These Are Our Top 4 Tips for Starting Seeds Indoors - Page 2 of 2

Here are four things we always do when starting seeds indoors. These tips are simple, but also really effective!

1. Research when to start each variety of seed

Some seeds need to be started sooner than others.

For instance, you’ll need to start your onion seeds in January (depending upon where you live) but won’t need to start your tomatoes and peppers until the end of February or early March.

Knowing when to start your seeds is a major component to successfully starting seeds.

So maybe you aren’t quite sure when to start your seeds. No worries! There are many helpful resources available to you at no cost.

You can always reference The Farmer’s Almanac.

There are also many other sites available that offer an actual seed calculator. Check this one out!

2. Skip the expensive grow lights

Stores are making a small fortune off of selling their customers grow lights. If you plan on starting many seeds with them, their cost will add up in a hurry.

However, plants do need adequate sunlight to grow properly.

So what do you do? Invest in shop lights.

We decided to choose shop lights for ourselves this year. I am happy to report that they have worked wonderfully. Shop lights cost around half of what a grow light cost and the bulbs last for quite a while too.

We grow a large garden, and I couldn’t imagine investing the kind of money we would have had to in grow lights, in order to start our garden.

This is a great money saving alternative I highly recommend!

You can check out this video to see other’s success with shop lights (or compact fluorescent lighting, as the video calls it.)

If you still prefer purchasing instead of DIY-ing, read our recommendation for the best LED grow lights.

3. Start your seeds with organic seed starting mix

I usually try to make as much of my own materials as possible. This is one I do not make on my own. However, if you decide that you would like to give it a try, here is a recipe that will help you get started.

I don’t make my own just because I don’t have a lot of the needed materials on hand. Therefore, it is easier just to go to my local general merchandising store and pick up a bag.

If you choose to purchase the seed starter mix from the store, as I do, it should be located in the gardening section.

It is not exceptionally cheap but isn’t earth shattering expensive either. As I said, we grow a large garden and do not go through more than two bags of the seed starter mix in a season.

It is still much cheaper than investing in plants from the nursery.

4. Figure out what to grow your seeds in

When starting seeds, you have many options as to what you choose to start them in.

Don’t get sucked into the expensive seed starter kits. If you choose to go that route, they’ll work just fine but do realize that there are less expensive options. Plus, be sure to save your seed starter trays so you can reuse them year after year.

Your first option for starting your seeds are the seed starter trays. You can buy them in the kits (as mentioned) or you can buy the trays alone.

A lot of times people will buy the kits because they come with the lid (to offer the greenhouse effect), the seed starter trays, and the watering trays underneath. This is a convenient option but one that gets rather costly if you plan on growing a large garden.

Understand that the trays are reusable, so it should be a one-time investment if you choose to take this route.

The second option for starting your seeds is to bargain hunt for your materials.

At the end of the growing season, all nurseries (including the big name ones) are looking to get rid of items very cheaply. A lot of times they’ll have whole carts full of plants that need to go that you can buy for as little as $10.

We take advantage of these deals!

Not so much for the plants (though I have purchased some near death perennials that I was able to bring back to life and enjoy year after year) but for the containers they sell the plants in.