Starting your garden indoors

Starting your own vegetables from seed is a very interesting and fun thing to do.  Once you make the commitment it’s very exciting watching your seedlings sprout and grow.  The seedlings should be checked everyday, but they really don’t need very much care if you plant them in small green houses that are easy to make. The last frost date for Akwesasne is estimated to be May 15th, but there have been some frosts here as late as May 30th. You want to start your seeds 4 to 8 weeks before the last determined frost date.

Because they need heat to grow well, tomatoes and peppers need at least an 8-week start. You can also start lettuce, squash, cucumbers, and peas indoors, but in my experience, it is usually better to just start peas, beans, corn, radishes, carrots, beets, lettuce, spinach, melons, cucumbers, and squash directly into the garden. The seed packets will tell you when to start planting. I do however start some lettuce indoors because I just cannot wait to eat my own fresh grown lettuce.

It’s important to have a sunny window to start your plants in. Also, you will want to buy a good grade of seed starting medium/soil.  I have found that cake trays with plastic covers work best for my seeds/seedlings. They act like a miniature green house. I also found that buying single peat pots works best, too.  I fill each peat pot with the planting medium and place a few seeds in each pot.

When it comes time to plant outdoors, the attached type of peat beds are hard to get apart.  Many times the very sensitive root systems are broken when you try to separate them.  Shallow pans covered with plastic wrap work well, too, as greenhouses. The plastic cake and cookie pans and clear covers work best though because they usually have ridges on the bottom, which keeps the roots from being too wet and rotting.

It’s a good idea to mark your rows of starter plants so you know exactly what goes where when it comes time to put them out into the garden.  I use wooden Popsicle sticks and mark each one with a sharpie pen.  These are placed at the beginning and end of a series of the same seeds. If your plants are in covered trays in their peat pots, watering is usually minimal because the cover catches moisture, which falls back onto the seedlings. Be aware that your window may be very hot and dry out your peat pots quickly, so it is important to check them and be sure the peat pots stay moist. I leave a filled large spray bottle next to my planters.

The best place to get freebie flats or miniature greenhouses is at a nearby grocery store. Cake and cookie containers have clear plastic tops that snap onto the containers. Planting flats and containers with lids can also be purchased at local department stores. The key to getting seeds to sprout is moisture.  Lettuce seeds can go directly into the medium filled peat pots, but Tomatoes and peppers are best if you sprout them first. 

To sprout my seeds I take paper towels and wet them, fold them, and then place my seeds in a line on the paper towels. When there are enough on one piece, I fold it over and place on a dish in a warm area. This is kept wet with my spray bottle until they sprout. Every day I lift the paper towel to see if they have sprouted yet. Too much water is not good.  They need to be moist, but not drenched.  Seeds need moisture to sprout. Some people use sponges and even used tea bags to sprout their seeds.  However, you can just start them in the peat pots, and if they don’t sprout, then try the paper towel or other methods.

If you plant your seeds directly into the peat pots, be sure not to make your planting medium too wet. If it feels like mud to your finger, it is too wet. Do not plant seeds in dry soil medium because when you water them, they will float to the top. Make sure your medium is moist, but not drenched. If when you grab a handful, you can make a ball, it is too wet.  Tools for this project are minimal.

A pencil is a good tool to make the hole to place the seeds into, and old spoons are your digging tools.  Some people use egg cartons, cup cake papers, and used paper coffee cups, etc, instead of peat pots to start their seedlings.  I don’t recommend this because as was mentioned before, when it comes time to transplant the seedlings outdoors removing them from these vessels often damages and kills very sensitive roots. It also is not a good idea to plant them in those containers because they constrict the roots.  They must be removed to insure the roots can expand and grow.

Another important step is to be sure you harden off your new seedlings. When the seedlings reach a certain height, I start loosening the covers to their greenhouses or slitting the wrap on containers. This allows them to adjust to cooler temperatures and dryer air.  About a week before I plan to put them in the garden, I take them outside uncovered everyday.  I start by leaving them out for only an half an hour, but each day I leave them at least another half hour more until they are out there all day. This is called hardening them off.

Not all of my plants go into the garden. I like to keep some cherry tomato plants in large pots on the front porch.  I also have long planter trays of lettuce and herbs, like parsley and basil that I place on my front porch where they get good morning sun. The tomatoes are placed where the sun reaches them all day, but the lettuce is placed where they only get morning sun. Lettuce does not do well in heat. I found putting them in trays where I can move them around and away from the heat of the sun later in the day gives me a much longer supply of greens. Also, it is a good idea to have a plan to somehow cover your newly planted garden in the event we get a late killing frost.  I have used old clear shower curtains tied to pegs, I have used old white bedsheets, and I have used sheets of Plexiglas resting on cement blocks to cover the plants.

If you have cats, be sure to start your plants in a room closed off to them.  The urge to dig up, use your trays as a new litter box, and even eat the new seedlings is something cats just cannot resist.  If I can find it in a local store, I buy them those little starter pots of grass made especially for cats.  They come ready to place in a window and water.  Do not use grass seed bought for outdoor use as they are usually chemically treated and will seriously, if not fatally, harm your cats.

Lastly, try not to over seed your peat pots, or the seeds you plant directly into the garden.  Crowding is not healthy for the plants, and if you are like me, you will hate to have to thin them out.  Carrot seeds are especially tiny, so over-seeding is easy to do.  If you want nice big healthy carrots, you have to thin them out. I always feel bad to pull those little guys out, but I feel worse when at the end of the gardening season, I have stubby, skinny, pale colored carrots for the pot or salad. Believe it or not spring is just around the corner, so start planning your garden today!  The information on the back of seed packets will help you tremendously.  Experience teaches the rest.  Seeing seeds you planted push up their newly formed green heads is really a wonderful thing to experience. Watching them grow and then serving them at your table is quite rewarding.