Start Seeds Early Indoors for a Long Harvest

When we give seeds a jumpstart on the growing season, we can enjoy a harvest sooner, and fit in more rounds of crops!

 

You don’t have to wait until the last frost before you start your vegetable garden. In fact, it’s already time to start seeds indoors. If you haven’t taken advantage of seed starting before, it’s time you learned. This common gardeners’ hack gives your plants a head start and lets you enjoy fresh produce sooner. Here’s a guide for why, how, and when to do it!

 

What Are the Benefits of Starting Seeds Indoors? 

Starting seeds indoors gives your vegetables a few more precious weeks of growth. This is especially an advantage for warm-season crops—like tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, melons, and pumpkins—which are sensitive to frost and take a long time to mature. Starting them indoors spares them from the uncertain weather of early spring, and gives them a head start when the temperatures are finally warm enough in late April and early May. 

Starting seeds indoors is also an advantage for many cool-season crops, like lettuce, Brussels sprouts, kale, cabbage, and broccoli. When we give them a jumpstart on the growing season, we can enjoy a harvest sooner, and fit in more rounds of crops! A final benefit of seed starting is to give slow-growing herbs extra growing time inside. 

 

Which Seeds Should I Start Indoors? 

If you’re a beginner gardener, choose a few crops mentioned above to start indoors this season. The most common vegetables to start inside are tomatoes, cabbage, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts. 

 

Starting Seeds Indoors

The easiest way to start seeds indoors is to use a seed starter tray, seed starter soil (or fresh potting mix), and your seeds of choice. Although it’s tempting to reuse an old egg carton, you won’t have as much success as you would with proper starting trays. Here are the steps to follow:

1. Place seed starter soil or potting soil in starting trays. 
2. Plant a seed or two in each compartment of the tray, according to depth recommendations on the seed package.
3. Water the seeds and place them near the brightest window of your house. 
4. Water them daily, keeping the soil moist but not waterlogged, as they start to germinate. 
5. Thin out any crowded plants by cutting the weak ones away.  
6. Begin hardening them off 1-2 weeks prior to transplanting them outside.

  

How Do You Harden Off Seedlings? 

Moving from indoors to outdoors is a shock for plants, especially for tender seedlings. Before you transplant them into the garden, they need a period to adjust to outdoor conditions. This time of adjustment is called “hardening off,” and usually spans 1-2 weeks. Here are recommended steps to follow: 

1. Day One: move seedlings outside in the shade for a few hours. Then return them inside.   
2. Day Two: move seedlings outside in dappled shade for a few hours, before returning them indoors. 
3. Day Three: move seedlings outside into the direct sunlight for a few hours.
4. For the following days, extend their time outside in the sun each day, until they’re outside for at least eight hours. 
5. Let them stay outside for both the day and night, if temperatures are above freezing. 
6. Now they’re ready for transplanting!

 

When Do You Start Seedlings Indoors? 

You can start seedlings indoors 6-8 weeks before your last frost date, which for us occurs around April 17th. That means we can start seedlings indoors as early as mid-February in Glenside and Philadelphia. Each plant has different timings, and you want to hit the sweet spot by allowing them just enough time to grow inside, but not so much time that their early development gets stunted. Here’s a chart with recommended dates: 

 

Calendar for Starting Seeds in Glenside, PA

 

 

Plant Seed Starting Dates Transplant Dates 

Starting seeds indoors is a task that any beginner gardener can master. It allows you to have a longer gardening season and to enjoy a harvest of fresh produce sooner in the spring. Plus, it’s fun to watch our little babies grow and graduate into the great outdoors. If you need any supplies or more advice for starting seeds indoors, come find us at our garden center in Glenside, PA!