How and When to Start Seeding Indoors.

Everything I talk about below is shown in the video below this post, so you can see each step in detail.

There isn’t just One Right way to do this, for example, I prefer to put my seeds into dry soil and then water. Others prefer to start with wet soil and then put the seed in. As long as it grows, they were both the Right Way! I’ll share here what works for me.

I start seeding most of our varieties mid March through early February.  Most seed packets will say how many weeks to plant prior to the last frost you will have.

I use seedling trays, which you can through Amazon, https://amzn.to/2u5Pf7U I do cut these trays down in size and I’ll share why down below. I then fill them with a seeding soil, I personally use and love Jolly Gardener seeding soil, but I can only ever get it at my parents garden center, you can but this at big box stores or online, so you can also use other available seeding soils. Miracle grow has a seeding soil (here’s a link for it https://amzn.to/2G7FwB7 , Sungrow is another one, there are many.

I then will pour out the seed packet onto a white tray or plate, so I can see them all. The back of the seed packet will have instructions on how to put the seeds into the soil and whether or not they like to be covered, ect.. So make sure to read the back of the packet. If the seed doesn’t need to be covered I will drop one seed on top of the soil at each cell. If it says to cover, then I would poke a little hole into the soil and drop the seed in.

I  then like to sprinkle a little vermiculite on top of the soil, this helps to hold and retain the moisture, the cell won’t dry out as quickly. I don’t completely cover the soil, just lightly sprinkle it on.  This is something my Dad does, he’s a farmer and owner of Wayne’s Daughters Greenhouses and is their head seeder, so any tips he gives me, I will take! This has been the one trick that has helped my seedlings germinate well.

Now, it’s time to water. I like to use the spray hose from my sink and I turn the water on low, I want to very lightly water it but I want to soak the dirt all the way through. If you water with too much force, it will blow the seed and vermiculate right out of the soil. So make sure to lightly run the spray over and you can do it a couple times so it soaks the soil all the way through. Then I let it sit so any excess water can drip out.

I then place the tray inside a 1 gallon ziplock bag. Now above I talked about cutting the trays, this is why I do it. So that it fits inside the ziplock bag.  I will then place the tray inside the ziplock bag, but don’t close it all the way. You do want air to be able to get inside. I will also poke a few holes in the bag to allow for more air circulation. I then prop up the plastic with a couple tooth pic so the plastic isn’t sitting directly on top of the tray. This acts like a mini Greenhouse!

I place the bag with tray in a sunny and warm spot. A south-side window or now into our Greenhouse we built over the summer! You definitely have to keep an eye on it, once you see the plastic start to condensate, that is good, but you don’t want it to create to many large water droplets that start to fall on the tray, if you see those start to form, them make sure enough air is getting into the bag, you can open it up a little more.

Then I’ll lable my seedling tray but writing on a piece of painters tape what it is, I wrap that around another tooth pic and stick it in the tray.

Once the seedlings start to pop out of the soil and are sticking out of the soil by 1/8″ – 1/4″ you can take the tray out of the ziplock bag.

That is how I germinate my seeds! I hope this will help you with your seeding adventure. You can check out our YouTube Channel for more video’s. In our Garden and Recipes Playlist there will be another video showing the next steps.

Happy Seeding!!