Starting your seeds may seem like a daunting or even nerve racking task. Saying that, growing your own fruits and vegetables is are ways to guarantee that you know the following; 1) Where your food is coming from. 2) The conditions of where your food was grown in. 3) That you have the tools necessary to "live off of the land". 4) Ties very closely with #3, Ensures food security.
According to the Times Magazine, "By 2050, with the global population expected to reach 9.8 billion, our food supplies will be under far greater stress. Demand will be 60% higher than it is today, but climate change, urbanization, and soil degradation will have shrunk the availability of arable land, according to the World Economic Forum. Add water shortages, pollution, and worsening inequality into the mix and the implications are stark."
This may seem a little over the top, but as time goes on we may need to rely on our own "means" to have a sense of food security in the world we live in.
Gardening can consist of growing a variety of things; fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers (for consumption and/or pleasure). Gardening for production of food can consist of obtaining plants by two ways.; purchasing matured plants from a producer directly (local farms, Co-Ops, farmer's markets, etc) or from a major retailers (Walmart, Home Depot, Lowes, etc.). Another way is starting them yourself. There are pros and cons of each and preference can vary from person to person.
The pros of purchasing your seedlings from your preferred source is it speeds up production time for harvesting your crop. This can be beneficial if you live in an area with a shorter grow season like I do. I have bought matured tomato and pepper plants over the past few years because honestly, one it's easier and I have a much higher chance of having something to harvest and two I'm trying to work on growing methods with other plants at 10,200 ft. At some point, I plan on working on my method of starting my own tomatoes and peppers from seed. Another positive of buying matured plants is it can be overwhelming and scary to start your seedlings by seed. There is ABSOLUTELY no shame in buying your seedlings, especially if you want to start out at a beginner level and learn how to take care of a more matured plant before taking on growing your own from seed. Buying from a local producer is also a great option because you are supporting a local business. For me, I describe local as a business in my general area where I live within an hour or so drive in any direction. We don't have a ton of options in my town where I live so I often have to drive to surrounded areas to get what I need. I also consider "local" within the state of Colorado. The "cons" if you want to consider them as that, can be you are accepting the production methods of others. Depending on the scale of the facilities, the practices may not align with your preferred methods.
Now the next big question is, which seeds do I buy?
You can ask 20 different gardeners what their favorite brand of seeds are and I can almost guarantee that you will get 20 varying answers. I personally have always had great luck with Lake Valley Seeds from Boulder, Colorado and I've recently tried Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds and so far have been very happy with the results. I have also had luck with Burpee brand seeds but prefer to support more transparent smaller companies. Seeds vary in price depending on what the seeds may offer. Heirlooms tend to be more costly. Heirloom seeds come from open-pollinated plants that pass on similar characteristics and traits from the parent plant to the child plant. Heirloom plants are are often organic (no use pesticide or other harmful chemicals) but can be non-organic (may be cases when chemicals do get involved). Heirloom refers to the heritage of a plant, while organic refers to a growing practice. I tend to purchase more heirloom or organic seeds but everyone has their own preference. When looking at seeds, ALWAYS look at the date to maturity/growing time and also have a general idea if something will grow where you live. To learn more about what zone you live in please refer to the What is your Hardiness Zone post. For example, growing tomatoes from seed in a zone 3-4 probably is not going to be successful for me, unless I start them inside and then grow them in a greenhouse. I tend to shoot for cold hardy and root crops like lettuces, kales, beets, potatoes, snap peas, radishes, turnips and crops similar to these. I will say, when I first moved here MANY people said I would never be able to grow any type of squash. I have successfully grown yellow squash and zucchini. Please keep an eye out for future posts about the different hardinesses of vegetables and fruits.
What supplies do you need?
Similar to the preferred brand of seeds, many gardeners will have their own preference on how to start seeds. I've tried a variety of ways that I will list below and describe the pros and cons of each. I prefer to keep things as simple and cost effective as possible. I initially started out with two Jiffy mini greenhouse that can be purchased at many chain stores or online. There are several mini greenhouse options; growing pot style, peat pod style, or the plastic seed starter tray style. I have tried all three and at this time I prefer the plastic seed starter tray. With having such a short growing season, I have to start most things inside and with the peat pellets I always seem to have to transplant my seedlings more quickly than when I use pot style or the seed starter tray options. I feel like I don't lose as many roots with transplanting when not using the peat pellets. You can see the roots on the image below that I've experienced with using the peat pellets. The jiffy peat pots work well too but I feel like over time they start to disintegrate and get very flimsy after being watered over time with starting seeds indoors.
You may be one of the lucky ones and don't have to start seeds inside and you can direct sow them into the ground. Some things for you to keep in mind before doing so is to make sure you have a good nutrient rich soil. You can send off a soil sample off to be tested or you can simply mix some fertile soil or compost into your existing soil. When using compost made from manure from animals YOU NEED TO MAKE SURE IT'S AGED! If it is not aged, you run the chance of bacteria making you and others sick after consuming the affected crop. Bacteria is killed during the aging process.
For both starting seeds inside and direct sowing you must remember to utilize the information on the back of your seed packet. Please refer to the Do you read the back of your seed packet post for more information. You will want to make sure that you sow your seed at the correct depth to help increase the odds of a seed to sprout. I always wet the soil prior to planting to make sure you do not cause the seed to move too much or sink deeper in the soil with watering. I use Jiffy Seed Starter mix when starting any of my seedlings indoors and when I don't use the peat pellets. I put the dry soil mix in a container and add water until it's a fairly moist fluffy consistency but not muddy. I then add the soil to my containers and then by using a dowel with marked depths of 1/8th to an 1 inch marks I make the desired depth holes. I then place the seeds into the hole but wait to cover until all seeds have been placed. You will want to keep the soil wet as germination happens. I also use the covers that come with the mini greenhouses to help create a more humid and wet atmosphere.
I like to keep track of what seeds I plant by making a little diagram of what planting tray in a gardening journal. I make a note of the number of new sprouts and what they are each day to get a good idea of my germination rate.
Now it's the hard part. Waiting. Depending on the number of days to germination, you should see your seedlings before too long. I like to have a list of what I've planted and a days to germination number listed next to it so I can keep track of the number of days before I can anticipate seeing a spout. You will want to place your planted seeds in a well lit area depending on where and how you start your seeds. I am now utilizing grow lights to start my seeds but successfully started my seeds in the west facing window sill of our living room for many years. When using window sills, you need to make sure there aren't great fluctuations in temperature and that you don't FRY your seedlings with or without the cover on. As the seedlings grow, you will want to remove the cover completely to allow them more room to grow. I would put them in the window mid morning once the sun starting coming in the window and then would move them to a side table during the hottest parts of the day and removed them completely from near the window before it got too cold in the evening. It was a pain but it worked.
Please contact me if you have further questions. I would love to see and hear about what your methods are for starting your seedlings.
HAPPY GROWING!
Link for the referenced Times magazine https://time.com/5216532/global-food-security-richard-deverell/
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