Garden Talk: Starting Seeds Indoors

Air Date:
Heard On The Larry Meiller Show

Wisconsin’s winter landscape can be a sad sight for gardeners. But they can take heart in starting seed now indoors.

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  • Expert: Starting Seeds Indoors Provides More Variety, Greater Satisfaction

    The middle of winter can be a hard time of year for gardeners with so many weeks ahead before gardening outdoors is possible. But one way to make spring feel a little closer is to start some seeds indoors.

    Sharon Morrisey, the University of Wisconsin-Extension Consumer Horticulture Agent for Milwaukee County, said that one of the best reasons to start seeds indoors is to be able to choose exactly what one wants to grow. All of a sudden, anything in a seed catalog that is suited to the growing conditions is fair game.

    “If you purchase transplants from local retail stores, you still have a good variety. But, you won’t have a selection of 1,500 different tomatoes to choose from, or a couple hundred cucumber types that you could do … or think of all those kinds of lettuce that you may not be able to find,” Morrisey said.

    The limited growing days in Wisconsin — topping out at 120 or 130 in an ideal season — makes starting seeds indoors the only way to grow some varieties of certain crops. Morrisey said that giving those plants a head start inside takes away some of the risk of late frosts, cold, wet soil, and other conditions that gardeners can’t control.

    Educator Suggests What To Start Indoors And When

    Morrisey said that the crops that benefit from getting started indoors include those that need warm soil for planting, but also have a longer growing season. That means tomatoes, peppers, eggplant are great candidates.

    It might seem like the earlier the better would make sense for starting seeds, but Morrisey said that it’s possible to start them too early.

    “The longer you need to keep them thriving indoors, under artificial light and with the temperatures that you need to control, the more difficult it is have a really bushy, thick, vigorous plant to put out into the garden,” Morrisey warned.

    To avoid starting them too early, but starting them soon enough that they are ready to transplant when conditions are right outdoors means doing some calculations based on last average frost dates. Morrisey shared that the UW Extension Learning Store has a detailed publication titled “The Vegetable Garden” (PDF download) that includes an alphabetical list of crops and when to either start them indoors or direct seed in the garden.

    In addition, Morrisey compiled a shorter chronological list (PDF download) for when to start seeds indoors for a variety of common crops to suit Wisconsin’s growing conditions. She cautioned that her list is geared toward Milwaukee, while the longer publication uses Madison as its base, so those in other zones in Wisconsin should add or subtract time as needed.

    Identifying Logistics Of Seed Starting

    Starting seeds indoors isn’t just sticking seeds in some dirt, however. Morrisey said that “starting seeds is not a no-brainer. … There’s a lot more to it than you may think if you’ve never tried it before.”

    Just like having good garden soil, the growing medium for seed starting is important. Morrisey said that any commercial seed starting mix should work well, and will have the exact combination of “ingredients” needed for success.

    “The most important thing is that seed starting mix needs to be sterile,” Morrisey said.

    If the growing medium isn’t sterile, she said that the damping-off fungi “that seedlings are so susceptible to” are a real threat.

    In addition, the growing medium needs to be both moist and well-drained, Morrisey said, which can be difficult to manage when trying to compose it from scratch.

    The goal, Morrisey said, is “good air space, enough air space, but not so much air space that the seedlings’ tiny roots dry out. But also, not so much moisture-holding that it stays too wet and they rot.”

    Light and warmth are also key for starting seeds indoors. As Morrisey wrote in “Wisconsin Yard and Garden Tips” online, “supplemental lighting is an absolute necessity for successfully growing these seedlings indoors for such a long time. Use specially designed heat mats to provide bottom heat to produce really strong seedlings.” She said that a bottom heat of about 70 degrees will work well. Lights should be adjustable, so that they can consistently be less than 4 inches from the foliage as they grow.

    Morrisey said she think that one of the best reasons to start seeds indoors is the sense of accomplishment a gardener enjoys at the end of the process.

    “To take a plant from seed, seedling, into the garden and all the way through harvest, it’s so rewarding,” Morrisey said.

Episode Credits

  • Larry Meiller Host
  • Judith Siers-Poisson Producer
  • Sharon Morrisey Guest

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