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Winter Work: Getting your seed starting started

© Carol Wallace

My husband, who says he is not a gardener, just now commented that he feels like he's just marking time until the crocus bloom. I sent him downstairs to build a winter bird feeder. I myself began another project that always seems needed at this time of year--getting ready to start my seeds.

In the good old days before I knew better, getting ready meant getting out the seed packages and filling little pots with dirt and sowing, then waiting. In the even older days I didn't sow seeds indoors--I waited till it seemed warm and scattered everything outdoors. Not surprisingly, I wasn't too successful with either method. Not all seeds are alike, and so they each need special treatment if they are going to survive and grow.

Here in zone 5, it's too early to actually start most seeds, but it isn't too early to start gathering the information for all the new varieties I've acquired, to ensure the most successful possible harvest.

You'll need to know a lot to ensure successful germination: whether the seeds need to be started indoors or out, whether they need light to germinate, how deep they need to be planted, and so forth. Not even the commercial seed packages give you all the necessary information. So I began, a few years back, to make a list of all my seeds, with notes as to their specific requirements. Now I use a database, which is much more efficient. This week I've been entering information into my database; next week I'll transfer that information onto my seed envelopes, so I'll have the instructions for each kind of seed handy. I make notes on the following things:

PLANTING DATE: This depends on whether the plant is a perennial, in which case I know I'll start it indoors, a warm climate annual, in which case it also needs to be started early, or a hardy annual which I can direct seed. If I'm sowing right into the garden, I need to know my average last frost date, so I don't sow too soon. If you know your average last frost date, calculate at least two weeks after that date to find your expected last frost date--just to be safe. Then if the seeds are due to be planted "two weeks after last frost" you'll be able to figure out exactly when to start them.

Once I know the best time to plant, I arrange my seed envelopes in date order. Checking them once a week lets me pull out only the packages I need. Meanwhile, I know what will need planting in the following weeks, which warns me to get those beds and planters prepared.

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