Our Wisconsin growing season is too short for some vegetables to ripen or flowers to bloom if you wait to plant them outdoors in May. They need a head start indoors.
Starting seeds indoors is easy and doesn’t cost much. Use a sterile soiless seed starting mix and a container that drains well. There will be several options in the store next to the seed starting mixes, or use tin cans, egg cartons or the black plastic containers you bought greenhouse plants in last year.
Fill the container with seed starting mix to ¼ inch from the top and wet the mix thoroughly. Spread the seed over the mix evenly, or put one or two seeds in each compartment of a divided container. Cover the seeds lightly with more soiless mix to the depth suggested on the seed packet. Press the mix firmly onto the seeds and water gently without disturbing the seeds. Use a fine spray or gently tip water off a small spoon onto the planting mix.
Cover the container with plastic. Purchased planting containers often come with clear plastic covers, but if you are using a homemade container, just slip the entire thing inside a clear plastic bag and close it with a twist tie.
Place the container in a warm, bright place and keep it covered until the seeds germinate. Remove the cove and water as needed to keep the soiless mixture moist. Turn the container once a day so the seedlings grow straight.
When the seedlings pop up they first develop cotyledons, which look like leaves but are really food storage cells. Next a set of true leaves forms. At this point, the seedlings need fertilizer. Use a half-strength fish emulsion, compost tea or manure tea for the first three weeks. After that, use full strength fertilizer every 10 – 14 days.
Now the seedlings need to be transplanted to a larger container, either another flat with wider spacing or individual containers. Fill the container with moist potting soil. Carefully lift the seedlings with a spoon or fork. Handle seedlings by their leaves rather than their stems – if the stem is crushed the seedling will die, but it can always grow a new leaf.
Use a pencil to make a small hole in the potting soil of the new container and place the seedling slightly deeper than it was growing in the seed flat. Gently press the soil around the roots and water well.
Transplants often droop or wilt but recover quickly if properly cared for. Keep them in good light, but not full sun, for several days and fertilize with half strength fertilizer once a week. Be sure to keep the soil moist.
Transplant the seedlings to the garden in mid-May. Before they go out they need to be hardened off by placing the containers in a shady protected area for several hours each day, gradually moving them to the sun for short periods of time. Bring them indoors at night. Increase the length of time they stay in the sun each day for a couple weeks. Watch them closely to make sure they don’t dry out.
Choose a cloudy day to plant them out, or do so in the evening. Cover them with upended berry baskets, milk jugs, or floating row covers to keep them out of intense sun for a few days. You’ll be so pleased when you harvest your vegetables or pick your flowers. Nothing is better than doing it yourself!
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