Start Seeds Indoors – The Garden (Part 2)

I know it’s still frost season here in Ohio, but its time to start seeds indoors!! A few weeks ago I shared the end goal for our garden. It was fun dreaming and planning, but now it’s time to get to work! We started some of our plants indoors this year and it’s been exciting! Right now the seedlings are quite little, but don’t most things start out small and insignificant before they blossom into something beautiful?

First order of business: I forgot to tell you in part 1 – the program we like to use when planning our garden is the Farmers Almanac Planner. We’ve used it for the past couple of years and it’s a wealth of information. We’ve only used the free version so far. I’m sure we will be purchasing the full version soon.

To start the process we had to figure out what our hardiness planting zone was. We used the USDA Map. It’s also extremely user friendly. If you look at Ohio, it’s mostly 6a…however there is a tiny spot of 5b in the middle. That’s where we are! Go figure! haha Now that I know what zone we are in I can learn when our last frost typically occurs.

Knowing when the last frost occurs is crucial. Whether you decide to start seeds indoors or purchase plants and then transplant them outdoors, you need to know when the last frost occurs to ensure the best outcome for your plants. Otherwise you might be running around tucking your little green babies in with blankets a few times!

Previously, we purchased plants, but this year we decided we wanted to start seeds indoors. By doing this we risk that some may not sprout and we are responsible for caring for them until they are strong enough to go out to the garden. But the benefits of spending less money, decreased risk of bringing a disease home with a purchased plant, and the ability to lengthen our growing season make it worth the risk. Not all plants need to be started indoors. In fact, some plants really struggle to recover from a transplant. That being the case we started the majority of our seeds, but definitely not all.

When we planted our seeds we followed the recommendations for each variety. Some seeds prefer to be buried 1/2” below the surface and some prefer to be just under a small layer of dirt. We purchased a seedling starter kit a couple years ago and guess what?! We never used it! So I dug it out of the patio box and started filling the holes with dirt specifically engineered to support seedling growth. After all the seeds were buried it was time to water them, put the lid on and wait. It felt like Christmas morning coming downstairs each day to see if any of the plants had sprouted.

The first round of seedlings to come up were the marigolds. We’ve since had to transplant them into larger containers. Next year we know we can start them a little later and still have large thriving plants to put in the garden.

Now, this is the hard part. It’s almost like being pregnant. They talk about mom’s “nesting”, well that’s what I’m doing with the seedlings. I know I have cute little plants growing but they aren’t ready to go outside yet. So while we care for them and ensure they are healthy and strong we are preparing the garden beds.

I can’t wait to see this garden take shape! In my dreams its amazing! I know it will likely change from the original plan, and I’m okay with that. Actually, there’s a pretty big change in the works for our garden already. We are reworking the layout and making the fenced-in space larger to accommodate room for some additions!