It's an exciting time of year if you love gardening, time to start seeds! One of my favorite things about starting seeds indoors is that I get to start gardening now instead of having to wait until it's warmer. This is my 5th year starting seeds indoors and I've learned so much in that time. I've made a lot of mistakes (some more than once!), but I feel really good about my practices and set up now.
I start as much as I can from seed to be able to grow exactly which varieties I want. If I time things right, I can get a good jump start on my garden by being able to plant out seedlings that are ahead of what I could purchase at a nursery. Plus I find it rewarding and fun! I could go on and on, but the main purpose of today's post is to share a tutorial for a Seed Germination "Book" and share my seed starting set up. So let's get into it!
For most seeds I prefer to germinate between wet paper towels. Once the seeds have sprouted I carefully move them to dirt. This allows me to keep a better eye on the germination and use less dirt/six packs. To keep things organized, I like to make a little “book” out of folded paper towels. This is handy when I’m starting more than one seed type or variety at a time, but sometimes it gets messy and seeds can get mixed up! Last year I decided to sew a line of stitching to make a “spine” and keep the pages completely separate. It took no time and it made things so much neater!
DIY Seed Germination Book
Materials:
- Paper Towels (I prefer the choose-a-size type for this.)
- Sewing machine + thread
- Pencil
Instructions:
1. Layer three to four paper towels halves on top of each other.
2. Mark the center line with a pencil.
3. Sew on the line.
4. Fold in half along stitching.
5. Each spread can be used to start a different variety! Mark each page with the variety and start germinating!
How to Germinate Seeds Using a Paper Towel "Book":
1. Completely saturate paper towel book with water. Ring out excess water.
2. Place seeds between layers of paper towel.
3. Carefully close book and place in a plastic container with a lid. Close lid most of the way.
4. Find a warm place for the container. Check every few days for germination and to make sure it's still wet.
5. Once seeds have germinated, transfer to soil and get growing! Try to move seeds out as soon as a root appears, to avoid it getting too tangled in the paper towel!
My Seed Starting Setup:
I start seeds in my unfinished basement, which is typically around 65 degrees. I use an adjustable wire storage shelf that's meant for kitchen storage. I believe I purchased it from either Home Depot or Target. The one I use is 48" wide.
Each shelf has two simple shop lights that take two bulbs each, for a total of four bulbs per level! I use one warm and one cool bulb in each light. These are just basic bulbs, not specifically grow light bulbs. The lights hang from the shelves with little "S" hooks that fit the chains on the lights. I have a few seedling heating pads to help with initial seed germination. Everything is set up on smart plugs and is on for 14 hours per day.
To help keep the growing environment warm and humid, I have two shower curtain liners installed along the top edge of the shelf unit. They're attached with cheap shower curtain rings! The top is covered with a fleece blanket. I use clothespins to keep the curtains closed. I added this feature a couple years ago and it has helped SO much! And was a less than $10 addition to this setup.
A note on costs: This set up was a bit of an investment upfront. I have four shelves of growing space, which amounts to eight shop lights. Between the lights and the bulbs, it adds up! However, I have yet to need to replace any of the bulbs. I fill these entire set up every Spring, but you may not need or want this much space. If you're new to starting seeds, I would recommend starting small to see how you like it.
A Few Tips and Tricks for Starting Seeds:
- Keep notes. I've been using this notebook to keep track of my seed starting for the last five seasons. I take notes on when I start germinating something, when it sprouts, when I move it up a pot size, and when I plant it outside, and any other detail that could be useful. It's really nice to look back and see what I did in years past and what did or didn't work out.
- Adjustable lighting is really helpful. You want to be able to move the lights close to the soil surface when the seeds are germinating and first sprouting. Being able to move them futher away as they grow is critical to getting healthy seedlings.
- Size up your pot sooner rather than later. This mistake I have made many times and some types of plants are more sensitive to this than others. Keeping your seedlings in a container that is too small can stunt their growth, and it can be difficult for them to recover, even after they are planted outdoors.
- I prefer a seed starting medium that has some organic matter in it. Or I'll add it myself via some earthworm castings. When I size up the pot for the seedlings I switch to a regular potting mix that has fertilizer.
- Before packing six-cells or pots with dirt, wet it. It's nice to be able to avoid disturbing seeds with an initial watering right after planting. I add my seed starting medium to a small laundry tub, add water a little at a time and mix it up with gloved hands. Once it is evenly moist I pack it lightly into my containers.
- I keep a spray bottle of water nearby to lightly spray my seed germination "book", as well as any surface sown seeds.
I hope this tutorial and these tips are helpful to you on your seed starting journey! Here are a few other garden related tutorials I've published over the years:
DIY Felt Grow Bags (with Video Tutorial)
DIY Budget Wooden Tomato Trellis
DIY Fabric Grow Bags
Happy Gardening!
