{"id":5080,"date":"2010-03-31T08:57:34","date_gmt":"2010-03-31T13:57:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crankymouse.com\/?p=5080"},"modified":"2010-04-02T17:12:17","modified_gmt":"2010-04-02T22:12:17","slug":"when-to-start-your-seedlings-indoors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/2010\/03\/31\/when-to-start-your-seedlings-indoors\/","title":{"rendered":"When to Start Your Seedlings Indoors"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nGardening can be difficult if you aren’t familiar with it. I mean, when do you start seedlings from seeds, and when do those seedlings get put in the ground, and what is the frost date for my hardiness zone, but first, what is a hardiness zone?
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This year we are starting most of our plants as seedlings. Then there are still a few plants we decided we’d just purchase at the farmer’s market in May. This might have to do with the fact that I am a farmer’s market addict, and it will give me another reason to wander up and down the rows, spending inordinate amounts of time people watching and taking it all in. Either way, we’re starting several seedlings to go in a raised bed, and we’re using our recycled seedling trays<\/a> for the job.
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1. First, decide what to plant.<\/h2>\n

I mentioned in the seedling post that we’d be letting the kids pick a plant that they would be in charge of. For the rest of our plants, we decided to grow things that we eat a lot of. For us this means lots of fresh herbs, broccoli, green beans, shallots, lettuces, spinach, 4 different kinds of tomatoes and several different peppers in addition to the zucchini, pumpkins and carrots that the kids picked and the watermelon that Ole picked. We’ll also continue to grow our strawberry and raspberry plants this year.
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You may have a completely different mix of things to grow. Your mix of plants may be completely different. Try to pick things you know you eat a lot of or wouldn’t mind eating a lot of, or choose items you’ll be able to can or freeze for consumption during the cold winter months.<\/strong> Once you’ve decided what you’ll be planting and have chosen the seeds, you can prepare to plant. There are a few things to consider here before we actually plant anything in the ground, though.<\/p>\n

2. Figure out your last frost date.<\/h2>\n

This day will be determined by where you live. There are several charts<\/a> out there that can help you pinpoint the date to determine when your seedlings can grow in the ground. Your last frost date is important when considering when to start your seedlings because if you start them too early, you’ll end up with plants that have outgrown their containers<\/strong> and no ground to plant them in. Planting before your frost date could mean disaster if you get a cold spell that freezes all your new plants. However, there are some plant varieties that can tolerate a light frost, like spinach and broccoli.<\/p>\n

3. Look at the germination period on seeds.<\/h2>\n

Generally you want to start seedlings 4-6 weeks before your last frost date; however, some seeds have a shorter germination period so the time from seed to seedling is not as long. We’re about 6 weeks from our last frost date here, so we started the seeds with the lower germination period, and we’ll plant a few more in another week or two for the plants that require less time to germinate. This will also help them from outgrowing their pot before we can get them in the ground. If your seed packet doesn’t list the germination period, Google is always your friend.
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4. Plant your seeds.<\/h2>\n

Once you’ve determined when to plant your seeds, you can plant a few in each container. We generally start with more than one seed just in case any don’t take. When more than one plant pops up, we simply thin down to the largest one, or we can always carefully replant those other sprouts in extra pots. Plant your seeds according to the planting depth listed on the package or slightly less. Be careful not to plant too deep.<\/strong> <\/p>\n

5. Care for your seedlings.<\/h2>\n

Keep the seedling tray watered and moist, but don’t drown the plants. We water ours from the bottom by adding water directly into the tray. This way the soil soaks up the water from the bottom and it is easier not to drown the tiny seedlings. Keep your seedlings in a warm environment to stimulate the growth and wait. Once the seedlings emerge, you can remove the lids. Place your plant near the sunlight, and on warm days, place it outside so that the seeds are exposed to wind and the elements.<\/strong> This will help prevent plants that grow tall and thin and can’t support themselves.
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\nWhat are you growing in your garden this year?<\/strong>
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\nCheck out goodLife {eats}<\/a> and CookGrowEat for more gardening information!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Gardening can be difficult if you aren’t familiar with it. I mean, when do you start seedlings from seeds, and when do those seedlings get put in the ground, and what is the frost date for my hardiness zone, but first, what is a hardiness zone? This year we are starting most of our plants […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23,88,21,14],"tags":[365,364,366,363],"class_list":{"0":"post-5080","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-featured","7":"category-gardening","8":"category-going-green","9":"category-the-kitchen-sink","10":"tag-caring-for-seedlings","11":"tag-starting-seedlings","12":"tag-starting-your-garden-indoors","13":"tag-when-to-plant-seeds","14":"entry","15":"has-post-thumbnail"},"mv":{"thumbnail_id":null,"thumbnail_uri":null},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5080"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5080\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5167,"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5080\/revisions\/5167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crankymouse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}