Sprouting Seeds Indoors

With Spring quickly passing and my vegetable garden still waiting for a good till I decided I'd start sprouting a few of my vegetables that I felt needed to get going. 

By doing this I'll ensure that as soon as I can get my garden tilled and ready for planting I'll have some of my early summer plants germinated and growing. This will help to ensure a longer season and better production.

 

I'm starting my lettuce, tomatoes, and carrots. All of these, according to their package, are supposed to be planted in early spring. The lettuce especially should be planted early as warmer temperatures will cause it to "bolt" making the lettuce bitter. For more information on bolting read this article by Sherry Rindels, Department of Horticulture at Iowa State University. The tomatoes' package specifically instructed indoor seeding first. Tomatoes are very sensitive to cold weather and if planted before the last frost they will not germinate. By starting them indoors I am ensuring that does not happen. I ended up doing only half the package of carrots. I wanted to do these so that I could get one early crop and one later crop. They take about 75 days to grow and be ready for harvest. Sometime between now and then I'll plant more in my garden in order to have two harvests.

There are many different ways to start seeds indoors. The options can be a little overwhelming even. There are miniature greenhouses, full size greenhouses, peat pots, plastic containers, regular pots, cold frames, and much more. In the end though you need a few basic things in order to start seeds indoors. You need starting mix, a sunlit spot, some container with adequate drainage, and seeds.

For my starting mix I just went out and bought a $4 bag of organic seed starting mix from my local hardware store. From my research this seems to be the most recommended thing to do. While it may seem wise to just dig up some soil from your garden and use that instead there are a few problems with that option. First, the soil from your garden is going to be more dense than the seeding mix. This will prevent the seed from getting the oxygen it needs. Second, who knows what other seeds are in that soil. As a beginner gardener I wouldn't know a carrot sprout from an oak tree. Before I know I'm planting trees in my vegetable garden. That's just crazy! Finally, Soil from your garden may contain insect eggs, fungi, and other unknown elements. With a seed mix you can guarantee not having that issue. So, basically take the small hit and get a bag of mix.

 

For my containers I decided to try two methods. I purchased some small peat pots. The benefit of these being that I could just plant them directly into the ground. A more economical option is to get an egg crate. I got a large 30 egg crate from work. If you want one like I got and you don't already by your eggs in bulk (who does really) go to your local grocery store and ask someone in the deli prepared foods or bakery if they have any. Your best bet is going to be to try this at a whole/natural foods store where they actually prepare most of their food from scratch. You could also use a 12 or 6 pack crate. Whatever choice you make just make sure it's not Styrofoam or plastic.

I used the egg carton for the lettuce and the peat pots for the carrots and tomatoes. Really for not particular reason it was sort of just what I chose at the time.

After filling my containers with soil and planting my seeds according to their package instructions I put them on a shelf by a window in my garage where there will be plenty of sunlight. A quick watering and I left them alone.