Here are the quick steps to start seeds inside:
Set up the grow lights.
Set up the heat mats.
Get your soil, water, trays, seeds, labels, pen and spray bottle together.
Wet your soil and place it into cells. Fill to the top.
Place seeds in soil. (Half as deep as the seed is wide.)
Gently cover with soil.
Label.
Spray top of soil with water. I spray the top of the soil until the seed germinates and then I start under watering.
Let the magic happen.
Here are a few things to think about.:
Reverse planning is the key to success here. What I mean by that is that you need to think about how big the adult plant will be, where it is going to go and what the spacing is for things around it. That may sound really complicated but we can simplify. Most all of your seed packages it will tell you spacing, it will say 12” or 24” or something like that. You want to work with that, so think, 12” on center, you are going to have a plant every 1’. If your bed is 6’ you are going to have 6 plants. This is helpful when starting new baby seeds.
Plant what you need and just a few more. I am terrible at this, I over start my babies EVERYTIME. You don’t need to plant all of the seeds in the packet, honestly if you do you will end up with WAY too many plants. I always end up with too many and then have to thin, throw out or give plants away. With limited space this is very important to adhere to.
Plant your seeds plant them half as deep as they are wide or long. Most of the seeds I am starting at this point need very little soil coverage on top.
Update: One week in this is what the babies look like. We have some black swan poppies, bunny’s tails, cleosia and foxglove popping up!!