Seed Starting 101: What to Know + How to Grow
A Q&A Cheat Sheet to Get Growing
Hi friends! Happy Spring! Why is it that the dullest winter ever was one of the hardest ones I can recall? For one, if you’re a parent you probably also faced a depressingly long season plagued by sickness. Plus, it felt as though every day was the same as the last — a cold, gray blah period of waiting that I struggled to enjoy this year more than any other. I’m grateful that seemingly overnight the weather gods got the memo that spring has arrived because this week has been the first in a long while I’m feeling a skip in my step, I can smell the newness around us outside (truly, I’ve regained a sense of smell after a 3 month absence thank you Covid) and I’ve grown deliriously giddy with excitement to dig in (literally) to garden season again.
I get a lot of questions year after year about gardening ranging from “how do I start a garden?” to “should I start my seeds inside?” to “what should I plant,” etc. All good questions and, in my opinion, there are no silly questions and no dumb questions when it comes to gardening. First, some caveats — I’m not an expert gardener and there are a billion more qualified people to ask than me BUT I do fancy myself smart enough to be dangerous in the garden. In other words, I can help you find your sea legs when it comes to some basic garden setup and share what’s worked (and not worked) over the last 10 years of my own “trial and error” gardening journey. Second, I live in southern New York, about an hour north of NYC. My advice and daily adventures on Instagram are tailored for folks who live in/near my region, specifically the Northeast. If you live in a dry, hotter / warmer (or cooler!) climate, your growing season will vary tremendously. I’m in Zone 7A. Not sure what your growing zone is? Find out via this map! This is especially important if you invest in perennial (those that return year after year) herbs and plants as some are only cold hardy in certain climates. Rosemary is a good example. In very mild winters we might get it to rebound but most often it never survives our cold snaps up North. (You can however bring it inside for the winter and put it back out in spring). Zones and guidelines are great but remember this rule: nothing is black and white when it comes to gardening.
With all this said, I'll do my best to provide some regular guidance this season on topics like garden planning, maintenance and general troubleshooting. If you have any specific Qs, you are always welcome to send me a note. It fills my cup to help others grow their own! Let’s kick things off with Seed Starting 101… but if you just want to know what I’m up to in my garden and follow along on my seed selections, scroll below. I’m sharing it all!
Q: SHOULD I GROW PLANTS FROM SEED?
Short answer: Yes, No & Maybe.
If you’re planting crops that are reliably easy to grow directly in the ground, go all out! Look for frost-hardy early spring veggies that can take a bit of a beating and can be planted “as soon as the ground can be worked.” Look for plant maturity dates 60 days or less for fast victories (hint: planting a french breakfast radish is my favorite spring vegetable to recommend. From dirt to devoured is less than a month!)
Direct sowing (planting seeds directly in the ground) is undoubtedly the most fail-safe way to feel the thrill of gardening and the simplest route to delicious veggies. It’s also the most economical - a packet of seeds might run you $3 for 200 seeds. Just one nursery seedling could cost more than that!
Unfortunately, not every plant can handle outside conditions right from the start and some need to be started (and coddled) inside for weeks before the weather is warm enough — like the famously finicky tomato. If a seed can be direct sowed, I usually opt for that method 9 out of 10 times.
Starting seeds inside is not something I did when I first started gardening but it’s important to know that if you are hell bent on growing tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, celery (and many other varieties) your only choices are to either:
(A) start them inside under cover early in the spring or
(B) buy them as seedlings from a local nursery / garden center or farmer’s market.
Another reason to grow your own? You can really explore a diverse library of options.
There are three reasons I would compel you to NOT grow seeds inside:
1) IF YOU ARE BRAND NEW TO GARDENING: Pass on the indoor seed starting for now. Get comfortable with planting easy-to-grow crops directly in the soil and score some wins. Start small and scale from there, growing items you love and that are known to be reliable varieties in your region. (Ahem, plant those breakfast radishes!)
2) IF YOU DO NOT HAVE SPACE INSIDE: “Space” = a sunny (ideally Southern-facing) windowsill that gets 8+ hours of light a day OR space to accommodate a grow light structure / lamp. (Note: you do not need a fancy over-the-top growing area. These grow lights could give you enough of what you need if you have a small space. I use a three-tiered grow light structure.)
3) IF YOU ARE TRAVELING / ON THE GO / LIFE IS TOO BUSY: Starting seeds inside means you do have to tend to them, make sure they’re getting enough water and week to week adjust conditions like lighting and look for problems like fungus or yellowed leaves, etc. You don’t need a huge amount of time but if life feels particularly harried over the next few weeks, skip the seed starting and focus on growing outside.
Q: WHAT PLANTS NEED TO BE STARTED INSIDE?
If you live in a region like mine, you are faced with the seasonal dilemma of stretching out the growing season both at the front end of spring and before the scorching hot days of summer.
In the spring, the days are far too cold to start warm season vegetables like tomatoes and peppers but those seeds require a longer runway of growth before they will be ready for harvest. Here’s an example: most of my heirloom tomatoes require 80-90 days of growth AFTER they are transplanted. So if I’m starting those seeds inside 6-8 weeks before my last frost date (end of April) that means I’m planting tomato seeds in March and I will have to wait upwards of five months until I get to enjoy those tomatoes.
Many people in my region also choose to start spring vegetables inside early so they can get a jump start on the season. Spring temps can quickly transition into brutal summer heat which stifles growth and can shorten the period of time a crop is productive. I’ve seen this happen many years with lettuce. It’ll be doing great and then we get a few abnormally hot days and it begins to bolt (send shoots upwards to go to flower), the crop starts to turn bitter and the leaves burn out. I promise gardening is fun but it definitely leaves you on your toes year after year!
Here’s a list of the most common plants to start inside:
Tomatoes
Peppers
Cucumbers
Celery
Alliums (Leeks + Onions, etc.)
Cabbage
Cauliflower + Broccoli
Brussels Sprouts
Eggplant
Many flowers (e.g., marigolds)
Many herbs (e.g., basil)
Q: HOW DO I KNOW WHEN TO START MY SEEDS?
The answer to this question is different based on where you live. Find out when your first frost date and last frost dates are here.
Your FIRST frost date is the date on average that you are most likely to see frost appear in the fall. For me, it’s always around Halloween.
Your LAST frost date is the date on average that you are most likely to see frost stop in the spring. For me, it’s always the third week of April.
If you are growing from seeds, packets will offer guidance on when to plant them but the specificity varies. You might see directions like: “Start inside 6-8 weeks before the last frost date” OR “Start outside as soon as the soil can be worked” (which is exactly what it sounds like). If you elect to plant all season long, consider how long plants take to mature to determine when your last planting date will be. Most fall crops need to go in the ground by June or July but some can be planted as late as August.
Thanks to modern technology, garden planning is FAR simpler today. Some sites will actually do all the thinking for you like this planting calendar from the Farmers’ Almanac. Simply plug in your ZIP code and poof! They’ll give you all the growing guidance you need based on where you live.
I always caution friends that while these averages and guidance are mostly on target, I am overly cautious with sensitive summer crops like tomatoes and peppers. People get aggressive in late April when we get a string of hot days and they feel ready to put those nursery seedlings out or transplant them from under lights inside to the ground.
DON’T DO IT.
Our climate has become unpredictable in recent years and we’re just as likely to get a 90-degree day as we are a mid-May freak frost that could ruin all your hard work. My rule of thumb is to wait until after Mother’s Day and then check that 10-day forecast. If it looks relatively warm and night temps are 60 or higher, you’re ready to roll!
Q: WHAT KIND OF EQUIPMENT DO I NEED?
OUTSIDE:
If you’re planting directly in the ground, I HIGHLY recommend using raised garden beds. They allow for better drainage and warmer temps in the soil than you’d otherwise find in areas of your yard. You can better control and mitigate pests and weeds and they hold moisture more effectively than smaller containers. If you’re handy, you can make them yourself. If you’re not, I recommend these kits from Gardeners Supply. The cedar might rot out after a few years but I was able to simply pop in a new piece of untreated cedar from my local lumber yard. If you’re building a garden from scratch, consider things like fencing to protect from critters, hardware mesh to line the bottom of a raised bed (keep out voles + moles!), weed cloth to fight back the weeds, etc. This page offers a good step-by-step guideline for installing hardware mesh to keep out pests. I’d recommend putting weed cloth / landscape fabric down after and adding soil on top.
The magic ingredient to a garden is a ratio of 50% compost to 50% soil (topsoil or potting is fine but topsoil is cheaper). I love using Coast of Maine’s Lobster Compost!
INSIDE:
If you’re starting seeds inside you’ll need:
A place to grow them (sunny windowsill with 6-8+ hours of light a day) or a grow light system (small space or larger space).
A vessel to grow them in (grow kits are easy and now many of them are reusable!)
Soil (see above!)
Garden Markers to indicate what you’re planting. I love these. I use them outside, too.
