Starting Vegetable Seeds Indoors
Many people start their vegetable seeds indoors and transplant them into the garden once they have sprouted. This is a great way to get an early start on your garden, but it can also be tricky if you don’t know what you’re doing. We’ve put together 7 steps that will make starting vegetable seeds more successful!
Once you’ve decided on the plants you want to grow, you’ll need the following items:
- Plant seeds
- Seed Starting Containers/Trays
- Seed Starting Mix
- Light (either near a windowsill, or artificial lights)
Use a seed starting mix
Once you’ve decided on the plants you want to grow, you’ll need soil. You can purchase prepared seed starting mix from a garden store or make your own using peat moss and vermiculite (or perlite). The seed starting mix is a special type of soil that will keep the seeds moist, but not wet. This makes it easier to transplant them into your garden when they’re ready because you can just bury their roots in dirt and water regularly until then without worrying about rot or fungus destroying all those beautiful plants!
Fill your containers with the soil and seeds
The easiest container for starting seeds is in something like a seed-starting tray or even just a small pot with drainage holes at the bottom. The seeds should be planted at the depth indicated on the seed packet. Once you’ve got all your containers filled up (you can start more than once before winter), put them in an area that’s warm enough not frozen but cool during sunny days so as it won’t dry out too much indoors until then when their ready outdoors!!!
Keep moist at all times, but don’t overwater!
New seedlings prefer moisture in the soil to be moist rather than sopping wet. Too much water will cause young plants’ roots and stems (stems are what carry nutrients up from underground) to rot, which can lead them dying early on in life or never growing into a strong plant with good yield!
So make sure you don’t overwater those seedlings during this time as well-otherwise these little ones might die before making it outside! The design of your seed starting tray will usually help to avoid overwatering by allowing the plants to wick up the moisture they need.
Keep them comfy while they germinate
Place in a warm location (between 70-75 degrees Fahrenheit) with plenty of light for germination to take place
Usually this will mean having your trays indoors, near a window for natural light, or on the patio. This also means that you won’t want to store your seedling trays in an area with too much high humidity and low temperatures-like outdoors during winter!
You will need some sort if grow lights as well but these can be purchased at most department stores nowadays (just make sure they are plant/vegetable friendly!)
“Harden” your plants
When you see sprouts coming up from the soil, move them into an area where they can get more light, grow taller, and deal with some of the environment they’ll be planted into – this is called “hardening off” or “stratification”
To harden off your plants, you’ll want to move your seedlings outside for a few hours each day, and then back inside. You will increase the amount of time you harden them over a one to two week period. This will help them become more resistant against frost, wind or the cold of night as winter approaches so that you can enjoy fresh greens from an early harvest all year round!
Transplant your plants
Transplant outside into your garden or planters when weather permits (after your last frost!)
You’ve started your seeds, you’ve cared for your seedlings; now it’s time to plant those vegetables!
When you see roots coming out of the bottom, it’s usually time to transplant: move them outside in a sunny spot and cover with mulch or soil if necessary so that their delicate root systems don’t get too chilly at night as winter approaches Wait until there isn’t any more frost predicted before moving plants from indoors–that way all those hard work hours won’t go down in one sad, chilly night.
Conclusion
Starting seeds indoors is a great way to grow your own produce for any season! The best part of all? You’ll get fresh vegetables from an early harvest without investing too much money or effort by starting seeds indoors.