Ok friends, hopefully by now you've ordered and received most of your seeds. If you haven't, there's no time like the present. Do it now! Generally seed packages come with all kinds of instructions about when and how to seed. Sometimes this can be complicated because not all seeds need to be started indoors, and not all seeds can be planted directly outdoors. It's important to be aware of your location and your growing season. If you want certain plants, you will have to start them indoors! For example; you will likely never see the fruits of your labour if you seed Eucalyptus or Lisianthus outdoors in our zone. On the reverse, if you start zinnias indoors, they will likely produced flowers at the same time as those direct seeded into the garden. A common misconception that people have about starting seeds is that it's difficult. I'm here to tell you that for the most part it's not! Don't over think it too much. Learn from others, and from your successes and failures, and keep adapting!
Before we get in too deep into how to seed, let's talk about the lingo you'll find on your seed packages.
Germination: Sprouting of a seed
Direct seed: Seed directly into the garden
Sowing method: Will be either indoors or outdoors and should say on your seed package
Sprout time: How long it takes the seed to germinate
Transplant: Moving plant from one area to another (generally from close together to further apart as they grow)
Spacing: On a seed package this refers to the final spacing once in the garden (not the spacing of starting the seeds indoors)
Weeks before last frost: The amount of time before the estimated last frost in your area. (For us, we say this is June 1.)
You will need to take into consideration the following information to decide what to start inside and what to direct seed outside. It's also important to note that starting seeds earlier is NOT always better. It's one of the most common mistakes people make! It's natural for us to get excited when we receive seeds and the weather starts to get nicer to think oooh I'll start my seeds now and when I plant them they'll be that much more ahead... The reality is that plants that are too large go into shock when they are transplanted, and that could set them back further than having just waited. They can also get leggy and spindly if started too early, and this takes a while for them to recover from when planted. For example last year we started our impatiens too early and when it finally came time to plant them in the garden they were leggy and spindly. They took a while to let out and would have been happier if they had been transplanted out when they were smaller. Unfortunately we had to wait because it was too cold, so we would have been better off starting them later. Lesson learned.
So when do you start things then? Sorry to tell you, but part of that is trial and error. The conditions under which you start your seeds makes the growth somewhat variable. For example, we start most of our seeds on a heat mat. This increases the growth rate exponentially. If you don't have a heat mat, your seeds will germinate slower. Ultimately you will have to do some experimenting, but most seed packages will tell you to seed indoors a certain number of weeks prior to your last frost, and this is a great guideline. Of course the date of last frost is different every year, but here in Southern Manitoba it's frequently around the first week in June. Some years we are lucky, and our last frost is mid May, but we don't recommend planting anything out until June unless it's frost tolerant. This may be on the cautious side, and if you have frost cloth, or enough bed sheets and towels to cover your plants then by all means plant them out sooner! For us, and our fields of flowers this isn't possible so we wait with those plants till the forecast looks good. Even then sometimes we get surprised. I mean when is the forecast ever actually right?! Last year a few days after planting out our Dahlias we had frost. Luckily they all let out, and we didn't lose a single one, but there were some stressful days before those little green shoots popped out. We were very lucky!
There are also different theories of what to start indoors and what to direct seed outside. Let me guide you through that a little. The main reasons for starting things indoors are as follows; 1) They need the extra time. In our short season, some things will never reach maturity by fall frost unless they are started indoors. 2) You want to know your germination, and you don't want to re-seed. Seeding indoors allows you to know exactly how many plants you have, and how much garden space you will need for those plants. Direct seeding outside; often your germination isn't 100% so you may have spaces where nothing comes up. You then have to decide if you want to re-seed those spaces, or if you want to leave them. 3) It's easier to start seeds in a controlled environment. Sometimes if you seed things, and wait for rain, or warmth, your seeds will be sitting in the ground for a long time before they germinate. Also, if they start to germinate outdoors, and then you don't get rain for a while and you don't water, the seed will die. Seeding indoors allows you to control this better.
Those all seem like great reasons to start everything indoors. So why don't we start everything inside? 1) Transplanting takes a lot of extra man power and time. Think about the time required to seed one row in the garden vs the time and energy required to seed indoors, nurture those seedlings, transplant them a couple times indoors before finally transplanting them into the garden. This not only takes time and energy, but also valuable space and resources. Definitely something to consider. 2) Some plants prefer to be seeded into the garden. I've noticed a recent surge of people starting things like sweet peas inside. Thats something we have never done. Sweet peas LOVE our spring temperatures. They do best when seeded out in the early cool temps of spring, and watered every day. If you have water available to you, I encourage you to plant them directly outside. Planting them indoors may not only be too warm for them, but it also causes them to be stunned when you put them out, and they won't be any further along than had you directly seeded them. You will have waisted resources starting them inside, and no one wants to waste time and energy. Which brings me to 3) Plants are always stunned when transplanted. This means they have stress when they go from being inside to being transplanted outdoors. Some plants have very sensitive roots, and it's best not to disrupt them if possible. Transplanting always disrupts roots in some way even if it's just minor. Some plants deal with this much better than others, but plant size and maturity often have a lot to do with this. Too small and the plant won't be established enough to survive outside, but too large, and they will take a while to recover and start growing again. An example of this is last year we direct seeded AND transplanted our Zinnias. We did a row of each in every colour (Yes we had a whole field of Zinnias!). The ones we transplanted bloomed only 3 days before the ones we direct seeded into the ground, and the ones we direct seeded were hardier healthier plants. Now there are a variety of factors for why this happens, and ultimately we were happy we had done both because we ended up with healthy zinnias in both rows, and we knew our germination pretty well. But if you have a limited indoor space, or you don't want to start a lot of things indoors I am here to tell you that there is nothing wrong with direct seeding many things, and it is WAY easier. Do what works for you!!
This post is already getting a little long, so I'm going to add part 2 all about the process and equipment we use to start our seeds indoors in a second post. Thanks for reading!
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