MONTREAL - Starting seeds indoors is like jump-starting spring. The ground outside is still muddy, wet and the possibility of flurries and overnight frost lingers.
But with patience and a few basic supplies, the impatient gardener can get things started early by sowing seeds indoors.
If you are new to seed-starting it's a good idea not to take on too much. Start with a few varieties of seeds and no more than two dozen small pots.
You may not need all the expensive, sophisticated gear available out there, but a few things are essential: The right growing medium, constant watering and plenty of light.
Here's a basic step by step guide
1. Know when to plant. Find out the last frost date in your gardening zone. In Montreal and most of southern Quebec and northern New England, it's safe to plant outdoors any time on or after Victoria Day, which falls on the third weekend of May.
2. Consult the back of the seed packets to find out how many weeks each variety of plant will take to get ready indoors. That's the "number of days to maturity." Count backwards from the last frost date and you'll know when to start seeding indoors.
3. Seedlings are delicate. Plant them in small pots filled with special seed-starting mix made up of peat moss, vermiculite and perlite.
Any small pot will do, as long as it is clean and sterile and has good drainage holes. Pots made of compressed peat that can go straight into the garden, where they break down, are a good investment. Easiest of all is to buy an inexpensive ready-made seed-starting kit that includes peat pots and a plastic tray with a transparent dome cover.
4. Pre-sprouting seeds speed things up. Lay a double layer of paper towel on a baking sheet and moisten until soaking wet. Sprinkle seeds in a single layer over the moistened paper, without crowding them, and cover with another double layer of paper towel. Moisten thoroughly.
Inspect daily, even twice a day, to make sure paper towel doesn't dry out. The first little roots will emerge within a few days or up to two weeks. When they do, it is time to plant. Lift them gently from the paper towel, being careful not to break the roots.
5. Plant seeds or sprouted seeds, one or two to a pot and water well. Keep in a warm place. A shelf set over a radiator, slightly raised, is a good spot. So is the top of the refrigerator or clothes dryer. Cover the seedling tray with a transparent dome to keep in moisture during germination.
Make sure the pots stay moist at all times. Use a mister or a watering can with a delicate spray.
6. Use plastic markers or wooden popsicle sticks to make note of what you've sown in each pot.
7. As soon as you see green sprouts about half an inch tall, remove the domed cover and move the seedlings to a sunny spot.
If more than one plant has emerged in each pot, use small scissors to snip off the weaker one.
Seedlings need plenty of light or they will be spindly and weak. Set them by sunniest window in the house. One that is south or west-facing offers the most hours of sunlight.
Turn the plants every few days so that they don't bend toward the light.
For best results, gardeners use overhead artificial lights, which they raise as the plants grow.
8. Water daily. Do this from the bottom, so as not to damage the tender seedlings. Be careful not to over-water, though, to avoid dislodging the seedlings and encouraging rot.
9. When the danger of frost is over, get the plants ready for the great outdoors. This is done gradually, a process called "hardening off." On a warm day take the plants outdoors and leave them in a sunny location, but bring them back in at night. After a week or so, they will be acclimatized to the outdoors and ready for transplanting into the garden or into balcony flowerpots.
Sources
A helpful seed-starting chartFor information about last frost dates
