Starting Seeds: Novice to Novice
Living in planting zone 3 I get to watch all the other flower farmers starting seeds while patiently waiting for it to hit 12 weeks before our last frost date. Guess what? It’s my turn now! This week I started making soil blocks and planting my earliest seeds. Every evening True helps me make 600 soil blocks and every evening after he goes to bed I plant 1,200 seeds into those soil blocks. Am I an expert in all of this? No! Am I willing to share my minimal knowledge with you? Absolutely!
Let me lead with a simple disclaimer: This should be fun and add joy to your life. It is my goal to tell you the things to do (and not to do) to make this a little more fun and a little less stressful. First remember the seeds you start will need a big enough space to grow, daily watering, plenty of light, and hardening off before they can be planted outside in May. Set your self up for success by matching the number and type of seeds you plant with your commitment level. I used to have a bad habit of planting every seed packet Menards had a month too soon. by April I would get sick of the commitment, miss a watering or two and try to plant spindly light deprived seedlings outside without hardening them off. Needless to say it frustrated me and I ended up buying started plants from the store anyway. Here are a few of my suggestions if you want to start seeds indoors.
Look for plants that need to be planted 4-6 weeks before the last frost date.
Starting seeds indoors that need to be started 8-12 weeks is a much bigger commitment. Plants started this far in advance will likely need 1-2 transplants into larger containers and are generally a lot more delicate to care for. If you are simply starting seeds for enjoyment or small scale production and sticking to plants that need 4-6 weeks might be a better option!
Veggies and herbs
eggplant, okra, peppers, tomatoes, tomatillo, basil, fennel, cucumber, melon, pumpkins, squash, parsley, sage
Garden products review has a great veggie plant date list —> https://gardeningproductsreview.com/wp-content/uploads/When-To-Start-Seeds-Indoors.pdf
Cutflowers
Celosia, cosmos, amaranth, gomphrena, strawflower, pincushion flower, marigolds, zinnia
When is our last frost date? My last frost date is May 15. Farmer’s almanac has frost dates by zipcode —> https://www.almanac.com/gardening/frostdates
Your Plants Need Better Light!
Giving my plants enough light was the biggest game changer for me. A window sill in Minnesota does not have enough hours or strong enough light for seedlings. However, you don’t need a “grow light” buy a regular shop 4ft shop light.
Florescent or LED (LED reduces energy usage and lasts longer)
Higher spectrum (6500K) is best for seed starting
14-18 hrs of light per day with 6-10 hrs of darkness
3-24 inches above plant
Guide to indoor plant lighting —> https://modernfarmer.com/2018/03/grow-lights-for-indoor-plants-and-indoor-gardening/
Watch moisture levels closely.
Balancing moisture is crucial in seedlings. Too much humidity causes disease, too much soil moisture rots the roots, and not enough soil moisture and seedlings shrivel quickly. I water new seedling 2x per day. Humidity domes also work great to help germinate but need to be removed with 50%-75% of seeds have germinated. In seedlings, use bottom watering and misting.
Soil blocking bottom watering—I pour water in the tray and let the blocks soak up water from the bottom making sure to not leave excess water in the tray
Trays or cells bottom watering—Use the ones with holes in the bottom and place them in another flat tray so you can pour water in the bottom tray without washing away seeds or small plants
Misting—I mist the top soil on all seeds and small seedling with a fine spray bottle. Sometimes with bottom watering the water doesn’t get to the top of every block or cell so I mist until the roots and reach the bottom
Your seedlings need to be hardened off.
This is the part I struggle with the most, but is crucial. Because of the intense difference in indoor lighting and direct sunlight seedlings can get sunburnt and wind-whipped. Both are hard to recover from. A week before you want to plant seeds in your garden, start leaving trays outside in the indirect sunlight for a few hours each day working up to longer periods in direct sun over the course of a week. This is not an exact process, and if your plants get sunburnt or show signs of distress let them adjust a little longer. I harden my plants off inside our green house. After the seedling have adjusted to the sun I open the doors and allow wind to blow through. From there they are ready to take on life in the True Blue Flower Field!
Burpee’s thoughts —> https://www.burpee.com/blog/hardening-off-your-seedlings_article10355.html
Finally plant the number of seeds you can do all of this to with our feeling overwhelmed whether you are doing this for fun or dabbling into for profit production. Contrary to popular belief, you do not have to plant all the seeds that come in each seed packet (it’s me,🙋♀️ I’m the over planter.) In the coming blogs I will be sharing some more tips and tidbits including my favorite seed sources, soil blocks. Stay tuned, happy planting, and don’t stress! In the mean time here are a few of my favorite seed starting references!