Why start from seeds? First of all, it is cheaper to start from a seed than it is to buy pre-started vegetables. Secondly, I can get a greater variety of plants, because mail-order seeds are very easy to obtain. Third, it is just kind of fun to grow your own and let your kids participate in the process. (And if it doesn’t work out, don’t put too much pressure on yourself—you can always buy vegetable starts from a store, a plant sale, or the farmer’s market later in the season!)
Location and setup is the first issue to tackle when you are thinking of seed starts. You will need:
- A nice, sunny location or bright artificial lights. My seed starts are all in a garden window (the picture below is from March, when they were first started) but Oregon doesn’t get a lot of sun in March so additional lighting had to be considered. In each window in the picture, I have placed one 24" lighting fixture (relatively inexpensive at Fred Meyer or a hardware store) with a GE full-spectrum plant light. These lights are on a timer to ensure that all the plants get enough light daily.
- Warmth. If your plants are in a cold window (like mine), they will need additional warmth to signal to the seeds that spring is here. You can accomplish this through heat lighting, through a small circulating heater, or through heating mats placed under your seed starting trays (they are sometimes sold in kits like this). I have been using 2 AGROSUN Daylight Spot Lamps which have worked but … I am really disappointed by the number of times these lamps have burnt out! They say they are guaranteed for one year and yet mine seem to keep burning out after a few weeks.
- Pots. The best kind of seed starting pots can be plants into the ground with the plant, thereby not hurting the roots. They have pots made out of cow manure, peat, coconut husks, or other materials—any of these will work.
- Water catch tray. The "good planting pots" will let water drain right through them, so you will need to put them in some kind of tray.
- A cover. When they first start out, it is best to keep your seed trays covered (as in the picture above). This helps keep them moist and warm. If they are too moist, remove the cover for a bit during the day and recover before night. Once the seedlings hit the inside top of the cover, remove it and allow them to grow freely, like this picture of my tomatoes from early April:
Once you have figured out your setup, you will need to figure out what to put in there. Read the seed packets and do your research to be sure, but in general:
- Plants with strong root bases can be easily started indoors. Examples are tomatoes, peppers, melons, cucumbers, and squash.
- Root vegetables are usually best sowed directly outside.
- Legumes are hit and miss—pole-type beans can have very weak root structures, while bush beans can transplant a bit better. Transplanted peas are hard to get 100% success with unless you have the kind of pots that go directly into the soil and break down.
- Crucifers and cole crops (like cabbage, broccoli, brussels sprouts, and cauliflower) do very well started indoors and transplanted later on.
In an effort to keep it simple this year, and because I’m working with a new setup and a new climate, I only did seed starts this year for 2 kinds of plants: cherry tomatoes, and mini bell peppers. I started the seeds about 7-8 weeks before our last frost date (May 15), which is when charts like these said to do it. I purchased most of my seeds for starting this year from the Territorial Seed Company. I bought 5 varieties of cherry tomatoes (snow white, gold nuggest, cabernet grape, orange paruche hybrid, chocolate cherry) and 3 colors of mini bell peppers (yellow, red and chocolate). I am also using some yellow pear tomatoes and red currant tomatoes from an earlier seed stash. Along with the above mentioned plants, I will be directly sowing seeds from Territorial for lemon cucumbers, marketmore slicing cucumbers, candy hybrid sweet spanish onions, icicle short top radishes, early wonder tall top beets, and golden beets into my raised beds garden. Additionally, I have parisian market carrots and french breakfast radishes from Ed Hume, and nantes coreless carrots from Lilly Miller. They will be a little late for the harvest this year because I need to establish my planting area, but they say they can be sowed through mid-summer so I should be okay.
One of the other great things about seed starts is that your unique varieties can be used as currency to get others. I have traded my cherry tomatoes for brandywine, green zebra, black prince, and other starts that you see in my window garden now. PS – Don’t say that I didn’t warn you! Growing, finding, and trading for new varieties of tomatoes can be addictive!
Windowbox greenhouse as of the end of April, including my herbs:
Planting day is fast approaching, so look for more posts on my raised beds (which I will be making from hay bales) soon!
