139: Starting Seeds – 11 Things I’ve Learned

A Farmish Kind of Life

I am not an expert at gardening, nor do I know everything about how to start seeds. But I will share with you 11 things I have learned about starting seeds while we've been here at the homestead. Hopefully some of these tips will be helpful to you. 1. It takes time to figure out how to start seeds It may take you a couple years to figure out what works for you—which may not be what works for your friends who are also starting seeds. I have a friend who grows amazing starts in plastic covered food trays or ice cream cake containers from DQ. I also have friends with a super simple greenhouse set up in front of their south facing window (no grow lights at all!) and they do AMAZING things with those seedlings. Unfortunately, neither of those sets ups have worked for us. You need to go through the things that don't work (and the mistakes you make along the way) to figure out what actually works. Ahem, not putting the grow light down close enough to the seeds, Amy? Yeah. Did that one year. Deciding that hardening off was a skippable step? Yeah, Amy, big mistake. You need those fails to figure out what not to do. Just keep trying! 2. Start more seeds than you think you need Obviously this depends on your set up and how much room you have, but if you want to grow five tomato plants, you need to start more than five seeds. Sometimes some seeds don't germinate. Sometimes you want to grow a few seedlings for a friend. Always plant more than you think you're going to realistically need. Having said that... 3. Seedlings grow and take up a lot of room Seed starting trays are small. But keep in mind that those seeds grow into seedlings that take up WAY more room. Starting 80 tomato seeds seems like it makes sense when you're just putting those seeds into the little starter pods and everything fits so nicely on the seed starting shelf. And then they start growing. And your husband says, "80 tomato plants, Amy? Where are you going to put those?" 80 tomato seeds is totally different than 80 tomato plants. Just keep this in mind. 4. Your grow light needs to be closer than you think Your seedlings will stretch to the light, but if they are stretching too much too fast you’re going to have spindly little leggy things that are weak. Your light needs to be adjustable so you can raise or lower the light as needed. I use Barrina grow lights; (affiliate link) and they give a lovely purple pink cast to my office when they are on. We’ve had great luck with them—they were suggested to me by my friend Chris at Rockin’ 8 Farm. 5. Don't use a grow light 24 hours a day Your seedlings need time to rest, so don’t put the grow light on them 24 hours a day. I leave the light on all night and turn off during the day. This was suggested to me and it works really well, although many people do the opposite (light on during the day, off at night). Research the differences between light on at night or light on during the day to determine which is best for your seed starting set up. 6. Don't overwater your seedlings Seedlings should be moist, but not wet. I tend to underwater, if anything. Some folks say you should be watering your seedlings once a day, but that would be too much for mine. Mine generally get watered every other day or every third day. I think this mostly has to do with the environment you're growing them in, etc. Pay attention to your plants, press your finger into their soil. Is it moist? Good job. A bit dry? Add more water. Really wet? Stop drowning your plant babies. 7. Don't be afraid to pot up your seedlings Potting up means to put your seedlings in a bigger pot before you're to the point of actually transplanting them into the ground. I usually pot up twice before my seedlings end up in the garden. I go from seed starting pods to 7 oz. dixie cups (with holes punched in the bottom) to red solo cups (again, holes punched in the bottom).