The Vertical Gardening Guidebook (8 page)

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It’s affordable

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You can do this for any type of plant you want to grow

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The plants usually are of higher quality

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You’ll know they’re organic

In order for your seed starting to succeed, you’re going to need to have the right environment for them to germinate. It’s a good idea to start with seeds that start to germinate quickly.

For beginners, it’s a good idea to limit the variety of plants that you are trying to create seedlings for. You don’t want to work with too many types because you could end up getting frustrated with certain types of plants that take longer or require too much effort to get started.

Just to give you an example, strawberry seeds can take up to 4 weeks to sprout whereas lettuce can sometimes sprout in a day or two.

Starting seeds on your own can be a lot of fun. If you want to bypass this step, you can just go buy starter plants at your local gardening store.

Picking Containers for Your Seeds

You’re going to need containers to start your seeds. The type of container you choose is up to you, but should be at least two to three inches deep and contain holes at the bottom for drainage. Some people take the easy route and purchase a seed starting system. If you’re going to be growing tomatoes and peppers, you can buy a seed starting system and then transport them into a pot.

Starting Seeds Without Soil

When starting seeds, sometimes you don’t even need soil at all. In fact, I recommend sprouting seeds without soil in most cases. This will enable you to avoid problems with insects and diseases. The medium should consist of a blend that is spongy, fine-textured and moist. When sprouting seeds for my aeroponic vertical garden, I use rock wool cubes. You can buy them at any hydroponics supply store or online. More on that in Chapter 11.

You can find ready-mixed blends readily sold at gardening centers in your area or online. These blends consist of vermiculite, milled sphagnum moss and perlite. Since these blends don’t have a lot of nutrients, if any, so you will need to add a liquid fertilizer to the mix. This should be done a few weeks after your seeds start to germinate. Once you transplant the seeds into the garden, you can discontinue the fertilizer.

The transplantation of your seedlings should take place after six to eight weeks. They can then be transplanted into a larger pot. It should contain coarser materials with the vermiculite, perlite and sphagnum, such as garden soil or compost. Usually a 1/3 of each item is used in the blend. This mixture will get your transplants prepared for a life out in your garden.

Starting Your Seeds at the Right Time

Certain plants grow faster than others, which is why you should try and time your seed starting accurately. You don’t want to start seeds that grow too fast to where you can’t transplant them out to your garden right away.

You will need to time rapid growing plants closer to planting time and those that grow a lot slower can be planted earlier, so that they are ready by the time you want to transport them outdoors.

For instance, you can begin growing leeks and celery 12 weeks before you want to transplant them outside into your garden. Then there are sunflowers and cucumbers, which only need between three and four weeks to be transplanted to your outside garden. Most seed packets give directions for seedling and how long it takes before they’re ready for transplantation. To better organize your seed starting, you can create a schedule for all of the different plants you decide to grow this season.

If you will be starting your seeds inside of a greenhouse or a room that is very warm, then you can subtract a week or so from the planting date. When starting seeds in very warm temperatures, it can cause the plant to grow faster, which will leave you with a big plant that is ready to be transplanted sooner than you expected.

Some seedlings will have to be transplanted into larger pots after they’ve been growing for about three to four weeks. If you’re growing your seeds in flats instead of individual plant cells, then this is especially so. These plants will need space to allow their roots to grow before being transplanted outdoors.

Starting and Maintenance of Seedlings

The container that you are growing your seeds in should be kept moist and warm. Room temperature water is the best to use. Fill the trays you have purchased with the medium you decide to use and make sure that it is thoroughly moistened.

Fill the tray about ¼ to ½ from the top, then plant the seeds. Make sure to check the seed packages to see if the seeds are required to be chilled or soaked before being planted. You’ll also need to double check whether the plants prefer sunlight or shade and specific temperatures.

It’s important that you create the perfect habitat for your seedlings to get the best results. This is why it’s easier to start with a small variety of seeds – because it can be pretty difficult to create multiple climates at once. If you can, you should try growing plants that have similar requirements. But just know that if you do make a mistake and some of your seeds don’t sprout, you can always try again! Trust me, we’ve all made those kinds of mistakes many times in our gardening adventures.

You can either plant the seeds in their own cells or scattered across the surface of the soil. Don’t sow the seeds too thickly; they only need a fine layer of soil. Most seeds should be covered three times their thickness, unless the seeds are very tiny or require light to germinate, which in this case would need light coverage.

Always read your seed packets because they should have all the information you need to know about how to sprout them!

A mister or dribbles of water can be used to keep the medium moist and this will ensure great contact between the soil and your seeds. Make sure to put labels on the trays, so that you know which plant is which. Don’t throw away the seed packets either - you might want to use them for future reference.

Correct Temperatures for Your Seedlings

The temperature of your seedlings should be based on the requirements of that particular plant. This temperature should be that of the soil, not the air. Most plants grow great in soil that is 60 degrees Fahrenheit, while others germinate best in 85 degrees Fahrenheit. On average, many plants do well in 78 degrees Fahrenheit. I’ve rarely problems germinating seeds indoors at room temperature – just try to protect your seedlings from any sudden or drastic temperature changes.

It’s important that the soil isn’t too cold, because this will take the seeds a longer time to germinate or they won’t start at all. To heat up the soil, you can use a heating mat or simply move the container on top of a warm refrigerator, television or sunny window sill. Once you start to see sprouts emerging from the soil, it’s a good idea to put the plants in a sunny window or under lights within 24 hours.

After germination has begun, you should ensure that the air temperature is kept around 70 degrees Fahrenheit. If the temperature is over 75 degrees Fahrenheit, then this could cause the plants to grow too fast.

This isn’t always a good thing because they could end up weak and leggy. It’s sometimes alright for the temperature to reach temperatures as low as 50 degrees Fahrenheit because most seedlings still grow well, as long as the soil is still between 65 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit.

Providing Sufficient Light for Your Seedlings

Light usually isn’t a requirement for the germination process, but it is necessary once you start to see sprouts. Place the plants in a window that faces south or under grow lights. Make sure to check on your plants every day. If your plants don’t receive sufficient light, they could end up growing tall and leggy which is hard to correct.

So how much light do your plants need?

For most, about 14 to 16 hours of light is needed each day. This will give your plants enough food to build a healthy system and well-nourished leaves. You can enhance the amount of light your windowsill plants are getting by placing a cardboard with aluminum on the back of the container to allow light to bounce off and back to your plants.

If you don’t have a window that faces south, but still would like to grow your plants indoors, you can use grow lights or full-spectrum fluorescent light bulbs instead. You don’t want to use incandescent light bulbs because they give off too much heat and not enough light – they even lack the blue-spectrum light that is responsible for making your plants dark green and stocky.

When using fluorescent light bulbs, make sure that you place them very close to the plants – about three inches away from the sprouts. You can leave the lights on for about 12 to 14 hours daily. Then for windowsill plants, you may need to offer them supplemental light for a couple of hours – this is especially so during the winter time.

Ensuring Seedlings Get Enough Moisture

During the germination process, consistent moisture is needed. Just make sure that the soil isn’t soggy because this could cause your seeds to go rotten. Some people use clear plastic to cover their flats until their seeds have started to germinate. You can find seed starting systems that come with plastic covers that help your plants retain moisture.

Once your seedlings have begun to sprout, you should remove the plastic – you don’t want humidity levels to be too high. Make sure to check the moisture level of the soil each day. There shouldn’t be too much moisture because it can cause the roots to retard and not grow, plus disease will begin to manifest. It’s a good idea to allow the soil to dry out a bit before watering it again – this will help to prevent mold and fungus from growing.

As mentioned, warm water is better to be used than cold water from the tap. Room temperature water would suffice. If you have tap water that is chlorinated, avoid using it right away. You can fill up a jug or watering can and then allow the chlorine to dissipate by leaving it in direct sunlight outdoors for 24 hours.

You should also avoid using water that has gone through a water softener because it contains sodium that can harm your seedlings. The best water to use is always fresh rain water. You can set up buckets underneath your gutter spouts to collect it or get a rain barrel or rain capturing device.

When watering your plants, the water should always be able to trickle down all the way to the bottom of the container – if it doesn’t, then you haven’t watered it enough. Thorough watering will allow the plants roots to spread out nicely (just don’t overdo it and drown the plants).

There’s a neat trick I’ve seen others use to ensure that your seedling containers get sufficient water. First, fill up your sink with an inch or two of water. Then put you containers in the water and allow them to sit there until the surface of the soil feels moist. Then just remove and let them drain and voila! – a perfect amount of water for your seedlings.

Controlling Humidity in the Air

You should try to maintain a level of humidity in your home that is between 50 and 70 percent. When the humidity is too high and the air circulation is poor, fungus will begin to grow and disease problems will ensue.

A very low level of humidity is no good either. When the air is too dry, you can make up for this by placing your plants on capillary matting or a humidity grid. For small rooms, you can open the windows or run a fan to help improve the air circulation for your growing plants.

Transplanting Sprouts to Larger Pots

When your seedlings have developed into sprouts you may need to transplant them into a larger pot if things start to get crowded in your containers. If each of the seedlings had their own growing cells, then this won’t be a problem.

Larger pots can be used for overcrowding of plants that are too young to be transported outdoors. You should do this before the roots begin to get tangled in the containers, making them more difficult to transplant. Ripping and tearing the roots can interfere with the plants ability to survive.

Transplantation of your seedlings to larger pots can be done by pulling them up gently by their leaves or roots. Avoid pulling on their stems because they are very fragile – you don’t want the stems to be bent or smashed. You don’t want to damage too much of the roots either! Just be gentle and delicate with the seedlings and it should work out fine.

You can either use a spoon or your hands to do the transplants. It’s easy to separate the stems from the roots when the soil is dry instead of wet. Or you can simply pull a clump of plants out of the soil and then separate them.

When transplanting them to their pots, the soil should have the same depth or a little bit deeper than their containers. There is an exception to tomatoes – you should remove the entire plant and then bury the stem which will then produce more stems beneath the soil.

After your plants have been repotted, make sure that they are well watered and fertilized. They should be placed under grow lights or on a windowsill that is sunny.

Feeding Your Seedlings

You don’t have to worry about feeding your seedlings until they develop their second set of true leaves. You don’t want to feed young seedlings a full dose fertilizer because they are too fragile. Only give the young seeds a half-dose until after three to four weeks. Once they’re old enough, you can give them fertilizer weekly. Fertilizer can help if you’re having trouble starting seeds.