March 8 Column: Seed-starting

For this week’s column, I wrote about seed-starting: the supplies you need and the steps to go through in order to be successful. Here’s a link to it in today’s edition of The Spokesman-Review: Give seeds a good start with the right containers, soil and light. (or you can read my column lower in this post)

 

I’ve been starting my own vegetable and flower plants from seed for years. There is something so joyous about watching a tiny seed sprout and grow into a beautiful, productive plant! I’m sure you must share my feelings because we gardeners are a hopeful, optimistic lot, right?

If you’re curious about which seeds I’ve started so far, it’s not a whole lot because many seeds need to be started later. But indoors, I have celery, leeks and artichokes growing. Outdoors, using the winter sowing method, the poppies and onions just recently sprouted. Very exciting!

I wanted to share a lot more information with you about seed-starting. That’s the topic of this week’s “Everyone Can Grow a Garden” video, too. I hope you will find both the column and video helpful. And if you’ve never started plants from seed, make this the year to try it out! I guarantee you’ll be hooked. (and please see additional information below the video)

Fertilizer recommendation:

 In the video, I mentioned that I like to use a liquid fertilizer for feeding the seedlings. My favorite fertilizer is Drammatic Organic Fertilizer made by Dramm because it is made through more sustainable practices than companies that produce “fish emulsion.” As they state on their website, “Our organic fertilizer is made primarily from the waste produced from fish processing. We convert this into a renewable, organic fertilizer that helps replace chemical fertilizers on commercial farms, golf courses and gardens.” Since I had used up my container of Drammatic Organic Fertilizer last year, I didn’t have a bottle on hand to use in my video! Here is how they create their fertilizer, according to the information on their website:

“Dramm saves and processes over 4 million pounds of fish scraps and waste per year that would otherwise fill landfills, into an environmentally friendly fertilizer. By using waste products from fish processing facilities, Drammatic® Organic™ Liquid Plant Foods are an environmentally sound program that will help restore the earth’s biological soil web.

“Drammatic® Organic is made from fresh fish scraps processed at low temperatures to maintain the integrity of the naturally occurring amino acids, vitamins, and enzymes that are so essential to plant and soil health. This method produces a product called a “hydrolysate”.”

You can find this fertilizer at garden centers as well as Ace Hardware and True Value Hardware stores. It’s also available on Amazon.com.

Seed starting garden column:

by Susan Mulvihill

Seed-starting is the most important skill a gardener should have. While it might be easier to purchase seedlings at garden centers, growing your own plants from seed has benefits:

For one thing, you can grow unusual varieties that aren’t available elsewhere. It’s also more economical to grow a bunch of plants for the price of a packet of seeds.

Containers for seed starting

You will need containers with drainage holes, a sterile seed-starting mix, clear plastic domes or bags to cover your containers, and a light source.

Garden centers sell seedling flats without drainage holes that hold flat inserts with holes. These inserts come in sheets with different sizes of cells for planting your seeds in. Compressed peat pellets are another option: just rehydrate them, plant a seed into each one, and later plant each seedling – including the pellet — directly into the garden.

If you’d rather recycle some common household items for seed-starting containers, consider making individual pots with strips of newsprint, or using egg cartons, to-go containers, yogurt cups, plastic storage containers, or flower pots. Add drainage holes to all of these.

Seed starting soil mixes

Look for seed-starting mix (also called germination mix) at garden centers. It is important to use a sterile mix since young seedlings are susceptible to disease. Avoid using garden soil as it compacts easily and can contain pathogens.

A clear plastic dome lid or bag increases the humidity around your plantings, thus facilitating germination (sprouting). The lid or bag is only left in place until the majority of seeds have sprouted.

Consider picking up some finely-milled sphagnum moss at the garden center. This is a natural inhibitor of a seedling-killing fungal disease called damping-off and is sprinkled on the surface of the seed-starting mix after the seeds have been planted.

Seed starting light sources

Having a light source for your seedlings is very important. According to Leslie Halleck, author of “Plant Parenting” (Timber Press, 256 pp., $24.95), “Seedlings require intense amounts of light for specific durations; most windowsills simply are not bright enough, for a long-enough duration, for healthy seedlings.”

In the past, I’ve suggested sunny windowsills as good alternatives to commercial grow lights, but it is so important to meet the seedlings’ light requirements so they won’t stretch toward the light. If you’ve had good luck with a bright spot in your home, however, go with what works.

Basic steps for seed starting:

• Begin with clean containers; if they’ve been used before, wash them in a mild bleach solution of one part bleach to nine parts water.
• Lightly moisten the seed-starting mix and fill the container to a depth of 2 to 3 inches. Press it down gently to compact it.
• Referring to the seed packet, plant the seeds at the recommended depth.
• Sprinkle a very light layer of finely-milled sphagnum moss over the soil surface.
• Cover the container with a clear dome lid or clear plastic bag.
• Place the container under a grow light or in a very bright location.
• Remove the cover once most of the seeds have germinated. Monitor the soil moisture so it doesn’t dry out.
• Once the seedlings have a set of mature leaves, begin feeding them with a diluted nitrogen fertilizer such as fish fertilizer.
• When roots begin emerging from the bottom of the container, move seedlings into a larger pot if it’s too early to plant them outside.
• A week prior to transplanting them in the garden, slowly expose the seedlings to sunlight and temperatures to acclimate them.