I love growing my own food and also try to grow my own plants from seed. Some years I do a bit more than others and not every year I am as successful as I can be. Growing plants from seed is really fun to do and rewarding. It also gives you the choice of plants that you want to grow and it is nicer for your wallet. Here are a couple of general tips that will help you grow your seeds successfully:
Where will the plants grow eventually.
This is the first thing you should consider because it will determine when you can put your plants outside or whether or not you are able to place them inside in case of frost. So are you planning to put your plants outside in the full ground, will you put them in a greenhouse or will they be in a pot on your patio. The choice will influence your seed start time.
Start your plants at the right time.
Not all plants should be started at the same time and there are several reasons for it. Some seeds are slow starters and require more time to germinate. Others germinate really quickly. Once germinated some plants will grow a lot faster than others. The information on your seed bags will tell you how many weeks before your actual planting date you should start. Therefore you need to figure out when you will be able to plant your plants in the spot that you desire. If you can take your plants inside at night or are able to grow them in a greenhouse this might be a bit sooner than when they go in the full ground. In this area for the full ground I go with the first week of June. For my greenhouse a few weeks earlier. But because it is not heated I still have to make sure that we do not get a serious frost. Planting to soon when it is still to cold will only make your plants miserable and they will get a major setback compared to plants that go outside maybe a week or 10 days later. This year I started the first ones like tomatoes, peppers, artichoke, eggplants on February 28. Some of these like eggplants need warm environments to germinate and some like peppers are just slow starters, so you want to start early. My cucumbers, zuchini, melons and sunflowers I started on March 23 and I am planning on starting my cabbages like this week. Some plants like cabbages should not be to big when transplanting them to the full ground. They do better when they are like 10-15 cm high. Tomatoes and cucumbers are less fuzzy and I do like to have those a good size like 50 cm before I put them outside.
Start them in a warm environment.
Make sure to start them in an environment that is warm enough but not too hot (except for eggplants they need like 27°C). I like putting them in my heated basement or living room. They also should have sufficient light but not be in the full sun. Lastly they need a high relative humidity. Using small seed starting green houses or other indoor greenhouses helps a lot with a successful start of your little plants. The problem without a cover is that the soil and the germinating seed might dry out resulting in total loss of the seed.
Plant them at the right depth and right direction.
Seeds are light sensitive and some seeds only germinate in the dark and others only in the light. Check the seed bag to find out how deep to sow the seed. If you sow it to deep it might not germinate at all. Do you sow it too superficial the same thing might happen or the plant does not root properly. Also larger seed need to be oriented in the right way. There is a side where the roots will grow and a side where the stem and plant will grow. If in doubt plant it sideways and it will work out. If you have it upside down the roots will grow to the surface and the plant into the ground. This will not go well.
Adjust them to the outside environment
Young seedlings are very sensitive and should be hardened off before putting them outside. In my opinion this is the hardest part. Here in Alberta the sun is very intense and the wind very dry. Even with a wind shelter I have seen my plants suffer from this brutal dry wind. When your seedlings look like young plants (meaning they have several real leaves) and the weather permits put them outside for half an hour at first and slowly increase the time. Do not put them out in the heat of the day but at a moment that the intensity of the sun is lower and make sure there is no wind. You could be killing your seedlings in one go if you put them out on a windy sunny day for just an hour. They are too fragile.
More on this topic in posts to come. This was just the first nibble on the fascinating world of growing your own plants.
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