Writer Wednesday - From Seed to Seedling: Starting Inside

Seeds & Sunshine

By Jean M. Grant

From Seed to Seedling: Starting Inside

Welcome to Seeds and Sunshine! If you admire flowers or love to eat vegetables but are afraid to take that first step into gardening…look no further. I’m your garden gal. I’ve been obsessing over flower gardens for fifteen years, and I’m relatively new to vegetables, four years in now (thanks to impulse pandemic gardening). Let’s talk about vegetables this month! From Seed to Seedling: Starting Inside 

Supply list: soil, spoon/cup/trowel for scooping, seed-starting trays with dome lids, or small pots/containers, seeds, a sunny spot, and sunny outlook! 

Before you choose your seeds, your first assignment is to determine your season length (mine is late May through October in Massachusetts, but you can also plant some vegetables in fall for a spring harvest), hardiness zone, and first/last frost dates. Where you live impacts what you can plant. Next, choose your vegetables! What do you want to eat? Climate and germination time determine your indoor planting date. I start slower growers in March and quicker growers in April (my final frost date is typically around the end of May). Seed packets usually give information on when to start inside. 

Here we go! Using seed starter or potting soil, plant the seeds in multi-well trays (like these). The bigger the seed, the fewer you put in each cell. Keep them watered and keep the dome on to contain moisture until seedlings pop up (like a little greenhouse), then remove the plastic dome. You can also use small pots, leftover yogurt containers, or biodegradable pots. Whatever works. Some vegetables, like tomatoes and peppers, like heat for germination, so I use heat pads under my domed seed tray. For sunlight, hang lights over the trays, or place by/in a sunny window. I have a garden window in my kitchen. Once the seedlings graduate out of their little cells, transplant up to three or five-inch pots. You may need to divide some, or selectively thin out seedlings. Keep watering and feeding with sunshine! 

Transplants and Direct Sowing

I transplant my seedlings to the gardens in May through early June. However, some seeds prefer to be directly sown outside because they are either too fragile (onions, lettuce), or get long and viny and can break upon transplant (beans, peas), or are vegetables that grow in the ground and need space (carrots, potatoes, onions/shallots). Some seeds swing both ways like lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, collards, zucchini, and cucumbers. I buy lettuce already started in six-packs from a local nursery because my seedlings are too fragile with the wind of spring, and shallots/onions I buy as bulbs. 

Designing Your Square-foot Companion Bed 

Have less space? Daunted by the idea of huge gardens? Never fear…the answer lies in square-foot companion gardens. Simply put, each square foot of a raised bed (wood or metal framed “boxes” of any shape or size) is designated for a different vegetable. For those that love grids, this is fun! Here’s a guide on how many seeds/seedlings to plant per foot. All you need is a smidge of space in your yard with good sunlight (my two raised beds are 4x8’ each and get west and south sunlight). 

What is companion planting? Like siblings who don’t get along, you want to keep certain vegetables apart and certain ones close (they thrive off each other and help keep pests at bay). Do a little reading online to determine who likes or doesn’t like who. 

Benefits of a raised bed include weed control, better drainage, soil control, and rodent protection (line the bottom with hardware cloth). I use PVC pipe arches and bird netting to cover my raised beds during the seedling phase (and sometimes all season long—I am very protective of my plants). Some vegetables need support (e.g tomatoes, peas): use trellises, cages, or poles. Some vegetables like space so give them plenty of room (e.g. collards, broccoli, squash, zucchini, cucumbers). 

What about containers? If you can grow it in a raised bed, you can grow it in a pot, growing bag, window box, or bin! Experiment. I’ve done tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, green beans, lettuce, spinach, and Swiss chard all in containers. This year: collard greens. 

What about soil and fertilizer? 

I’ll admit I’m still perfecting my ideal soil. My seeds start in a seed-starting soil mix or a potting soil with plant food (e.g. Miracle-Gro). My raised beds have “raised bed” soil specific for vegetables and herbs. I mix in compost (bagged or you can get it from local farms). Add in kitchen scraps like coffee grounds, eggs, or material from your own compost bin. I’ve added perlite to my potato experiment this year. Worm castings are also recommended (I just bought those this year). I spray my flowers and vegetables with fish and seaweed fertilizer a few times per season. There are lots of “plant foods” out there to choose from. I also top my soil bed with mulch. 

Final Tips… 

• Don’t be afraid to experiment. We learn from everything we do. I’m a former scientist so trial and error and tweaking are my jam! 

• Take notes! Keep a notebook or binder with highs/lows, dates, and other information useful for next year. I create a spreadsheet for my seed start/transplant dates. 

• Add flowers to keep pests away (e.g. marigolds, nasturtiums). 

• Most seed packs have instructions on when/how to start seeds inside or outside.

• Choosing seeds? I try to buy heirlooms as much as I can, and I shop from a few regional online/mailer catalogs, but you can get seed packs at any garden center, too, or even on eBay. 

• Some vegetables can have a second harvest (e.g. the early spring vegetables like lettuce, peas, and collards can be planted again in late summer for a fall harvest). Want longer harvests? Try succession planting (for example: keep planting lettuce every 3-4 weeks for a long harvest). 

Have specific gardening questions? Drop me an email through my website contact form. Join me next time to talk about setting up perennial flower gardens. 

© 2023 Jean M. Grant All Rights Reserved 

Jean M. Grant is a former scientist turned author of romance and women’s fiction, an avid hiker and traveler, cat-lover, and coffee fanatic. Follow her for more hiking, traveling, baking, and gardening adventures. www.jeanmgrant.com