Indoor Seed Planning and Planting

The snow is melting! The birds are chirping!

Another winter is almost behind us and spring is just around the corner. Here in Wisconsin, our winter has been brutal. There were far too many days where a Polar Vortex brought arctic temps down our way forcing many to stay-in and bundled up... even more than usual!

But there is a glimmer of hope in all this cold... it is time to start planning your garden.

First thing's first... There is no point in planting seeds for a plant which is not going to thrive in your area. Don't know which zone you fall into? Check out this helpful planting zone map to get the scoop on what plants fair well in your region. Ours is Zone 5b.


Now on to the fun part of picking out the seeds for your future garden and imagining all the delicious food you can make. Take an inventory of any seeds you didn't plant last year, beware as they may not grow. We have, however, done this in the past with mixed success.

If you are in need of some seeds... You can check out your local garden center.
Or my favorite is to order from Botanical Interests seed catalog. In my opinion, this is a great source for quality, high-yielding seeds. Plus we love getting the catalog in the dead of winter.

If you're just starting to learn how to grow indoors, your may want to pick some plants that are easy to start from seed:

• Vegetables - Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Leeks, Lettuce, Onions, Peppers and Tomatoes.
• Herbs - Basil and Chives.
• Annuals - Alyssum, Cosmos, Marigolds and Zinnias.
• Perennials - Shasta Daisies, Columbines and Hollyhocks.

Here is what we have planned to start indoors for the 2014 season:

Broccoli
Lettuce - Romaine
Onion - Ringmaster
Pepper Chile - Early Jalapeño
Quinoa - Brightest Brilliant Rainbow
Tomato - Principe Borghese
Tomato - Red Siberian
Watermelon - Moon & Stars

Let's get planting.
The back of the seed packet usually specifies how many weeks to begin seeds indoors prior to the last frost in your region. Check out my tutorial on starting seeds indoors for step-by-step instructions.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Nothing says October like pumpkin carving. But do not just throw out those
jack-o-lantern seeds. You can easily roast them for a healthy snack.

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

seeds of one large jack-o-lantern pumpkin (about 2 cups)

Salted Seeds
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon salt

Seasoned Seeds
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Sweet Cinnamon Seeds
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon sugar

Preheat oven to 325 ° F.
Clean any pumpkin pulp off the seeds. I fill my sink or a large bowl with water and sort the clean seeds into a strainer.
Let the seeds drain most of the water off.
Place seeds into a bowl. Place the ingredients from your selected recipe in the bowl. Stir until well mixed.
Pour seeds onto a parchment paper or foil lined baking pan.
Bake for 20-30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.
Remove seeds from pan and allow to cool.

Enjoy!

Additional Activity:
We love to guess the number of seeds that will be in the pumpkin and then count them to see how close our guess was.

Hardening Off Seedlings

Seedlings have been enjoying quite a pampered life inside your home. They get watered regularly and do not have to deal with the wind. But my garden is outside. So how do I safely transition my seedlings from my house to the garden?

Hardening off seedlings is a gradual transition to strong sunlight, wind and cool nights that occurs over 7 - 14 days. This prevents your seedlings from going into shock. During this time you want to cut back on watering the plants just enough so they do not whilt.

1. Begin 7 - 14 days before you plan to plant the seedlings outdoors.
2. Place plants in a wind sheltered spot or pick a mild day. Allow the plants to be in sunlight for   3 hours per day.
   
3. Bring plants back indoors each night.
4. Increase exposure to sunlight a few additional hours at a time and gradually reduce frequency of watering, but do not allow seedlings to wilt.  Do not fertilize.
5. After 7 days, the plants should be able to handle sun all day and stay out at night, if temperatures stay above 50 degrees Farenheit. Make sure that the soil doesn't dry out and the plants get baked in the sun. 
6. After  7 - 14 days your plants are ready to transplant into your garden! Try to do this on a cloudy day if possible to reduce shock.  Water well after planting.

Thinning Out Seedlings

Your seeds have grown into seedlings! But you begin to notice that you placed a few too many seeds into the container because you have a handful of seedlings growing out of the same crack in the dirt.

To give your seedlings the best chance to grow you need to thin or remove some of the seedlings. This decreases the crowding of roots and allows the nutrients to reach only one plant. 

 

You want to thin out the seedlings after the first true leaves appear. True leaves are not the first set of leaves that grow from the seedling but the second set. The second set of leaves are the true leaves, these leaves are miniature versions of the mature plant's leaves.

Once the first set of true leaves appear you can remove all other seedlings in the pot that surround this plant. To remove the seedlings you want to clip them off at the soil line with a scissors. Do not pull, tug or rip out the unwanted plant. If you pull out the unwanted seedlings you can pull out the plant you wanted to save because the roots are intertwined.

You might be upset to just cut off your precious seedlings but this is the easiest way to assure your seedling growing stronger.

An alternate way to separate seedlings is to remove the bunch of seedlings from the container and carefully pull the seedlings apart. Then you can plant the individual plants in their own containers. This method can result in damaged plants that do not thrive.

If you are new to growing plants from seed you will want to take the easy way by clipping the seedlings off.

Grow little seedlings grow!

Indoor Seed Starting

 You got your seeds all gathered together and now you are ready to get them growing!
 Starting your seeds correctly will take you far this growing season.

Gather these things:

• Seed packets. Purchased at the store or mail-order. Check the backs of the packets to make sure they can be started indoors and not outdoors (direct sowing). The back of the packet will also tell you when you should start the seeds prior to your local areas last frost. The Farmer's Almanac can help you determine the best dates.
• Plant markers or wooden popscile sticks.
• Containers. Purchased, saved containers from last years plants or reuse kitchen food containers. The options are endless.
• Seed starting soil mix. Purchased and sterile. Don't dig up your yard as that soil contains bacteria. Don't give your seedlings a disease to fight off the bat.

Growing your own food and flowers from seed is very gratifying and economical (cheap). You can also prolong your growing season if you are faced with harsh winters like we are in Wisconsin. You can grow more varieties than your local nursery carries. Maybe you want to try growing yellow tomatoes or purple watermelon.

Where are you going to put these planters? Be conscience of the space you have to for these plants to grow in. Do you have limited space? Prioritize your seeds by space. For us we like to grow tomatoes, herbs, lettuce, peppers, and broccoli. Think about the sunlight they will need when they sprout or you can purchase a grow light at your local nursery.

Place containers in a larger one that is waterproof, to collect any run off water from the plant containers. We use an under the bed plastic storage bin and then place the saved planting containers from last year in it. Arrange the containers to maximize space.
You can purchase an all in one system and they are less than 5 dollars for one flat and you can reuse this year after year.

Then fill the containers with seed starting mix almost to the top. We purchase Jiffy Seed Starting Mix from Wal-mart. You can also use vermiculite or shredded moss.

Seeds only need water, air and warmth to germinate.

Water the almost filled containers with warm water until the soil is moist. Watering before you place your seeds will ensure that the seeds don't get washed into the corners of the containers.

Place your seeds on top of the soil. I always plant several seeds in each container as some seeds just don't germinate. You can always thin out the plants at a later time. Then top off the container with a small amount of soil.

Now stop and label your plants with your preferred plant markers. You can label the whole row or the individual plants. We used craft popsicle sticks and a permanent marker.

You can cover the planting container with the clear greenhouse cover if you have one. Don't put plants in a closed plastic bag as can cause mold to grow. You can place the planting trays in the sunny location or you can place them in a warm location to germinate. A warm location might be on top of the water heater, top of the refrigerator or by a heating vent. Or you can buy a heated germination mat. Most seeds germinate between 75 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Personally we don't have one of these mats. We place the trays in a sunny window and let the sun heat the soil.

Keep the soil moist but not wet. Check the soil every few days to see if re-watering is needed.

Then just wait to see the first signs of green poking through the soil in about 1 to 2 weeks.

Grow What? Here.

If you are new to gardening and growing your own food, don't despair!

First things first, you need to know what can grow where you live.

Zones:

Your planting zone will be your guide to assure that the plants you select will flourish year after year. The planting zone is particularly helpful if you select plants that are perennials, bushes, or trees.  Perennials are plants that will grow for more than two years and typically dies back in hard frosts.

Check out the USDA plant hardiness map to find your "zone".

We are zone 5b. Which means the weather can get to below -15 degrees Fahrenheit and our growing season come to halt with the arrival of winter.

You need to know what zone you are in to know if the plants and seeds you select to grow will do well where you live. For example oranges can't grown in Wisconsin because our growing season is too short, so I shouldn't order an orange tree on-line.

Zones on Seed Packets:

Zones are also noted on the back of your seed packets. But are not the same as the Hardiness Zones.

Confusing? Yes.

The zones on the back of seed packets guide you to know when to bring your delicate seedling outside that you have cared for over the last weeks. You want the seedling to grow outside as it will do better than inside your home.

According the back of the pictured packet of tomatoes we are living in the zone 4. In zone 4 it is May to June for this seed packet.

With this knowledge you can get the most out of the plants where you live.

Seed Inventory

As winter wears on, I am starting to get impatient for warmer weather.
As we live in Wisconsin (Zone 5b), we have to wait to get our hands dirty in the yard for another 30 plus plus days.

Enter starting seeds... inside.

Perhaps you have some seeds already. Be sure take them out and take an inventory.

If you are seedless, don’t worry you have options. You can still get seeds set to you from catalogs. I personally like Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, John Scheepers Kitchen Garden Seeds, and Pinetree Garden Seeds.
You can shop the stores. This week I saw that Aldi has seeds for $0.49 per pack!

We are trying to grow more heirloom seeds in an attempt to get things back to how they used to be done. But I also have a good amount of seeds that are hybrids that can grow food producing plants too.

Here is what we have: Basil Genovese, Broccoli Waltham, Gourds Small Fancy, Hot Peppers, Oregano, Parsley Dark Moss Curled, Peppers California Wonder, Peppers Red Mercury, Lettuce Prizehead, Pumpkin Jack-Be-Little, Pumpkin Jack O’Lantern, Tomato Beefsteak, Tomato Better Boy Hybrid, Tomato Roma, Tomato Rutgers-Select, Tomato Super Beefsteak, Watermelon Sugar Baby

For later on we have these for direct sowing (straight in the ground): Cantaloupe Hale’s Best, Corn Iochief, Cucumber Armenian, Cucumber Homemade Pickles, Indian Corn, Popcorn

If you don't know what to grow?  Pick some "easier" plants that tend to germinate (grow) well.
Vegetables - broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, leeks, lettuce, onions, peppers, and tomatoes.
Herbs - basil and chives.
Annuals - alyssum, cosmos, marigolds, and zinnias.
Perennials - shasta daisies, columbines, and hollyhocks.

Good Luck! Get Growing!