Starting from Seed

Seedlings need plenty of light as soon as they've germinated. Before planting them outdoors, be sure to give them a chance to slowly acclimatize first.

A lot of gardeners like to get a jump on the season by sowing seeds in pots indoors in early spring when it’s still too cold outside to start gardening. This is a good idea particularly for gardeners who live closer to the poles and thus have a shorter growing season. When starting a garden early indoors, there are a couple of things to keep in mind.

Firstly, all freshly germinated seeds need lots of light. Like us, plants are more vulnerable when they are really young. It is true that seeds come with some resources for those first growing days, but those resources will be used up quickly as the plant begins to grow energetically. Making sure your plants get lots of light will enable them to do what plants do best: make their own food. And no, a 60 watt light bulb will not do. Your plants may survive in low light intensities, but they will never produce food that way.

Put your plants next to a sunny window or under bright lights in the home. Also keep in mind that plants will only thrive under the sun or bright lights if they have enough water to prevent them from drying out under all that light intensity. Don’t flood your plants, just make sure the soil is damp. Checking on them from time to time is always a good idea. As we’ve learned from experience, as soon as you see those little seedlings popped up out of the ground, they’ve got to have some kind of light or they’ll get long and leggy really fast.

Compost is great for potted plants - it drains well, it's inexpensive, it holds nutrients and a good amount of water, etc.

Adding compost to the growing mix is a good idea too.  We don’t use peat moss because with so much access to compost, there’s no need to use something that is unsustainable, and has to be harvested and trucked so far.

All our pots contain either compost alone, or compost mixed with a little sand.  We find that it works really, really well and doesn’t get compacted.  The compost has the added benefit of providing tons of nutrients and is also really good at holding water to keep the roots of your plants moist.  If you’ve ever used peat moss you’ll know that if it dries out, it’s really difficult to get it most again – the water will find a path through it and just drain out the bottom without the peat moss soaking much of it up at all.  Also, peat moss is practically sterile, as far as nutrients go. So all around, we prefer compost to peat moss.

Whenever possible, take your potted plants outdoors. Of course by this, I mostly mean plants that you eventually intend to keep outdoors more permanently. This is huge! Plants adapt to and get used to their environment. If your plants are used to constant low-intensity light and nice mild room temperatures with not so much as a breeze, then they will definitely not survive the great outdoors. One big reason for this is a phenomenon called etiolation. The plant will not produce the chlorophyll needed. When it is transferred outside, it will not be used to the intense light of the sun and will essentially burn. So take your plants outside for a few hours at a time and keep an eye on them.  If they start to look poorly, put them in some shade or bring them back indoors.  Once they perk up again, either later in the day or the next day, take them back outside and put them in the sun.

Your plants also need to experience the cooler temperatures of spring, direct sunlight, and wind, etc. at least a little bit. If they don’t get a feel for the outdoors on a regular basis before being planted outdoors for the rest of the season then they will likely die in one or two days, or become so sick from stress that they’ll never amount to anything. As long as there’s no hail in the forecast, learning to cope with the stresses of their environment will make them stronger, healthier plants.