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Growing Seeds to Transplant
On this page find how to add months to your gardening season that allows you to grow more vegetables by starting vegetable plants indoors, including:
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- The methods used to raise vegetable plants from seed to transplant to garden.
- Needs, materials, and implements used to start vegetable seeds indoors.
- Timing plantings indoors to raise seedlings perfect for the garden when frosts end.
- The vital difference between cool-season and warm-season vegetable seeds and their needs.
- A step-by-step demonstration of how to plant seeds indoors in bedding trays or pots.
About Early Starts of Vegetable Plants
Extending Short Seasons
Extend your growing season in short-season climate areas by planting starts indoors, rearing them to transplant size, and moving them to your garden.
Planting starts indoors also allows earlier harvests than planting outdoors in the soil. Indoor starts protect tender seedlings from frost, pests, and fungal disease, so they do better in the garden after transplant compared to directly sowing seeds in garden soil.
Choose vegetables with characteristics well-suited to transplanting, and sow seeds 4–6 weeks ahead of expected planting time in the garden.
When to Transplant
After seedlings emerge and begin to develop their true leaves, thin the planting to two strong seedlings in each pot or cell of the bedding tray. This avoids crowding, and retains one seedling if the other should fail before reaching full size.
Allow your starts to develop 2–3 true leaves before transplant. If starts become crowded and the outdoor soil has not yet warmed sufficiently, carefully divide the seedlings, then pot them into new containers or 6-pack cells. Most indoor starts reach transplant size within 3–4 weeks after germination.
Some hardy cool-season vegetables can be transplanted as soon as garden soil becomes workable or reaches 35°F (3°C) or higher. Most other cool-season vegetables do best with soil temperatures 40°F (5°C) or higher. Warm-season plants require soils with temperatures of 60°F (16°C) or greater.
Step-By-Step Instructions
By following this demonstration, you’ll fill bedding trays or planting containers with soil medium and plant vegetable seeds. They’ll germinate in the warmth indoors, sprout, and grow with your care until they’re ready to thin, then grow larger to transplant size.
When weather conditions outdoors are suitable, you’ll transplant them into your garden or outdoor containers. In all, you’ll add 6–8 weeks to your growing season in the spring.
Gather your bedding trays, potting soil, tools, and seed, then follow each of the steps demonstrated below:
How to Plant Seeds Indoors in Bedding Trays
Note the planting depth for the vegetable variety, then fill your bedding tray with potting soil, allowing ample room to add soil after you sow the seeds.
Gently compact the potting soil by pressing down on it with a flat board or by using your open palms. Add more soil as needed to fill to the proper depth.
To assure room for transplanting and good germination, sow seed pairs about 3 in. (75 mm) apart.
Some trays are subdivided into individual cells to facilitate spacing and removal during transplanting.
Sift soil over the seed, covering to the depth that is recommended on the seed package. Firm the soil to assure good soil-to-seed contact.
Use a misting sprayer to gently apply water to the bedding tray until the soil covering the seed is damp.
Loosely cover the tray with clear plastic, then allow the seed to germinate in a warm spot with indirect sunlight.
Many gardeners prefer to use a bedding tray warming pad made for that purpose.
The warming pad holds the tray at a constant warm temperature ideal for germination until the seedlings become established.
In a few days, seedlings will emerge.
Keep them evenly moist, then remove the cover.
When each plant grows 2 true leaves, thin the weakest of each pair of seedlings by clipping it off with a pair of scissors or miniature hand shears, or by gently pulling it without disturbing the remaining seedlings.