Why Start Seeds Yourself, And What You'll Need

Why in the world would you want to grow any of your garden plants from seed when you can just get in the car, drive down to the garden center and buy everything ready to plant? Many will already be in flower with veggies primed for planting. You just need to pop them out of the cells or pots, and then plant.

There are two major factors in favor of growing from seed. The first is cost, and the second is variety. A factor in favor of buying plants from a garden center is that the now-popular grafted vegetables really need to be purchased as finished plants rather than doing the grafting at home.

Garden centers tend to carry varieties of vegetables and flowers that are known sellers. They are also limited by the selections that their wholesale suppliers offer them. A quick look at one popular seed catalog reveals about 60 tomato varieties available as seeds, and other catalogs offer even more. On the other hand, your local garden center may offer 20 varieties. This holds true not just to vegetable varieties but annuals as well. If it’s convenience you’re looking for, it’s the local garden center. If it’s variety you’re looking for, you’ll need to grow your own starts from seed.

Concerning cost, consider that a tomato seed may be 20 cents while a marigold seed is slightly less. If you save your plastic flats and cells, your only additional costs are starting soil and labels. Meanwhile, a six-pack of plants at the garden center can run you $2.50 and up. Your plants grown at home will cost you half that.

When you grow your own, you not only have a huge selection of varieties to choose from, you also have complete control of what goes on those plants in terms of chemicals and fertilizer. You can grow your own with confidence that they are 100 percent organic if that’s your choice. Garden centers offer only a few organic starter options.

Some plants are incredibly easy to grow from seed because the seed is large and easy to handle. In annuals, this includes choices like marigold, cosmos and sunflowers. However, when you get into plants like petunias and ageratum, the seed can be tiny and difficult to work with while also requiring extra transplant steps.

Some plants are nearly impossible to start at home. Among these are newly introduced hybrids that only go to commercial growers and grafted vegetable plants like grafted tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. While these can be grafted at home, it’s not a simple process and these are probably best purchased at garden centers.

So, if you decide to take the leap and grow some or all of your starts at home, what will you need? The first thing you need is space, and that space has to be bright or even sunny and on the warm side, as most of these seeds will prefer a soil temperature around 70 degrees. If natural light is an issue, then there are plenty of artificial lighting options from fluorescent to LED lighting.

You’ll need a seed starting mix. Potting soil, garden soil and soils with any fertilizer in them should be avoided. A number of companies sell bagged seed starting mixes and each is a little different. I’ve been using Espoma seed starting mix, but there are others and you can find recipes for making your own.

Next, you’ll need containers and flats. Larger (and later) seeds like melons, cucumbers and squash seeds can be sown directly into peat pots with one or two seeds per pot. These are then planted pot and all. Even tomatoes can go into peat pots unless you want to start them in cells and move them up into larger pots before planting. Cell packs can be bought at garden centers as 4- or 6-cell packs and will fit into a standard 1020 plastic flat, which is 21 inches long and 11 inches wide. Make sure your flats have drainage holes in them, though.

The other two things you’ll need are labels and fertilizer. Each cell pack or pot should have its own label. I prefer plastic labels since they will last the whole summer and you can easily write on them with a #2 pencil. Wooden labels tend to rot quickly and are not as easy to write on. The label should have the date the seed was sown and the variety. A large enough label, 6 inches or so, will allow you to add additional notes such as transplanting dates and final planting dates.

Never use any fertilizer at seeding. Each seed has everything in it that the plant needs to get started. Once the plant germinates and has its first set of “true” leaves you can begin adding some liquid fertilizer in your water. Use an organic fertilizer and dilute it quite a bit at first as you’ll be adding it to your regular water so the feeding is constant.

Watering your seed flats or trays can be a little tricky. Don’t start with bone dry soil. The soil you seed into should be dampened and moist, but not wet. You can keep the soil moist very easily by using bottle-top waterers, which you can find here: bit.ly/3o2ho6r, though some local garden centers may have them. The idea is to be able to water the seeds and seedlings without blowing them out of the soil or making them bend and collapse when wet.

With all your supplies ready and before you sow your first seed, you need to set up a seeding schedule. To do this you need to know how long germination will take and the first safe date you can plant into the garden. If your plants remain inside too long they’ll get leggy and difficult to work with. Plan on at least two sowings about two weeks apart. This way you have a backup if the first sowing doesn’t work. Sometimes they don’t.

Lastly, there’s the need for warmth as most garden seeds won’t germinate in cold soil. The target is 68 to 72 degrees. Simple soil thermometers, either digital or analog, will be helpful and you may want to invest in a heating mat. Local garden centers carry these or you can buy them online similar to this one: bit.ly/35Y3I66.

Flats can also be covered with plastic domes to retain heat, but these domes must be off the flat in sunlight. (The seedlings will get fried in the sun). Excess moisture should not drip off the dome interior onto the seedlings. The more expensive domes are taller and have top vents. Some seed starting kids available at garden centers come with flats, cells and domes.

Don’t wait to buy your seeds and supplies. Long-lead-time veggies like peppers should be started soon, so fellow gardeners, time to garden. Keep growing.

In looking through this year’s catalogs I noticed at least three of them offering Heuchera Electric Plum. If you believe the Dutch Gardens catalog, this variety is on sale. Normally $35.99 for a 4-inch potted plant. Now on sale for $29.99. This is a pure and utter rip off, which might make you suspect about the rest of this catalog. Michigan Bulb (I hate them just as much) is offering the same plant for $11.49, and Plant Delights, one of the more expensive but best mail-order nurseries, offers the plant for $18. Dutch Gardens must think we’re pretty stupid. Are you?

Looking for unusual annuals to grow from seed? Take a look at selectseeds.com. Growing onions for the first time or have you had trouble in the past? Onions fall into one of three daylight routines, long-, intermediate- and short-day types. Plant a Vidalia up here and you won’t get much as it’s a short-day type. We, however, are at a latitude where long-day onions do best so a Walla Walla sweet would be a better choice. Each onion variety in the catalog should be tagged with which type it is. Burpee has an Onion Planting Map on page 42 of its 2021 catalog.