March is upon us on the Lot, and I am already anxious to get outside and get my hands dirty from spring garden cleanup. As excited as I am, it would be better to have a more “normal” spring than last year. The early warm-up and late frost of last spring cost a lot of our fruit farmers their crops. It even caused damage on the Lot as early emerging bulbs and perennials were burned by the sudden frost.

To hold me over, I decided to make a truly genuine attempt at starting seeds indoors. Last year I made an attempt that involved forgetting to water a dozen or so seedlings. The rest were lost because I didn’t understand the concept of “hardening off” plants when moving them from the inside growing environment to the great outdoors. Apparently you cannot just shove them out of the nest like a mother bird and expect them to grow. So, this year I did a bit more reading ahead of time before planting.

Planting Medium

In his article about potting soils and seed-starting mixes, Gary Heilig says “One important factor that will determine the degree of success is the potting media.” Yeah, I didn’t know there was a difference. Seed-starting mix does not contain soil, but instead is a finer-textured combo of peat moss, perlite, and vermiculite to allow excellent drainage for the new plants. Potting soil is heavier in texture and can possibly contain manure and compost which may carry weed seeds. Both seed-starting mix and potting soil may have a fertilizer additive to help out the seedlings from when they germinate to when they get their first set of true leaves. It’s a good idea to read over the package thoroughly before choosing one.

I decided to try both; it would be an experiment! There was potting soil leftover from last growing season and I’d just picked up some seed-starting mix from the store. Perfect.

Planting Date

The planting date for seeds varies by the type of plant and can be found on the seed package. Most planting dates are situated around the last frost date in an area. The Farmer’s Almanac has average frost dates listed on it’s site. The last frost date for the Lot falls in the first week of May. More precise last frost date info can be found by calling up your Extensions Office.

Containers

I’m not going to lie here; I didn’t dedicate much research time to containers. There is a brand of eggs in the supermarket using a great package shown above. When the top of the container is cut away it serves as a water tray underneath the carton. Even better, there is an inner flap to the container meant to hold the tops of the eggs in place. This is going to serve as a terrarium-type of cover until the seeds germinate. All I had to do was punch some holes in the bottom of each egg cell of the container. I will more than likely have to move the seedlings to a larger container before they go outside.

Keeping Records

Keeping track of planting dates, germination dates, what grows and what doesn’t can be helpful info. It not only allows troubleshooting, but helps to improve conditions and techniques for next year’s attempt. (The jury is still out on if there will be a “next year” for seed-starting here.) I color-tabbed each 12-pack container and then numbered each cell. Then on a sheet of paper I noted the plant date, plant cultivar, how many seeds were planted, how deep the sees were planted, and if potting soil or seed-starting mix was used.

Light, Temperature & Water

More serious seed-starting gardeners would set up the seed trays under grow lights. The lights can be created using warm and cool shop light tubes. However, I am going to try my luck using a South facing window. Because most seeds require 65-70 degrees to germinate, I’ll be sure to lower the heavy blinds at night to protect the seedlings from the chilly, night windows. Watering the seedlings will be done by adding water to the bottom tray underneath the cells so water can be drawn up through the drainage holes into the potting medium.

Cross Your Fingers

I hope I can keep up on the care-taking of the seedlings this time. I’d love to have some perennials and veggies started ahead of time this year. Also, I hope I can remain patient enough to see the task through. Even though half the seeds were planted Saturday (which is practically forever-ago), there were no sprouts on Sunday. My Other Half observed it is more than likely because Sunday was overcast. I’ll settle for that.