Growing Your Vegetable Garden from Seed

Its that time of year again and its time to start planning your garden. One of the first decisions is whether to grow your plants from seed or buy them all ready to plant from a nursery. There are good reasons for doing either one and we will explore them here.

Growing from seed takes into account two things that you might want to think about before going ahead with your garden. In order to grow from seed you will need more time, since you have to go through the whole growth cycle. When you buy the plants from the nursery they are ready to be put into your garden so you don't have to worry about seedlings coming up and taking care of them in the beginning. The other consideration is that growing from seed is cheaper than buying a transplant plant. One thing that I like about growing from seed is that you have the added feeling of accomplishment, plus its more cost effective overall.

If you do decide to grow your own plants you will need a warm and sunny area. If you live in the northern climates you will need a greenhouse or a greenhouse type environment. There are now hobby greenhouses that you can purchase or build. The main thing is it must be warm and sunny, with some humidity. Seeds thrive in this environment. Some of these hobby greenhouses are no bigger than a shelf and you can actually keep them indoors or out on your patio.

If you are lucky enough to have a big window in the south part of your house you may be able to grow your seeds here. Just remember that you need a lot of sunlight and it must be and stay warm. If you don't get enough sunlight and you need more you can now purchase fluorescent light fixtures with full spectrum grow lights. You need to get about 14 hours of sunlight and these come with timers. You can mount these right over your plants. Try to keep the temperature between 72 and 80 degrees during the day and no lower than 65 at night. If it stays too warm all the time the plants won't be as robust for planting outside later.

Now that we have talked about the temperature it is critical that we discuss the moisture. Seedlings need moisture to germinate and it aids in the early growth spurt. When planting the seeds your dirt mixture should include peat moss, this keeps the moisture in. Instead of pouring water onto your soon to be seedlings use a spray bottle to spray the soil. This way you won't over-water or wash away the seed.

If you have gotten this far with growing your plants from seed than this is a very important step that can't be missed. It will determine if you will have a successful garden or find yourself with several plants that fail outdoors. It is called hardening off of the plants. It is getting the plants accustomed to the outdoors. It is as easy as just putting your plants on your patio or deck during warm and sunny days for approximately a week before transplanting them into your garden. If you can't do this in your climate you can simply lower the temperate where your plants are located. This gets them ready for the variable temperatures of outdoor growing.

Now you have enough information to grow your garden from seed. You will feel a sense of accomplishment and also save money if you do this. You will be the pride of you family and your neighbors will be jealous. So get out there and get the garden ready.