All About Seeds
- Dates for Sowing Seeds in Fairfield County
- Four Keys to Successful Seed Starting
- Containers for Growing Seeds
Dates for Sowing Seeds
Many flowers (both annuals and perennials), as well as vegetables, can be successfully and cost-effectively grown from seed. Some are direct-sown into the garden, while others are best started indoors. Below are suggested sowing dates in our area for a variety of common vegetables and flowers.
Vegetables (plants marked with a * do well if direct-sown)
* Beans (lima) - May 1
* Beans (snap) - April 25
Beets - March 20
Broccoli - February 5
Cabbage - February 5
* Carrots - March 20
* Chard - April 1
Collard - February 15
* Corn - May 1
* Cucumber - May 1
Eggplant - March 1
* Lettuce - March 20
* Kale - April 1
* Mustard - April 1
* Okra - May 1
* Peas - March 5
Peppers - March 10
* Radishes - March 10
* Spinach - March 1
* Melons, Squash & Pumpkins - May 1
Tomatoes - March 1
* Turnips - March 10
Annuals
Sow outdoors after March 1
Sweet peas
Sweet alyssum
Larkspur
Annual poppies
Sow outdoors after May 1
Bachelor buttons
Calendula
Castor bean
Cosmos
Hyacinth bean
Marigolds
Morning glories
Nasturtiums
Sunflowers
Zinnia
Sow indoors Feb 15 – March 1
Ageratum
Amaranth
Cleome
Coleus
Impatiens
Lavatera
Nicotiana
Petunia
Salvia
Snapdragon
Statice
Four Keys to Successful Seed Starting
Moisture - Your seeds won’t germinate (sprout) if they are not kept evenly moist. Thoroughly moisten the seed-starting medium (not garden soil!) before sowing the seeds. Keep a plastic lid or loose plastic bag over your seed pots or trays to keep the moisture in like a mini greenhouse and you probably won’t have to water again until the seeds germinate. However, check periodically to make sure the growing medium is dampish (not soaking wet or it will get moldy and the seeds will rot). Avoid letting them dry out - soil pulling away from the sides of the pot is a sign that it’s drying out. If the medium seems dry, give it a spritz of H20 with a mister. Misting is much gentler than a watering can and won’t dislodge your delicate seeds.
Temperature - Different seeds like different temperatures to germinate and thrive. There are a few crops that prefer cool soil, like spinach and peas, so you can sow them directly outside when the soil can be worked. But most other seeds, including tomatoes, peppers, and cauliflower, need some heat to sprout and grow nice stocky plants (typically, mid- to upper-70’s is ideal). You can buy heat mats from gardening stores or catalogues or you can DIY by supplying bottom heat by putting your seed flat on top of the refrigerator, television, or other warm spot. A 40 watt incandescent bulb positioned just under a metal shelf pointing up makes a good heat source for seed pots placed on the shelf – just ensure the shelf is metal and there is no threat of fire!
Light – Once your seeds germinate, they need lots of light or you’ll end up with weak, spindly plants. Your light can come from a very bright window that keeps your seedlings in bright, direct sunlight all day (not very common) or from artificial lights. Although the fancy ‘grow lights’ tend to work best (after all, that’s what they were designed for), any fluorescent light will work. What’s critical is that your light source is just 3 or 4 inches above your plants. As the fluorescence gets farther away from the plant the physical benefits of the light decrease, so do what you need to do to hang those lights close to the plants. Most of us aren’t concerned with attempting a decorator look with this – a contraption fashioned from plant hooks in the ceiling, string and wire coat hangers works wonders. Start off with 24 hours of light a day and gradually decrease it to about 14 hours as the seedlings develop true leaves. Get your light timer from your holiday closet and set it to turn on early in the morning and turn off at dinner time.
Breeze - Many of us have transplanted our delicate seedlings outside into the garden and come back the next morning to find our itty bitty plants flattened and broken by the evening’s pelting rain or gusty wind. An age old trick to growing sturdy, stocky plants that can take the outdoor weather is to have a very light breeze floating across the plants throughout the day. If the tiny seedlings feel that breeze they will grow thicker stems which will help protect them when you transplant them outside. Use a small fan positioned far enough from the seed trays to create just a light breeze.
>> Back to TopContainers for Growing Seeds
Last week I started my first seeds of the year (a little late but the year seems to have already gotten away from me….). I like Park’s Bio Dome with bio-sponge plugs (particularly for larger seeds) – just drop the seed into the small hole in the middle of the moistened plug, put the plug in the styrofoam plug holder, put the lid on the Bio Dome, and you’re done. But not everyone has those and really, you don’t need such fancy stuff to grow seeds.
So just what can you plant your seeds in? Here are a few suggestions using things you probably already have around the house.
- plastic egg cartons – just poke a hole in the bottom of each “egg,” or use a sharp knife to slice an “X” in the bottom (cardboard cartons don’t work quite as well as they tend to mold or sag)
- plastic milk jugs, soda bottles, juice bottles, etc. – use a sharp knife to cut the bottom off about 3 inches above the bottom, poke some holes in the bottom, and voilà, instant seed pot
- waxed containers, like OJ or juice containers – like the plastic containers, just cut the bottom off and poke some holes in it
- newspaper - believe it or not, you can make perfectly good “pots” out of newspaper, but it helps to have a special pot making tool like this one from Lee Valley
- any plastic containers (e.g., margarine containers, sports water bottles, Tupperware) - using them as seed starting containers is a good way to reuse plastic containers of all sorts that have seen better days – just don’t forget to poke a couple of holes in the bottom for drainage
- plastic grocery bags – these can be used to form a seed starting flat by filling it shallowly with seed starting medium, although it works better if you use them to line a cardboard box (they hold their shape better) – realize that the cardboard with soak up water from draining holes in the plastic bag and will deform a bit, but it should be fine (just make sure both the bag and box are clean and didn’t have anything in them that might cause mold or odors)
That’s just a short list – I’m sure there are plenty of other creative ways to reuse household items to start seeds.
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