Monday, February 26, 2018

Seed-Starting Indoors: A Seed’s Purpose

This article was written by Northern Hills Master Gardener Sharon Henry for the Black Hills Pioneer

I just finished a box of Kleenex while reading A Dog’s Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron and William Dufris.  Thinking about purposes in life led to the title of this article on seed starting. What is a seed’s purpose?

A seed’s purpose is to germinate and grow. Within their tiny and seemingly dead confines is an energy that will take bits of soil, light, air, and water and turn themselves into living, growing plants. Think acorn into oak. Think tomato seed into salads and BLTs all summer. And think about starting those seeds indoors.

With our short growing season, our annual plants can use a head start. You can buy your “starts” at our wonderful local nurseries or big box stores in late spring. Or get in on the process sooner and from its magical beginnings. Buying your seeds from seed-saving nurseries around the country allows you to choose varieties which are interesting, flavorful, and bred for resistance to diseases. Choose your vegetables based on the length of time it will take for them to ripen rather than play Russian Roulette with our first frost.

Once your seeds have arrived at your house in their little packets, read the packets. The packets tell you how soon you can start your seeds indoors – how many weeks before you must put them outside. You will learn the planting depth for your seeds. You will learn whether you should start a specific plant indoors or whether this plant would prefer that you wait and sow its seeds directly outdoors before or after the last frost. The packet knows!

Now that your timing is right and you’ve chosen seeds that like to be started indoors, provide your seeds with some essentials. Seeds need a light touch at the beginning so the tiny root hairs can develop. Use Sterile potting soil or sterile seed-starting soil. I’ve tried many reputable varieties of seed-starting mediums and the seeds don’t seem too particular.

Seeds also need both water and air. They need breathing room. Water gently at first so as not to drown the seeds. Another beginning watering technique is to regularly dampen your soil with a spray bottle of water until the plants are well-established. As the seedlings grow you can keep air circulating with a small fan.

Depending on the temperature of the seed-starting room, you may need a heating mat to aid germination. A clear plastic dome or supported plastic wrap over the pots until you see the first true leaves will help keep heat and moisture more uniform. If it looks like a rainforest inside my dome cover, I lift it for a little ventilation.

The biggest issue with indoor seed-starting is your light source. You may find that even in sunny windows your seeds seem to start well, but become “leggy”searching for enough light. Grow lights will help. Mine are florescent T-5 bulbs suspended from frames. I can start the lights right over the plants and raise the bulbs as the plants grow. I switch the lights on when I turn on the coffee machine in the early morning and switch them off as I head for bed.

 Left to their own devices outside in the snow and rain, in the cracks of cement walkways, in sun or shade, seeds have achieved their purpose and become plants. My sunflowers self-seed everywhere every year. But I know that the flowers of these self-sown plants are never as large or beautiful as the flowers from the new sunflowers I will sow in the flower beds.  And I love to try new varieties of vegetables. I watch the seed-magic potential unfold on the kitchen table under the grow lights, in the light and uniformly damp potting medium, with air circulated by the endless opening and closing of my kitchen door.

Here’s something fun to do which I learned from fellow Master Gardener, Barb Kuhlman. Take one of those disposable foil 9 X 13 inch cake pans with the clear plastic covers. Make holes for drainage in the bottom of the pan and holes for ventilation in the plastic cover. Fill with damp potting soil and plant some cold hardy greens seeds like Kale or spinach. Or some flower seeds like poppies that need cold to germinate. Then secure the lids and take those containers outside in a place where the dogs can’t get them. They will alternately freeze and thaw, under snow and in sunshine. In mid May open the cake pans and you will have little green seedlings to set out in your garden. These seedlings will be tough and resilient like the land that surrounds them.

Find some seeds and join some Master Gardeners at the Hills Horizon yearly Seed Swap. This year the swap is at the Spearfish public library meeting room on March 11 from 1:30-4:30. Come even with no seeds to swap. Local gardeners with both commercial and hobby gardens will be happy to answer your questions and share their expertise.


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