Use our post “Seeds and Seedlings: Beginner” to become inspired to discover more advanced gardening techniques like growing your own seedlings indoors. Continue to learn how to reap the many rewards of learning to grow from BOTH seeds and seedlings. Remember that some crops must be grown from seed since the young plants can’t survive transplanting.
Expand your gardening skills
The universe of gardening information is virtually limitless. It is constantly expanding. Fortunately, the array of gardening techniques is accessible now on the web. Our purpose is to feature our compost based method of soil optimization with beneficial microbe populations and worm castings. We encourage you to use the web resources to explore an accessory technique that captures your imagination.
Don’t rely on single sources. Explore University Agricultural Extension websites, local botanic gardens, YouTube videos, articles and books. For example, if you want to build a trellis look at several techniques and pick the one that works for you, or even better integrate a combination of the techniques you discover.
Let’s explore together ways to garden that will not pollute, improves the environment, gives us healthy food, optimizes nature’s ability to provide plant nutrition – we all benefit.
Deep Roots is learning all the time. As you learn a new technique, improve upon it, and share it with us. Growing food in our 100% microbe-rich compost is a discovery we will continue to improve upon. We hope that gardeners beyond our local Chicago area will start using a similar compost. We knows how to find other farms that make it.
Explore ways to grow seedlings indoors
Explore the many ways to grow seedlings (also called “transplants”) from seed indoors. But most important is to use as your growing medium a mixture of half Deep Roots compost (or a similar compost) and half top quality worm castings made from composted manure. Remember to give the seedlings full sun for 8 hours or more. This usually requires a grow light placed correctly near the top of the growing plant. Usually the sunlight from a window is not adequate.
Remember that some crops must be planted only from seeds like amaranth, spinach and root crops (radishes, beets, carrots, parsnips, turnips, garlic, onions). Root crops usually won’t survive if their roots are disturbed. See more details is our blog post “Seeds and Seedlings: Beginners.”
Advantages of growing from seed
Buying seeds is far more affordable than buying seedlings. But gardeners with minimal time and a small garden will likely prefer to grow from seedlings,
More plant varieties available as seeds. Planting seeds directly into the garden or growing your own seedlings indoors gives you access to an abundance of “cultivars” (special plant varieties) A “cultivar” is a plant variety that has been produced in cultivation by selective breeding. Some cultivars are resistant to certain diseases. There are more organic “cultivars” (special plant varieties) available as seeds from seed catalogs and websites than there are seedlings sold in garden centers. Although we recommend that you choose organic seeds, non-organically grown seeds are quite satisfactory when growing them with organic methods.
The process of seed selection is an exercise in inspiration. For example, tomatoes and apples have a vast number of cultivars. There are man-made cultivars like seedless grapes and watermelons, Romanesco cauliflower, black tomatoes, Tromboncino summer squash, watermelon radishes, cylindrical purple onions.
Remember to properly store your leftover seeds for planting the following year or share them with friends. We store our seeds in the refrigerator in air-tight bags with moisture reducing packets. We buy our seeds. Some gardeners have the time and skill to save seeds from their plants. There are online courses on how to save seed.
Planting calendar for your climate zone
Ask your state university agricultural extension for the best planting calendar for your climate zone. Our Planting Calendar for Climate Zones 5b and 6a in the Chicago area is a convenient way to look up which popular crops, herbs and flowers should be grown from seed, grown from seedlings and which can be grown either way. The calendar also has biodiversity groups, planting dates, planting tips, seed depth and days to maturity.
Watering seeds and seedlings
Seeds must be kept moist at all times. Also keep the young plants constantly moist for 2 weeks. A light watering will moisten the soil sufficiently when it’s done frequently. Frequency of watering depends on the weather – the temperature, if the sun is shining, if it rained recently and so forth. Gently water your seeds with a sprayer nozzle on your hose or watering can. Keep your seeds and seedlings constantly moist. Drip irrigation makes growing from seeds much easier. Get a tiny sprayer emitter for your drip system.
Plant tiny seeds like carrots and lettuce about an inch apart. Try the “board trick” with tiny carrot seeds to save watering time and to stop evaporation. Place a small board (not treated wood) over a cluster of carrot seeds. Wait a few days and check them daily for germination. Remove the board when the first seed germinates. Pick some baby carrots to make room for some of the carrots to grow bigger.
How to grow transplants indoors
Growing your own transplants from seed is easier than you may think.You can start indoor summer crop transplants (like tomatoes and peppers) from seed in early spring for planting outside in May.
Many experienced gardeners grow their own transplants for summer crops indoors under grow lights in early spring if they have the skill, time, grow lights, growing trays and other equipment. Trying to grow transplants indoors using sunlight from a south-facing window doesn’t work. Explore gadgets that make the process a little easier if you need only a small number of seedlings.
Select a planting “flat” with multiple cells. Plastic flats have become the standard for home gardeners but they have at least two disadvantages: (1) Even the most durable plastic flats break and must be discarded after a few seasons. Do we really need to buy more plastic that is destined for the trash heap? (2) Transplants grown in plastic trays must be removed for transplanting, exposing the root systems to disturbance.
We recommend using “peat transplant pots” to grow your seedlings. These are made from various organic materials (peat, coir, paper, wood, etc.). They are all biodegradable and dissolve readily when buried in soil. A unique advantage is that the transplants do not need to be removed from the peat pots.
Potting mixture for starting seedlings indoors is half and half microbe-rich compost and worm castings. Plant about ¼” deep and firm up the soil after planting by gently pressing down on the surface. Keep the soil moist constantly until the emerging seeds reach a height of 2” or more. Then, transplant them into the garden.
What Are Cold Frames?
Growing transplants in a “cold frame” outdoors in early spring is another option for experienced gardeners. Cold frames let experienced gardeners extend the growing season in colder climate zones. At their simplest, cold frames are bottomless boxes that are set over plants in the garden to protect them from cold weather. They are usually built low to the ground and have a transparent roof to let in light.
Search for DIY cold frame ideas online. Some gardeners make a simple “mini-cold frame” using an upside down very large clear plastic container. Controlling the temperature in the cold frame is often a problem.
Our Innovative Food Gardening Method
Learn more in our two recently revised blog posts.
Our online store
See our online store for details about prices, ordering and delivery of raised beds, compost, worm castings and more. Please contact our customer support team before placing an order online so we can assist you with the details and answer your gardening questions.
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