 Laura Oliver, of the Jericho Seed Library, gave her third annual TTJ “Starting Seeds with Ease” talk on March 18 at the Jericho Town Library. Twenty-four folks filled the space, getting motivated and informed in the first gardening step for many!
Whys Laura talked about the advantages of starting ones own seeds, saying that if you do a good job, your seedlings will be less stressed and healthier; plus, you’ll probably save money. She emphasized not starting them too early. Read the seed packets for when to start particular seeds indoors as well as a lot of other useful information. For plants with particularly long growing seasons such as brussel sprouts, starting them indoors provides a headstart. It also makes sense to start head lettuce indoors, whereas baby lettuce does better with direct planting. She named several other plants that simply do better with direct planting in the garden: peas, beans, corn, root veggies, cilantro, melons and squash. Trays Wind strip trays have become Laura’s number one choice in seed starting. Since they’re made of hard plastic, they’re economical, environmental and long lasting. They’re also less finicky to work with than soil blockers, Laura’s number two choice. Another option is up cycled plastic containers such as yogurt, but they’ll need holes drilled in the bottoms. While peat pots and newspaper crafted containers can work, egg cartons should be avoided, as the seedlings run the risk of becoming root bound. Soil and Prep Laura recommends using Vermont Compost Company’s Fort Vee mix for starting seedlings and Neptune’s Harvest fish emulsion for applying after three weeks. Laura advised placing two seeds per cell, perhaps more if the seeds are old, to ensure germination. Planting depth should be roughly two times the size of the seed. She was emphatic about growing just one plant per cell, and thinning with scissors rather than pulling. Water/heat/light To prevent damping off (a fungus disease seedlings are prone to getting) wait until the top of soil dries out and don’t over water! While heating pads are a great aid to germinating the seeds, Laura recommended not covering them with clear plastic domes. Remove seedlings from the heat and place under lights as soon as possible after the seeds germinate. Six inches is ideal from light source to seedlings. Starting with 18 hours of light per day at first, working ultimately toward 16 hours. Hardening off A necessary step before plants are transplanted to the garden, hardening off prepares seedlings for their placement in the garden. Place trays/pots outdoors, sheltered from wind and sun; the latter should be partial or filtered. You can start with six hours per day and work up to more, bringing them in at night unless it’s very warm. Once it’s consistently over 50 degrees at night, plants are safe to plant outdoors (they can also be covered for protection). Transplanting Make sure seedlings are well watered! If they’re root bound, you should carefully untangle them and spread roots in different directions. Applying fish emulsion when transplanting will give them a nice boost of nutrition. Soil testing Laura highly recommended this and...now is the time! https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/Department-of-Plant-and-Soil-Science/AGTesting/Garden_hort_questionnaire.pdf More information Check out Laura’s two previous Seed Starting presentations, reported on this blog in both March 2022 and 2023...good luck!! Comments are closed.
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