How to Start Seeds

It’s rewarding to start your own seeds and grow varieties of flowers and vegetables that aren’t commonly found in garden stores or nurseries. Most seed packets or seed catalogs include specific instructions for starting the particular seed contained inside the envelope, but here are some general rules, hints and tips.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Seeds
• Potting mix
• Flats or large, shallow pots
• Trowel or shovel
• Gloves

1. Fill your flats or pots to about 1 inch of the top with potting soil.

2. After you fill your flat or pot with soil, gently pat it down to compress it a bit.

3. Give the flat or pot a gentle shower with the hose.

4. Scatter small seeds evenly over the surface of you flat or pot. For larger seeds, such as beans, poke holes of the correct depth into your potting mix.

5. Cover with soil, and then gently pat the soil down with your palm.

6. Gently sprinkle with water.

7. Put your flat or pot in a sunny place and remember to water it daily to keep the surface layer moist.

Tips & Warnings

• The black plastic flats you can get at nursery stores for a dollar or less work just fine.
• Make sure that you give the seeds plenty of room: if a seed packet has 300 seeds in it, for example, you’ll want to use an entire flat. Some packets have very few seeds in them; in this case, you can use a black plastic nursery pot.
• You can use a screwdriver or pencil to make holes for large seeds.
• Some seeds are called “light-dependent germinators,” which just means that they need sunlight in order to sprout. Your seed packet will mention this if it’s a requirement. In this case, all you need to do is scatter the seeds over the soil surface and then gently pat them into the soil with your palm.
• Some instructions might mention that it’s good idea to cover your seeds with clear plastic to keep them moist and warm. However, this can cause new sprouts to burn, shrivel and die if it gets too hot.