It's February! Do you know that that means? Chalky candy hearts? Chocolate? Flowers? For us it certainly means one of those things... flowers! And vegetables!! What? Flowers and vegetables in February? Yep. Even though there's still more than a foot of snow on the ground here, February is when we start getting our seeds planted for the garden!
We think there are a few reasons to grow our own plants from seed.
It's fun
It's a great activity with your kids - they love seeing the progress!
Might be cheaper than buying plants from the nursery. Depends. Or it might take a couple years to recognize that value...
You can choose your own varieties
When should I start planting?
We try to have our plants in the ground by the beginning to middle of May. We base this on the "frost date" or the last date Knowing your frost date is important because this is the date you're going to work backwards from. Take a look at this tomato seed packet - it says to plant "6 weeks prior to warm weather" and the map says "May-June". But the plants will take 80 days to harvest. So
Keep in mind of course that it's always possible that you could still have a freeze. The Old Farmer's Almanac will let you search your zip code and returns the frost date. You can also look up your local cooperative extension at this link - they will have additional detail on local growing seasons.
Johnny's Seeds even has a calculator to help you determine that planting date. Put in the date of last frost and you'll find out when you need to get the seeds started.
What do you need to get started?
We'll cover more of these in detail below, but here's a quick list if you don't want the details. At a minimum you will need the following:
Seeds
Seedling trays or cells
Planting media - peat pods, peat pellets, or potting mix
A sunny location - 4-8 hours of sun a day
Water
The following items will improve your chances of success, but we've been able to grow things without them:
Warming mats
Grow lights
Additional heat
Do I need a greenhouse?
Our followers know that we've put in a greenhouse to give us some more room to grow. But is a greenhouse required? No! Even if you don't have a yard, or you just have a sunny windowsill, you can be successful with seeds. Warmth, light, and a good growing medium are the basic requirements to being successful.
A couple examples of self-contained possibilities for smaller locations:
Less expensive: Jiffy 12-cell Windowsill Greenhouse The Jiffy will require you to transplant your seedlings once they get going. It also does not have any heating or grow lights. But the peat pods are easy, and the clear lid lets in light and keeps moisture in.
More expensive: The popular AeroGarden (as seen on TV!). This is a fully self-contained hydroponic system (no soil!) and even contains grow lights. You can grow plants to harvest in the AeroGarden.
A greenhouse can make it easier in some ways... More room for growing. More natural light. A contained space. Click here to read our post on how we chose a greenhouse and what it took to get it set up!
We own a Palram Mythos Hobby 6x6 greenhouse, and it has been great for planting! Some other options we considered:
Hanover 4x6 greenhouse - Had some similar features to the Palram, but wanted the 6x6 size.
Gardman roll-up greenhouse - We almost bought one of these before deciding to get the permanent greenhouse. We were originally only going to do a couple things in the greenhouse, so the size was ok. You have to be careful with these if it gets hot. Very easy to cook the plants.
More detail on the piece-parts
Now let's go over what you need in more detail.
Seeds
Starting in January you can find seeds in most home improvement or local farm stores. It's important to pay close attention to the climate zones and planting dates on the package. We'll cover this in more detail later in this article. You may want to wait on some plants, like summer-blooming annuals. Some plants may not need to be started.
Some seeds will be listed as organic, others as heirloom, still others as hybrids. These types indicate where the seeds originated. Hybrids will tend to be easier to grow, and they will also be the more common varieties. Heirlooms will often have more interesting possibilities.
Seeds are also where the fun and variety come in. Of course, we will plant common tomato varieties like Better Boy or Big Beef, but we like to try new things too. What about a Pink Ping Pong, or a Cherokee Purple tomato? This variety applies to not just vegetables but herbs and flowers too. For example, check out the variety of zinnias at Hudson Valley Seed Co! There are some fun places to buy seeds online, like Baker Creek Rare Seeds, Victory Seed Co, and Johnny's. But that doesn't mean that the seeds you find at your local stores aren't good! We've had plenty of luck with the Burpee, Ferry-Morse, and Livingston seeds you find at most chains like Home Depot, Lowe's or Tractor Supply.
Seedling trays or cells
Here's where we'll do the planting. If you're buying new, you can get a complete package with trays, media, and lids. The trays and lids are reusable, and you only need to buy new media to refill them in following years.
These trays come in various sizes both for the number and size of pods they hold. The peat pods come in 3 different sizes - 36mm, 42mm, and 50mm. You'll want to make note of that size when you buy refills. The tomato trays use the 50mm pods but we will be transplanting these into larger pots before we plant them outside.
The trays also vary in size. If you only have a window sill to use for seedlings, you can get trays that will fit your window sill! If you have more space for planting, you can get big trays that hold 50 or 72 seedlings each. These are the ones we are using this year:
Please note: the links above take you to Amazon, but depending on when you read this, you may find these items at stores like Home Depot or Lowe's for less. The problem there is that once they run out of stock, they are gone for the season.
The other option are the standard open cells that you've probably seen before. You can get these with peat pellets, though these pellets expand and fill the cell - no mesh around them. You have to pop the entire seedling out of the cell to transplant it. Sometimes this can get messy or maybe even damages the small plant.
We have also re-used the small cells that local nurseries plant their annuals in. These can totally work, but they are a little bit of a pain to work with for planting. You can use seed starting mix to fill these. Also, they can't be covered easily - meaning you will need to be extra diligent with watering.
Planting media and fertilizer
There are a variety of options here depending on the types of cells you choose.
Peat pods or pellets
Seed starting mix or potting soil
Seed starting fertilizer
Our favorites are the peat pods, or peat pellets. These are so convenient! They are compacted peat, wrapped in a cornstarch mesh. You simply put some warm water on them, wait 5 minutes, and they are ready to go. When it's time to transplant, just take the whole pod and plant it in the new location. The cornstarch mesh biodegrades easily. Keep the trays and just buy peat pod refills for next year - they come in 3 sizes - 36mm, 42mm, and 50mm so you'll want to make note of that.
We have used seed starting mix in the past when we used open cells. Our favorite is the Espoma seed starter. Like many of their products, this one includes beneficial additions to the microbiome. The starter includes a number of mycorrhizae fungus varieties - these are natural root start enhancers.
We use a lot of Espoma products in the yard (Holly-Tone, Tomato-Tone, Rose-Tone, Bio-Tone, Garden lime for Hydrangeas). They are not the cheapest products, but we have seen excellent results and they are organic.
Fertilizer can help, but you have to be careful. It also seems to be hard to find locally. Jiffy packs little samples of "SuperThrive" seed starting fertilizer in with new seed trays but we have not had any luck buying more of it. Another option could be using something like Espoma's Bio-Tone Starter if you're using potting mix. You can just blend it in before putting the mix into the cells.
Can I just plant the seeds in the ground?
Unless you live further south where the temperatures are already consistently warm in March, that's probably a no. Remember two key things: we want to protect them from any frost, and the plants have a set time to harvest. This means that if you have to wait until May to start your seeds outdoors because it isn't warm enough, you may run out of time to harvest. The seeds have to germinate, then they need to get to the right size. It's better to have a head start on growing than try to be exact on the dates.
Sunny location
4-8 hours a day of sun is preferred, the more the better. The plants will need that light and warmth to get growing. If you can't get that amount of strong sun on your plants, you will want to consider a grow light. The plants will grow with less, but they will try their hardest to get to that light, and create long stems ("leggy" plants).
Warming pads or heat mats
These will help provide consistent heat underneath the seed beds. This is key for getting the seeds up and flourishing. They simply plug in and keep the temperature between 85-95 degrees - I checked this with my infrared thermometer. They won't feel hot if you touch them, since they are close to body temperature, but you'll see they are warm by the water vapor that collects on the lids of your seed beds.
We are currently using these Ferry-Morse Heat Mats. These fit perfectly with either one of the large seed beds, or two of the smaller square ones.
Please note: Like the seed trays above, Amazon is currently more than Lowe's for these - you'll want to check that too! But do it quick - once the big box stores run out, they're out.
Grow lights
Even if you have lots of sun, grow lights can help the plants to have "normal" growth. Unless you have consistent light and warmth on the plants, they can grow very skinny and long in order to try and reach that light - this is known as getting "leggy".
When people hear "grow lights" they might often think of the purple UV grow lights. Could these help? Sure! If you don't have a lot of light, and you have these, they will be just fine to get you started.
If you have the ability to get some more modern lights, there are LED fixtures that provide a higher density of light (measured to in micromoles) with a color spectrum that seedling plants will respond to better. These often have higher red and blue density. They will be rated in PPF and the number of micromoles.
In our greenhouse we use 4 ft long GE LED grow lights specific to seeds and leafy greens. These have a mixture of blue and red and can be connected to one another. You'll want to keep them 8-12 inches from the plants so make sure you can easily move them. I have mine on chains that I can adjust up or down as needed. I can also easily hang them from the lower shelves when I have more seedlings going. (These lights were a much better price on Amazon than at Lowe's - almost $20 cheaper!)
Are you interested in the even nerdier details on LED efficiency and micromoles? Check out this link - these guys are lighting experts!
OK, all of that makes sense. How do I plant them?
Now it's time to get those seeds in the dirt!
First things first - plan out your seeds. We keep things grouped. Annuals stay together, vegetables like peppers and tomatoes, beans and squash, and herbs all get grouped.
Next you have to prepare the trays:
If you're using peat pods, put them in the trays, get some warm water, and pour it into the tray. Typically you want about 1 1/2-2" of water in the tray. The pods will absorb it and puff up, usually takes about 5 minutes or so. When they are done swelling, pour out any excess water.
If you're using open cells and potting mix, moisten the potting mix so it absorbs the water and doesn't float away. The Espoma potting mix we've used is quite floaty. Then fill the cells. We've found this to be easier than trying to fill the cells with potting mix and then mixing tiny amounts of water in each cell, 72 times. Per tray. Better to do it once and fill the holes.
Last step is to put the seeds in the dirt and cover them over. In the picture above you can see that the pods already have a little hole in the center - just drop the seeds in and cover over. You'll want to use more than one seed in each hole. Later when the plants are grown you may need to thin these out.
What's next for my seedlings?
Now you wait! Look at that seed packet again. There's generally a "Days to Germination" indicator to let you know what to expect before you will see something. These tend to be pretty accurate, though with heating and fertilizing it can be faster.
We typically check on our seedlings once a day - make sure they are moist, not swimming, ensure they are warm, and see if there's new growth! If they are looking dry, use a water bottle to mist them lightly. For seed trays, keep the lids on to help the moisture stay inside.
The next step is transplanting - which we will cover in a future blog post!
Questions? Comments? We'd love to hear from you. Leave them below!
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