Now that you have bought an amazing collection of seeds at Seedy Sunday, you are probably looking for some tips on getting them growing! Use the following step-by-step guide to help you grow strong and healthy seedlings.
1) Start with high quality seeds! (As mentioned above, Seedy Sunday is a great place to pick these up!) 2) Figure out which seeds need a head start indoors and when they like to be started. Here is a great chart and another great chart to help you determine when to plant which seeds.
Quick Tip: Plants such as tomatoes, peppers, brassicas, and eggplants like to have almost a two month head start indoors to make the plants as productive as possible.
3) Get the right container. You can start seeds in a lot of different type of containers (plastic seed trays, milk cartons, egg cartons, ect). The most important thing to consider is drainage. If your container doesn't already have a whole for drainage, you will need to create one so that the plant doesn't get soggy roots or mouldy. Also, be sure that if you are reusing containers that they are cleaned with warm soapy water & bleach first. 
4) Start with the right soil. Seeds like to be started in something called soil-less medium. It is light and fluffy and helps seeds sprout easily. It can be picked up at most hardward and garden stores at this time of year.
Quick tip: You can also make your own soil-less mix by combining:
8 parts pre-moisoned peat moss or coconut coir
1 part perlite
1 part vermiculite
5) Planting! Moisten your soil in a large container first, and then fill your containers. No need to compact or compress soil, just fill containers lightly most of the way to the top. Make a small divot in the soil, and then plant 1-2 seeds per container (put them in twice as deep as the seed is big). Cover with soil, and if necessary water lightly. 
6) Label! Make sure you label what you have planted right away, otherwise it is very easy to forget what you have planted! Quick tip: Cut up and re-use vertical blinds for labels. 7) Move the seeds to the sunniest, warmest window in your home or apt. (or place under a grow light). They should sprout in 7-10 days or earlier. Keep soil moist, but not too damp during the germination period.
Quick Tip: Put a fan on your seedlings to help prevent damping off disease, moulding and to stregnthen your seedlings up for when they go outdoors!
Feel free to contact us if you have questions! And stay tuned for posts about transplanting, hardening off and other spring growing tips.
Also, join us at our Garden Planning Party on Monday April 11th for some hands-on activities and tips!
Here's a step by step video showing our Community Food Cultivator starting tomato seeds for her business.
