Think Before Starting Seeds.

Every year it happens. The stores bring out all the seeds and supplies to get started in February and you start itching to get seeds started. Although lots of seeds need a good head start on the growing season being in a hurry to start seeds could hinder the growing process instead of helping. Slow down and enjoy the seed starting process. Do a little experiment and start some things really early and some a little later to see if it really makes a difference in your gardens or not. I have made the mistake several years of starting seeds too soon and have finally learned my lesson. 

That being said I have some seeds started already. I have started pansies and petunias and that is it. I just started the petunias last night. I set up my growing lights and heat source for the delicate seeds. I had started the pansies earlier, they need darkness and cool temperatures to germinate, and they now need a light source after sprouting. Not wanting to waste extra light, I decided to give my petunias an early start to the growing season. I grow petunias from seed every year. It would seem as if it would not quite be summer around here without petunias. I usually start my petunias 10-11 weeks before the last frost date.  Generally speaking pansies can be started about 8 weeks before being planted out and they can take a bit of a frost so they can be planted before the last frost date. Some of the first seeds I will be starting extra early include peppers, artichokes, ground cherries, asparagus, celery, seed onions/shallots/leeks followed shortly after by tomatoes and hollyhocks and then the odd broccoli, cabbage and greens transplants for an early crop. I start a few cucumbers, squash and melon plants indoors but not until about 4 weeks before the last frost date if even then. The melon are a bit more important to start early but generally speaking cucurbits do not really dig being transplanted. Last year and this year I'm experimenting with direct seeding these plants under row covers placed on the plot a few weeks prior to seeding to warm the soil.  One reason you do not want to start seeds too soon is they will require frequent transplanting or risk becoming stunted, root bound or nutrient poor if not. This is almost always the case with squash started too early. Squashes grow vigorously and their delicate leaves can easily get damaged when moving them around and transplanting.   

Peppers are generally started about 8 weeks or more before the last frost. When I was younger my father always said that for the most part you were in the clear to plant outdoors after the full moon in June. Apparently there is actually no evidence that frost occurs more around a full moon as many do think, however for some strange reason the weekend after the full moon always turns out to be the best time to plant warm weather crops. This has proved true for the past 4 growing seasons and as a result I've resigned to not thinking about  direct seeding warmer crops like beans and corn until after that full moon and maybe even later depending on soil temperature. Average frost dates for the area reflect this idea with the last frost dates for Nova Scotia and P.E.I being typically at the end of May. On more than one occasion we had either a light frost right or a few really cool days around that full moon in June. I've found over the years that it certainly doesn't help to be in too much of a hurry when starting seeds especially if you do not have cold frames and greenhouses to house your seedlings and especially if the soil is slow to warm. I usually use the first full moon in June as my last frost date to count back from, success has resulted so far.  I start my celery about 11 weeks before last frost with my artichokes. The onions, ground cherries and peppers I start about 10 weeks before the last frost but wait until the soil has warmed to plant outside, about 2 weeks after the last frost date, with the tomatoes. This allows the soil to warm a bit more for these crops, although this year I will be growing my peppers and tomatoes with some kind of protection. I've started my asparagus about 10 weeks before the last frost date instead of 8 weeks prior, as I had read in a book that asparagus appreciates the extra growing time. I have started tomatoes as little as 6 weeks before the last frost date and they grew beautifully. One little trick I learned to use this year is trimming onion seedlings to promote more bulb growth as opposed to greens. Instead of focusing on growing my transplants early, I focus on growing them well. Those tomatoes started about 6 weeks before the last frost date grew just as well as the ones started at 8 weeks before the last frost date. I use a seaweed tea fertilizer for the young seedlings that give them a tremendous boost. The ground cherries and peppers are slower to get started than the tomatoes, however you also do not really want your peppers focused on flowering when putting them in the ground or you may not get too much of the growth required for production. 

It can be a little tricky deciding when to start your seeds. I will be starting my peppers, artichokes and onions very, very soon.  After a few years of growing you will have a good idea of what you can accommodate and when. Starting some small seeds requires little space but the large seedlings tomatoes, ground cherries and peppers grow into require a lot of space. You need to be extremely careful with these plants when moving them around under lights, and into cold frames and greenhouses. I've snapped off more than one beautiful tomato, ground cherry or pepper plant while moving their large bulk around. Thankfully they have usually recovered since they do so much growing after being planted in well cultivated and amended soil.   

It is like everything else in life. The stores are trying to appeal to our inner consumer and make us think that we gotta get growing now. I can never resist buying a petunia from the nursery early in the season. They are so much larger, more advanced and actually flowering, unlike mine started at home. I bring the petunia home and grow it along with mine started from seed. Although mine started from seed can be a little pokier to get started by the end of the summer mine are still blooming away, loving life and looking like frost is not even going to be an issue. The petunia from the nursery on the other hand is tired, lifeless and fading. Large celery transplants from the nursery last year paled in comparison to mine started from seed that were much smaller upon initial planting.  Soon enough I wasn't able to tell the difference between home grown and nursery without looking for my marker. 

I guess the advice I would give first seed starters is not too be in too much of a rush to start seeds, there is such a thing as starting seeds too early, and the same advice for putting the transplants in the ground. Planting tomato transplants about two or more weeks after the last frost date is a great idea. Working with mother nature is much easier than working against her. Tomatoes planted too early will show signs of distress and require protection. 

Last year I heard of several people losing their tomatoes that were planted early as we had an awfully cold and windy snap in late may/early June. 

Peppers love the heat. If the summer starts a little slow and temperatures are still cool do your peppers a favour and keep them in a container until conditions improve. We have such a great fall here for growing these plants that I allow the cooler weather vegetables to occupy most of my early spring gardening time. Put your energy into planting peas, greens, brassicas and other cool weather tolerant plants. We plant some potatoes early for an early crop and then put the main crop in a little later. Many things can be planted in stages. Fertilize your transplants to help them grow well. Remember that transplants will grow quickly and may need to be transplanted several times before planting out. Greenhouses and cold frames are extremely handy and can allow you to start seeds earlier without compromising their care. 


Ultimately follow the guidelines outlined on the packet of seed. When following the guidelines strictly, I almost always have a 100% success rate when using new seeds. I may change the dates of starting the seeds slightly depending on things I have read, but the method should not stray from the suggested one.