How to Start Your Seed for Your Garden Inside

Apart from the satisfying process of nurturing little green seedlings under your roof, practical reasons exist to start some of your seeds indoors. First, well-established young plants will produce earlier, thus giving you a longer picking season. Second, you will know just what condition your plants came from, unlike the ones you by at nurseries which may have had chemicals used on them to aid in growth and or to keep pest off of them. I try to buy all my seeds from Heirloom Organics, this way I know there is no chemicals.
http://www.heirloom-organics.com/or/organicvegetableseeds.html

1. Make sure to follow the planting guidelines for how early to start seeds indoors before planting them outside. Some seeds can be started indoors a couple of months early, while other seeds should be started within weeks of transplanting them outdoors.

2. Use the right soil to start your seeds in. I have found that potting soil is terrible for starting seeds in. Yes, potting soil is rich in nutrients but the soil is very light and can allow the seed to be uprooted when watered even lightly. I prefer a mix of good garden soil and compost soil. You will get a nice medium bodied soil with loads of nutrients. You can also purchase seed starting soil from garden centers which works just fine.

3. Make sure you have adequate lighting available for your plants. During the first week or two while the seeds are just starting to germinate, sunlight is not as important. However, once the seedlings emerge from the soil sunlight becomes very important. Adequate lighting can be natural light from a window or artificial lighting from fluorescent or plant lights.

4. It is usually best to make sure the plants (especially during germination) are in a greenhouse type environment. Store bought mini "bio domes" work great as well as putting them in a clear sided container with some plastic or even saran wrap over the top. You can remove the plastic lid on your container once almost all of the seedlings have emerged. Having an enclosed area will help keep the soil warm and moist.

5. Make sure to water the plants but not too much. The soil should be kept just damp and not soaking wet to the touch.

6. I like to start my seeds in peat pots which can be found in many different sizes. These pots allow you to transplant the seedlings to the garden without disturbing the root system since the whole pot gets buried in the ground. If timed correctly I find that the peat pots are almost falling apart by the time I plant them.

7. Before transplanting (minimum a week) your seedlings to your garden, be sure to harden off the seedlings to the outdoor conditions by setting them out in a sunny location during the day then bring them inside if the temperatures dip to low in the evenings. This will reduce further the transplant shock that the plant can go through when they are planted to the garden.