Indoor Seed Starting Part I: Master the Art of Pregaming
Part I: Seed Starting Prep: Master the Art of Pregaming Seed Starting
Like many avid gardeners, I am so over gardening by the time harvest and cleanup rolls around in the fall. Luckily, after a couple of months’ rest, the itch to garden usually returns. This period of rest is essential for not only to give the gardener reprieve, but it also allows pest and diseases to die off. Once it’s time to start seeds indoors, most gardeners like to dive right in and start their seeds. I prefer to first do something I call pregaming and right now is the perfect time to do it! This involves the dull and boring tasks of getting my grow room all fired up by inspecting and sanitizing everything. When it’s all good to go, I start by planting microgreens to ensure my setup is really dialed in terms of humidity temperature and light intensity. That will prepare me for next week when I focus on planting seeds that will be transplanted later in the season.
The reason I like to start with microgreens is that they provide pretty immediate feedback to how my grow room is functioning. By nature, microgreens pop up really fast and grow quickly. This allows me to get back into the swing of things and tinker with my set up so that I can achieve the balance needed for really strong, beautiful seedlings. I don’t want leggy, stick-like, disease-ridden plants before they even hit the ground and chances are you don’t either. What we want is the strongest root systems and the most vigorous growth if we want a garden that is going to impress and produce gorgeous, and I do mean, gorgeous plants and vegetables. By pregaming, you too will get to fine-tune your indoor environment. Think of it as Goldilocks—finding just the right balance. Not too dry, not too moist. Not too bright and not too dim. Not too hot and not too cold. It’s not necessary to pregame, but I find a lot of value in it and I hope you do too. Ensuring that your environment is ideal for fostering robust seedlings is the key to success later on in the season for plants that require a longer grow season.
Look, there’s no police in gardening so if you aren’t concerned about these details, you can go totally lo-fi by starting seeds on a sunny windowsill. But if you want to elevate your game, it cannot be understated that fine-tuning your environment is crucial to obtaining Instagram worthy microgreens. This week, join me on virtual consultation if you’d like me to show you my set up and review all the details to make sure you can apply what I’ve written into practice and pregame your own indoor set up!
The microgreens that I am using are basil and farmers market blend of lettuce. However, there are many microgreens for you to choose from. Friends of Fridays Morning in the Garden can swing by and grab a scoop or two of basil or broccoli blend to try! You can do the research, but you will find micro greens are so chock full of any antioxidants, vitamins and minerals. They are a powerhouse that you absolutely want them in your diet regularly. You can totally buy them at the grocery store, but the problem is once they’ve been cut, they lose so much of their nutritional value that if you’re really going to bother with micro greens at all, you’re really better off growing them yourself. You can cut them as needed so that they don’t lose any of their nutritional quality.
