• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Home Garden Joy
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Gardening Basics
    • Seed Starting
    • Composting Basics
    • Vegetable Gardening
    • Growing Fruit
    • Growing Herbs
  • Recipes
    • Canning and Food Preservation
    • Vegetarian Meals
    • Salad Recipes
    • Soup Recipes
    • Dinner Recipes
    • Dessert Recipes
  • Books & Classes
    • Classes
    • Books
    • Books for Christian Herbalists
  • About
    • Writer Jeanne Grunert
    • Advertise
    • Awards and Accolades
    • Privacy Policy

Quick and Easy Seed Starting Guide

January 10, 2020 by Jeanne

This seed starting guide covers all you need to know to grow vegetables and herbs from seeds. Many plants grow best when started from seeds directly in the garden. Others need to get a headstart in the house before growing big and strong enough to be transplanted in the garden.

I’ve put together a list of all seed starting articles on Home Garden Joy that covers the gamut of garden seed questions. I also have a few videos, too.

a picture of open hands holding garden seeds

Photo by Joshua Lanzarini on Unsplash

Seed Starting Guide from Home Garden Joy

Each spring, my father read the Parks and Burpee seed catalogs cover to cover, often bookmarking, dog-earing, and underlining items to buy. The pages would become wrinkled from bathtub reading. Old catalogs became collages for my school art projects.

The seeds arrived in February, making their way to the basement where my father’s plant lights stood in a corner.  He had a special green bulb gizmo that squirted small seeds into the trays of soil. One of my tasks as a child was to soak the peat disks in water. Fascinated, I’d watch them grow before my eyes, soaking up the water and rising into small, self-contained pots.

That was over 40 years ago, and I can still remember the smell of a fresh bag of ProMix, the earthen smell of peat moss, the evenings spent at my father’s side helping him sow tomato, pepper, and other seeds.

Today, I garden in my raised vegetable beds, and while I start fewer plants indoors from seeds, I still love the cherished rituals of seed starting. If you have children at home or grandchildren, do invite them to partake in the springtime ritual of seed sowing. It is something they too will cherish, especially if you give them seeds large enough for their tiny hands to hold easily. Sunflower seeds are great starter projects for youngster; they love sunflowers and watch them grow each weed, plus the seeds are big (and forgiving) enough that if dropped or planted incorrectly, they still flourish.

picture of seeds starting to grow in pots
Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

Seed Starting Resources: The List

The list and links below form the seed starting guide from Home Garden Joy. Each article includes tips and hints to help you grow almost anything from seed.

Seed Starting Basics

  • How to Read a Seed Catalog: Learn what the symbols and text mean and how it can help you grow a lovely garden this year.
  • How to Clean Seed Starting Trays: Trays should be disinfected each year. Here’s how to clean and disinfect seed starting equipment.
  • Seed Starting Indoors: Equipment and Supplies: A list of the basic equipment and supplies you’ll need. You can also reuse items like milk and yogurt cartons for containers and get creative with other equipment, too.
  • Best Light for Seed Starting: A sunny windowsill might be fine but you can also make an inexpensive seed starting light stand.
  • Seed Starting Mistakes and How to Fix Them: Everyone makes mistakes. If your seeds aren’t growing properly, here’s how to figure out what you did wrong and fix it.
  • Are Organic Seeds Better? You’ll see row upon row of organic seeds at the store but should you buy them? Do they produce better vegetables or flowers? Or is there another reason to grow organic seeds?
  • Can You Use Old Seeds? Should you throw out old seeds? Will they sprout? Learn more.
  • The Benefits of Succession Planning: Success planning means to plant seeds while other plants are in place. It’s used to ensure a continuous supply of certain vegetables like lettuce.

How to Grow Certain Plants From Seeds

  • Why Didn’t My Lettuce Seeds Sprout?
  • Saving Cantaloupe Seeds
  • Starting Peppers from Seeds
  • Growing Basil From Seed
  • How to Save Sunflower Seeds
  • Growing a Lemon Tree from Seeds
photo of vegetable seedlings in pots
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Jeanne
Jeanne

Jeanne Grunert is a certified Virginia Master Gardener and the author of several gardening books. Her garden articles, photographs, and interviews have been featured in The Herb Companion, Virginia Gardener, and Cultivate, the magazine of the National Farm Bureau. She is the founder of The Christian Herbalists group and a popular local lecturer on culinary herbs and herbs for health, raised bed gardening, and horticulture therapy.

Tweet
Share
Pin7
Share32
39 Shares

Filed Under: Seed Starting

Follow me on social media

Like
Follow
Follow
Follow
Follow
Previous Post: « Plant-Based Diet for the New Year
Next Post: Low Sodium, Low Cholesterol Sauerbraten Dinner »

Primary Sidebar

Let’s Connect!

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • YouTube

Featured

logo of the american horticulture society

Home Garden Joy was featured by the American Horticultural Society on #plantchat.

Writer Jeanne Grunert

cover of plan and build a raised bed garden

Find all my books on Amazon.com

Gardening Articles

red celosia flowers in the garden

How to Save Flower Seeds

savory on a wooden table

How to Grow Summer Savory

a watering can next to a seed tray on a sidewalk

What Veggies Can I Plant Now?

heirloom tomato

A Review of the CharGuy Long-Sleeve Gardening Gloves

Footer

a white bowl filled with vegan creamy cauliflower soup made with orange cauliflower

Vegan Creamy Cauliflower Soup

This recipe for vegan creamy cauliflower soup offers a tasty, filling comfort food for cold winter’s nights – all without any animal products. The secret to its amazing taste is a combination of dried summer savory and parsley stirred liberally into the simmering vegetables. Here’s the full recipe and instructions for my vegan creamy cauliflower…

Read More

a close up of a pink Christmas cactus flower on a wooden table

Schlumbergera x buckleyi – Christmas Cactus

Schlumbergera x buckleyi – Christmas cactus. So many people love these plants, but so many people also don’t know how to take care of them. Now, part of that is the name – Christmas cactus. Unfortunately, whoever discovered them in the rain forests thought they were cacti, and so they received this unfortunate designation. In…

Read More

red celosia flowers in the garden

How to Save Flower Seeds

Would you like to learn how to save flower seeds? Saving your own flower seeds means you’ll have your favorite seeds ready to plant next spring. Here’s a short, easy tutorial on how to save flower seeds from your garden. Simple Steps – How to Save Flower Seeds Fall is the best time to save…

Read More

savory on a wooden table

How to Grow Summer Savory

You can grow summer savory in pots, containers, window boxes, or raised bed gardens. Summer savory (Satureja hortensis) or winter savory (Satureja montana) from seed is easy, but what is this herb, what does summer savory taste like, and how do you use it? What Is Summer Savory? Summer savory is a culinary herb. It…

Read More

Copyright © 2023 Home Garden Joy on the Foodie Pro Theme