Planning a Playful Garden Pt. 3

To seed or not to seed, that is the question we’re covering today. I’ll admit, I’m not great at starting seeds. Each seed tray has 72 cells, and those are all individual plant babies that need light, water, nutrients - aka daily attention. Y’all know that I’m on team automated-water, so hand-watering 72 little seed babies is a practice I often don’t perform at 100-percent. I do try to start at least one tray of seeds per year, though, just to find more ways to improve my gardening skills, especially in the winter. This year, I’m planning to set a daily alarm for watering while I have my coffee so I make sure to tend to all those little babies.

Are you wondering which of your plants to start from seed? Take a look at your planting plan that you made alongside last week’s blog and make a list of what to direct-seed and what to start indoors. Here’s mine again:

Now let’s review what’s being direct-sewn and what’s starting inside:

Direct-Seed: Small and swift plants should be direct-sown. Think plants like arugula, most head lettuces, carrots and radishes. These plants grow swiftly and stay small, and you often plant the most of these as you can fit a lot in a small space. Some plants like carrots and radishes have to be direct sown (they don’t like their roots disturbed at all), while others can be started indoors (like lettuces if you want to neatly arrange them when planting). If you have sections of your planting plan where there are a lot of one type of plant in an area (e.g. carrots, cilantro and parsley on my plan), go ahead and sow those directly when the package suggests (typically in late February or early March for us in Boise).

Start Indoors: Large and long plants should be started indoors (or planted as transplants when the nurseries get them in). Think the plants that take a long time to grow and grow large - like your tomatoes, peppers, etc. Most of your fruiting plants will need to be started indoors if you’re planning to grow your own. These will likely also be less in terms of quantity on your planting plan, too. Don’t feel bad if these fail when you start them indoors - you can always snag some transplants from the nursery when it’s time for them to go in the ground.

So take a look at your planting plan and determine what you’re planting from seed or from plants. Check out the list below based on the plan I made.

Now that we know what we’re starting indoors, you can feel confident when you go shop for seeds that you aren’t overbuying. Remember, try to find seeds that are local to your area (S/O to Snake River Seed Co-Op!) and choose varieties that will excite you during the growing season like different types of kale or basil, or even some fun pumpkin spice jalapeños (yes that’s a thing!). This is a great opportunity to play in your garden, so have fun picking seeds!

Next week, I’ll link to a few seed starting tutorials and kits that are available locally if you don’t yet have a setup. If you want to go through a complete garden planning session with me in a group setting, I have a few spots left for my workshop at Roots Zero Waste Market this weekend. Click the link below to snag a seat.