Growing Plants From Seeds

Although many types of established plants can be purchased quite affordably, there is nothing like the sense of satisfaction you get from growing your own plants from seed. Yours FREE: $20 on Internet Specials While the weather is still cool outside, now is a perfect time to satisfy your gardening urge and prepare some new plants to add to your garden later in the year.

Growing plants from seed indoors is great for gardeners without a cold frame or greenhouse, or for trying out more exotic or delicate plants with minimal expense. Packets of multiple seeds are often a fraction of the price of an established plant, not only letting you save money, but giving you multiple chances at getting the plant to thrive. Planting several seedlings can let you experiment with different light and soil conditions, helping you to raise plants that are predisposed to succeed in your garden.

Even the most inexperienced of gardeners will find growing plants from seeds indoors a fairly easy task.  Click here to get $20 off your first order at Gurneys! The trick is to check the seedlings daily to ensure that the soil is damp enough, and that they are sitting in a place where they get just the right amount of light. Most seedlings fail to thrive due to a lack of enough natural sunlight. Trays should be placed in a room that has direct sunlight for a large portion of the day. If you don’t have a good room for this in your house you might have to move the seedlings between different rooms in the morning and the afternoon to ensure that they get as much bright daylight as possible. If your schedule doesn’t allow this, then keeping a daylight lamp switched on near the plants can help to meet their light requirements.

As well as lighting, you will need to create a good soil environment when growing plants from seed. Seedlings need soil that is airy and moist. There are many ready made potting soils available and any good quality soil that is designed for indoor plants will usually give good results. Before planting your seeds, read the packet to see what depth of soil they will need for shoots and roots. This will help you to pick a suitable depth of container and fill it with the right amount of soil to allow your seeds to germinate and grow.

Pay careful attention to any special instructions for the particular type of plant you want to grow from seed, as some varieties need special treatment such as soaking, freezing or even heating in a pan before they will germinate successfully.

Reading the packet or seed instructions will also guide you as to when to grow different types of plants from seed indoors and when to move them outside. The longer plants grown from seed live as indoor plants the less hardy they will be when finally planted outdoors. For this reason you should only start to grow plants indoors from seed at a time of year when you will be able to move them outside as soon as they are ready. A general rule of thumb for transplanting seedlings outdoors is to wait until there are two sets of leaves on the main stalk, however you may want to allow the plants to become more established before placing in your garden. Wherever possible transplant the seedlings during the correct planting season in order to give them the best possible chance of survival.

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