starting seeds inside

It is March 22, and we are in the midst of another storm - in fact, its more snow than we had all of February.  But it's 11 weeks before the last frost, counting backwards from the new moon in June, which is the 13th this year.  So it's time now to plant seeds that take a long time to germinate and grow, seeds that would never grow into mature plants if I planted them outside after the last frost.

The most important thing when considering if you would like to try starting seeds inside is light.  Lots of it.  Without adequate light, the seedlings will be spindly, and never recover.
I have deep windowsills facing south and east, which are perfect.
Check the seeds you want to grow.  Each variety has its own schedule.  Usually, the bigger the seed, the faster it will germinate.  Tiny seeds usually take longer to germinate and longer to produce a mature plant, so they need to be started sooner.  The back of the seed package is a good place to look for information about when to start seeds.  Otherwise, some research on the Internet will help.

I have a nice new shelf unit (a Christmas gift from my son) that I set up against an east-facing window.

Soil:  use purchased potting soil, not soil from the garden.  It should feel light, because it is made up of peat moss, vermiculite, and perlite and a wetting agent.  Added fertilizer is not necessary.  Put the soil in a bucket and wet it to the consistency of a wet sponge before packing it into seed cells.  Don't use pressed paper cells - they dry out very fast.  Use the black plastic ones.  Press the soil fairly firmly into the seed cells, and then sprinkle one larger seed or a few tiny seeds into each cell.  Press the seeds down firmly, cover or don't cover with soil as per the needs of each type of seed.  Label each variety, because you won't remember what you planted.  Cover with the clear plastic dome to keep the humidity in, and don't let the soil dry out.

These are new pepper plants.  They popped up within a week of planting.  Some seeds, like peppers, do much better in warm soil.  A heat mat placed under the seed tray warms the soil.  Now that the plants are up, I took away the heat mat.  Too much heat for too long causes the plants to become leggy and weak.

The Livingstone Daisy (Ice Plant) seeds were tiny as dust.  I was surprised that they popped up so fast.  It was hard to put just a few in each seed cell, and they all germinated!  These annual flowers are amazing - fluorescent pink and orange flowers, and foliage that looks like ice has formed on the leaves.

Look closely and you will see three tiny plants coming from the same place.  These are calibrocha (Million Bells). The tiny seeds were fused together in one pellet and the plants will bloom in three colours.  These plants, along with petunias, needed bottom heat to germinate well.

And now for something completely different:  last summer, I bought these Edelweiss seeds in Vienna Austria.  They cost 15 Euros (about $30) so I had a good reason to make sure they would grow.  I did a lot of research before I decided how to proceed.  This  plant, made famous by The Sound of Music, grows high up in the mountains in dry, chalky soil.  Many perennial seeds will not germinate unless they have first gone through winter because if they sprout in the fall, they will surely freeze over the long cold winter.  So I made the seeds think they had experienced winter by putting them in the freezer for 5 months.  To make the seeds feel at home in soil they were meant to grow in, I put ground egg shells in the potting soil for extra grit and calcium, kept the soil moist, and voila!  the seeds sprouted within a week!