Try starting your vegetables from seed

Starting vegetables from seed gives us the opportunity to grow more varieties than what is available to us as seedlings in garden centers and nurseries. But how do we go about it? Let’s look at a seed packet first.

It tells us when to plant the seeds and if they can tolerate being transplanted, or if they need to be sowed directly into the garden. It tells us how deeply to plant the seeds and how much space the plants need.

Most importantly, it lists how many days it takes for the vegetables to mature. Our growing season has about 120 frost-free days from mid-May through mid-September, although cool-season crops get an earlier start. Select varieties that mature quickly. For example, some tomato varieties require 120 days to mature. Even though that’s the length of our season, the “days to maturity” refers to the number of days after the seedling has been transplanted into the garden. Choose tomatoes that mature in 55-80 days, like ‘Early Girl,’ ‘Oregon Spring’ or ‘Goliath.’ Use a calendar to determine the best time to start your seeds, based on when it will be safe to transplant the seedlings into the garden.

Seed-starting containers can be plastic multi-celled inserts, egg cartons, or Styrofoam seed-starting kits with water reservoirs. I recently attended a workshop given by Master Gardener Steve Nokes and picked up several good tips for starting seeds. He recycles half-gallon plastic milk jugs cut in half lengthwise for containers.

Next, you’ll need a seed-starting mix. Do not use garden soil as it is heavy, difficult to keep evenly moist and can contain pathogens. A seed-starting mix that contains peat moss and perlite is very light, making it easier for germinating seeds to push through and retains moisture well.

Most vegetable seeds can be dropped into the soil but some seeds need to be planted in a particular direction. Plant bean seeds with the scar side – I call it the “belly button” – facing down. Corn and squash seeds need to be planted with the pointy end down. This might seem silly but a seed only contains so much energy. If you plant it in the wrong direction, it expends energy trying to orient itself correctly and often dies in the process.

After planting, Nokes lightly sprinkles milled sphagnum moss, found in garden centers, over the soil surface because it is a natural fungicide. Have you ever started seeds and one day the seedlings look healthy, but the next day they’ve all fallen over? This is called “damping-off,” caused by a fungus that can quickly wipe out your seedlings.

Place the planted containers into plastic trays. If you intend to start your own seeds every year, a heat mat is a useful tool. All seeds require temperatures that promote germination. Tomato seeds need a soil temperature of 70 degrees to 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Place a heat mat in the bottom of the tray, then put your planted containers on top of it. Heat mats cost about $30 and will last for years. Cover the seed trays with a clear plastic dome to retain humidity.

Place your containers under lights or on a sunny windowsill. Nokes uses a combination of one “grow light” and one cool white fluorescent bulb, rather than two grow lights which are expensive. Keep the lights on for 16 to 24 hours a day until the seedlings are ready to be transplanted.

Monitor soil moisture closely; it should be lightly moist, not soggy.

Seed packets provide instructions on transplanting or thinning the seedlings.