fights to break free from its casing. Large seeds need to go deeper in the soil, smaller seeds need to be less buried (1/4 inch or less), so they won't have to fight too much to reach the light. 
• I used to be so careful about this but since I started to understand the process of germination, it's a lot easier to plant using my intuition. It's not rocket surgery. 
• (Sorry for the Parks & Rec reference. Couldn't help myself. Haha)

5. Drop a seed or two in each pot. 

• I plant in 4-inch pots. If it's a small seed or has a low germination rate, I plant about four seeds per pot. If it's a big seed that germinates well, like a squash or sunflowers or cucumber, then I put one seed per pot. 
• Okay, that's not true. I often put two per pot because I want to make 100% sure I get at least one seed to germinate. But that's wasteful and I'm trying to be a good example to my friends, so you really only need to do one seed per pot. (But do two if you want to make sure you get one to germinate. haha) 
• If you plant two and both germinate, you can use a pair of kitchen scissors to cut the weaker looking one at the soil level. That way you don't have two big seedlings fighting for nutrients.

6. Cover the seeds with a bit of soil.

7. Water the seeds in gently.

• Until your seedlings are established, you can water from up above. You want to water it well (more than a few drops) but not enough for the water to be running out of the bottom like a waterfall. 
• If it does run out of the bottom like a waterfall, one of two things happened. 
• EITHER your soil wasn't pre-moistened enough and is not allowing the water to incorporate with it, (No worries--it'll hydrate after you water it a few times and then it won't do that anymore.)
• OR, you added too much water. (It's no big deal if this happens. Just water it a little less next time.)

8. Keep soil moist at all times!

• If your seeds dry out, they'll die. Make sure the top of the soil remains damp. I normally water my seedlings 1x/day in the beginning, unless for some reason the soil isn't dry when I go to water it. 

9. Fertilize your seedlings every 2 weeks using a gentle liquid fertilizer.

• Seeds have enough energy inside of themselves to complete the first big push out of their shell and into the world. Additionally, the soil holds some nutrients for your seedlings to feed off of. If you don't want to mess with fertilizer, you can probably get by without it. I did for years! But I also dealt with puny seedlings, cranky tomato plants turning purple like they were holding their breath to get me to notice them, and skinny onion stalks. Fertilizer changed all of that. 
• I use the fertilizer below. I use it according to the package directions and never have a problem with burning the plants. 
• Heavy feeders like onions and tomatoes get fed once per week. Everything else gets fed once every two weeks.

Dr. Earth Tomato, Vegetable & Herb Fertilizer

10. Put your seedlings in a place where they'll get a lot of light. 

• I use grow lights now, but for years I put them in my sunniest window. 

Now your seeds are in the soil! You're on your way. Each kind of seed takes a different number of days to germinate, so if you're interested you can consult the back of your seed packets. Some seeds sprout in a few days, some take up to three weeks! Sometimes when seeds are buried a little too deeply, they may take additional time to make their way to the open air, but no worries there. In the coming days and weeks, you should start to see some green poking out from the soil! 

Until next time,