Growing vegetables from seeds is an inexpensive way to start a vegetable garden. Some vegetables, such as corn and radishes, actually grow best when directly sown as seeds in to your garden. This guide provides you all you need to know about growing vegetables from seeds.

If you’ve ever wanted to grow vegetables from seed, this beginner’s guide to growing vegetables from seed will help you start your garden right this year.

If you’ve always wanted to try your hand at growing plants from seed, now is the time to get started. This series will start with the basics; how to choose your seeds, what you will need, and when to plant them. Then I will share with you potential problems and solutions. As the season progresses, I’ll share information on transplanting and directly sowing seeds into the garden.

Ready? Let’s get started…

Choosing Garden Seeds

Walk into any garden center at this time of year and colorful seed packages entice you to buy them. Before purchasing your seeds, it’s important to plan your garden. Otherwise, you may end up with too many seeds, and they don’t keep well from year to year.

A little preparation….

• If you already have seeds saved from prior years, conduct a seed viability test. Follow my directions here: Seed Viability Test.
• Make a quick plan for your garden, anticipating the vegetables you wish to grow.

When to Plant Seeds

Growing vegetables from seeds means estimating when the seeds will germinate (sprout). You must also estimate when they will be ready to be transplanted outdoors and planted in the garden. Knowing when you plant is a skill every gardener needs. The two pieces of information that will help you calculate when to start seeds inside include:

1. Your gardening zone or “last frost” date for your area: The USDA has created a hardiness map to help you estimate planting times. It’s the last frost date in the spring that you need to know for spring planting. Nearly all vegetables should be planted close to or after that frost-free date. If you’re planting vegetables that thrive in a hot climate, these should only be planted outside AFTER the last frost date. However, to have the plants mature enough to move outdoors, you must plant the seeds at the proper time indoors.
2. Your plant’s requirements: How long will the seeds take to mature into a healthy seedling? The back of the seed package should offer suggestions based on your location as to when you should plant them. 

Understanding Gardening Zones

When you read about gardening, many writers refer to gardening zones.   Gardening zones are areas of the country created by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. These days are your average frost-free date and your average first date of frost.

Average Frost-Free Date

Knowing when to plant means knowing when Mother Nature can zap you with frost.  Frost is the enemy of tender plants. It’s created when condensed moisture vapor or dew freezes.

Frost kills tender plants.  Some plants are what is called ‘cold hardy’.  This means that they can take cooler temperatures. They don’t mind a sudden frost.

When to Plant Seeds

If you’re new to growing vegetables from seeds, the back of the seed package will tell you when you can plant.

The map roughly corresponds to the hardiness zone map.  Look for your state and the area where you live. Compare it to the color key with the map. That will tell you about when you can plant the seeds directly into the ground.

Seed packages also recommend in-ground planting or starting indoors.  Tomatoes and peppers, for example, need heat to grow.  Start them about 8 weeks before the last frost free date and make sure that outdoor temperatures don’t drop below 70, or else you’ll kill your seedlings.  At the very least, they’ll be shivering.

Some seed packages just have a lot of words on the back. Here’s the translation of that planting information:

• “Plant as soon as soil can be worked”: You’ll see this phrase on the back of packages for cold-hardy vegetables.  These seeds can usually be sown in early spring.  Watch out for soil that’s so wet it sticks to your tools.  It may be too wet or too early to plant. Wait until it dries out a bit.
• “Plant after all danger of frost is past”: This means just what it says.  Don’t rush it.  Wait until it’s warm and the trees outside have leaves.  If the maple trees and oak trees have their leaves, it’s probably warm enough to plant seeds outside.

Other information on the seed package provides additional context.  Some seeds need light, so you don’t plant them very deeply. You might just sprinkle them on top of the soil.  Others need darkness to sprout. Just look at the seed package and do what it tells you.

Are Organic Seeds Worthwhile?

Depending on your gardening goals and lifestyle, you may choose to purchase organic garden seeds. Organic seeds are no better or worse than conventional seeds. Organic refers to the method by which the seeds were produced.

I’ve discussed the pros and cons of organic seeds on Home Garden Joy here.

More Seed Starting Information

• How to Clean Seed Starting Trays
• When Should You Start Tomato Seeds Indoors?
• Organic Gardening Tips: How to Know When to Plant Vegetables
• How to Start a Vegetable Garden from Scratch
• Vegetable Gardening Tips and Tricks

Growing Plants from Seed for Over 40 Years!

I’ve been growing vegetables from seed as far back as I can remember. My dad would eagerly peruse the Burpee and Park Seed Company catalogs and place his order. That small box of promise containing myriad packets of seeds would arrive one day, and by the weekend, the plant lights in the basement would be set up, the seeds sown into little plastic flats. Sometimes my dad used peat disks, and my job would be to soak the peat disks until they attained their full height. Then I would place them in the trays for him. (Peat disks, for those new to gardening, are flat disk-shaped compressed peat rounds. You soak them in water, they expand into little pots. They’re good for seed that don’t like to have their roots disturbed during transplanting because you just dig a hole and insert the peat pot and little plant all in one.)

Today, I grow fewer plants directly from seed, and those that I do are grown for a specific reason. Most of the time, that reason is simple: I can’t find the variety I want at a local garden center. Sometimes I start perennial flowers from seed so that I can grow more for less money than purchasing the plants. I have successfully grown columbine, monarda, Echinacea, and lavender from seed.

Some seeds are more challenging to grow than others, but all are worthwhile. There’s nothing like the feeling you get when you walk through your garden and realize that you’ve lovingly nurtured many of the plants from seed to flower.