Starting Seedlings Indoors - Answering Service Resources

Home
>
Landscaping & Gardening
>
Starting Seedlings Indoors

Starting Seedlings Indoors

Unless you have access to a greenhouse, or something like it, those living in cooler climates will have to start seedlings indoors if they are to take full advantage of their growing season.

Here are some gardening tips to starting seedlings indoors.

You can use an enclosed porch, a garage, a shed or a basement. Make sure you have sufficient counterspace to work comfortably.

Growing seeds is pretty straightforward. Give them what they need (light, water, warmth) and they will sprout. Simple as that. But don't start them too soon! In 4-6 weeks they will be ready to go out into the garden. If you are still experiencing frosts, they will be killed.

Prepare your containers, whether they are trays, egg cartons, yoghurt containers or jiffy pots and make sure they have drainage holes. Your indoor seedlings are going to need a lot of light...more light than a regular plant, to get them going.

So arrange lights over your seedlings. Plan to have these lights on for up to 15 hours a day. Put a fan in the room on low to keep the air circulating too. This is surprisingly important. If the air is static the plants will not prosper.

Seeds need to be warm to germinate. They will be comfortable in a temperature between 60-70F during the day and will generally tolerate 50-60F overnight. Covering them with plastic or fabric or newspaper can assist in keeping them warm until they sprout.

Make sure your indoor seedlings are kept moist but not soggy. Once proper leaves appear (the first two are just seed leaves) feed them with a weak fish fertilizer mixed with water.

As the seedlings mature and near time to enter the garden proper, they need to be 'hardened off'. This means moving them outdoors for progressively longer periods each day. Start them off in a protected part of the garden and bring them back in at night. As they get stronger, they will be prepared to withstand the actual conditions in the garden much more successfully.

If you start your seedlings indoors, it will get you 'gardening' much sooner in the year and excite the old spring fever!

Judy Williams (http://www.no-dig-vegetablegarden.com) splits her time between being a media executive and an earth mother goddess. No Dig Vegetable Gardens represents a clean, green way to grow your own food. The site covers all aspects of growing, cooking and preserving your harvest.

In The News:

Small nursery in Cassel is big part of community
Record-Searchlight, CA - Nov 22, 2008
By Laura Christman (Contact) Bob and Adele Boster own and run Boster's Nursery & Landscaping in Cassel. The nursery is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary ...

Dallas Morning News
6 Fort Worth garden shops built their way up on a dream
Dallas Morning News, TX - Nov 19, 2008
These days he is designing tropical landscapes on golf courses, planting pots for Neiman Marcus and stocking an eclectic nursery with plants and garden ...

Greater Palm Beach Rose Society hosts tour of three island gardenss
Palm Beach Daily News, FL - 17 hours ago
Coolidge, who with her husband, Jeff, own and operate Cool Roses gardening in West Palm Beach and maintain the 200-plus roses at the Jungle Road home, ...

Local gardening projects sprout
Enterprise-Record, CA - Nov 22, 2008
Last month, during the Love Chico event by local churches, the garden was among many cleanup and landscaping projects, Martin explained. who lives next door ...

Garden Calendar
Bryan College Station Eagle, United States - Nov 21, 2008
Offers a selection of home-grown vegetables, ornamental and landscaping plants, baked goods, jams, jellies and pickles. navasotafarmersmarket@gmail.com or ...

Landscape company lands coveted Bog Oak accolade
Belfast Telegraph, United Kingdom - Nov 10, 2008
By Margaret Canning A Belfast landscape gardening business has won a coveted award for its work on a private garden. Cameron Landscapes won the Bog Oak ...

Garden Fair set
Haleakala Times, HI - Oct 29, 2008
Experts will be available to answer landscaping, gardening and tree questions. There will be booths representing the landscape industry, tree-friendly ...

The Weekend Gardener: Sometimes, it's better to take the path of ...
Fort Worth Star Telegram, TX - Nov 16, 2008
... them (gardening being a relatively healthy addiction, I’d rationalize) and plop them in the new plot haphazardly, with no regard to any landscaping ...

David Robson: Give thanks for gardens
The State Journal-Register, IL - Nov 21, 2008
Thanksgiving gives us a time to think about what we are thankful for from the gardening perspective. First and foremost this year, most of us can be ...

Eagle Scouts, Girl Scouts, gardening scouts
DavidsonNews.net, NC - Nov 20, 2008
They noticed that the landscaping around the new buildings appeared a bit sparse and knew the view from their third floor balcony could be improved. ...

landscaping gardening - Google News

Answering Service ResourceAnswering Service Resource