~Written by Nan Sterman

Each spring of my childhood, I’d pester my mom for radish seeds to plant in the narrow, no-man’s land between our sideyard fence and the wall outside my bedroom.  I’d rough up the hardened soil, sprinkle on the seeds, and splash with water.  Every day after school I’d check for green sprouts, and then for tiny, spicy red orbs.  With the level of care I gave them, I got maybe a radish or two from each packet.  I was thrilled. 

Since then, I‘ve improved my springtime seed starting process  - and my success – significantly.    Rather than sprinkle a whole package of seed onto the soil, I start individual seeds in containers, then plant seedlings into the garden.  Here are my basics. 

Containers:  Recycle six packs, four packs, yogurt containers, take out containers, etc.  Use larger containers for larger seeds.   Add drainage holes into the bottom if there aren’t any (always poke from the inside to outside). Disinfect containers by soaking for 30 minutes or more in a solution of nine parts water to one part bleach.  

Labels:  Recycle plastic labels by disinfecting them with the containers. Or, use clean popsicle sticks. Before you plant, prepare labels with the plant type, variety, and planting date.  Use pencil.  It doesn’t fade or wash off. Put a label into each empty container.

Soil:  Seedlings are extremely susceptible to fungus so use fresh seed starting mix.  Seed starting mixes, such as Black Gold Seedling Mix are pasteurized and finely milled so even the tiniest seeds germinate easily.  Wet the seed mix to mud pie consistency, then fill each container to within ½ to 1/4" inch of its top.

Seeds:  Your plants will be only as good as your quality of seeds, so don’t scrimp.  Read package labels to select the best size and variety and the best time of year to start the seeds.  You wouldn’t start tomatoes, for example, in November (unless maybe you live at the equator).

With smallish seeds like tomatoes, set three seeds onto the damp soil in each container or cell.  Space seeds as far from each other as possible in that area.  Poke larger seeds like cucumbers or squash down into the potting mix just a bit.

Add a layer of damp seed mix to fill the container.  Press it in firmly. 

Top with a ¼” layer of dry perlite or construction sand (not playground sand).  This critical step staves off a common fungus that develops on the surface of damp soil and kills seedlings just after they sprout. 

Place containers in a shallow pan filled with several inches of water. Once the water wicks up to the surface of the perlite or sand, remove the containers and let the excess water drain away.

Set containers in a bright spot away from direct sunlight, and where nighttime temperatures stay in the mid 50s F or warmer.  That’s the temperature range at which tomatoes, basil, zinnias and other summer treasures germinate.  To start summer seedlings earlier in the year, you’ll need a heat mat.  I’ll write about that in the future.

The trick now, is keeping the seed mix moist but not too wet.  I tent containers individually with lightweight plastic bags from the vegetable bins at the supermarket, or all together with a big plastic bag from the dry cleaners   A chopstick in the corners of each container keeps plastic from touching the soil.  Once all the seeds sprout, remove the plastic.

The hard part:  When seedlings have two sets of leaves, it is time to thin. Thinning may hurt, but you have to do it.  Your goal is one healthy pant per cell in a six-pack or a four-pack; one or two plants in the larger containers. Rather than pull out the weak seedlings, cut them off at the base with a baby’s fingernail scissors that has a rounded tip.  

As your seedlings grow, keep the soil damp.  When it dries a bit, water by setting containers into a dishpan of water.  Don’t water from the top.  After the seedlings have two sets of leaves, add some dilute fish emulsion or other organic liquid fertilizer to the water. 
If you live in a cool climate, your seedlings will need to adjust to the sunny outdoors bit by bit.  This hardening off is a process that takes a few weeks.   In warmer winter areas, seedlings adjust to garden conditions much more quickly.  Either way, after six to eight weeks, seedlings are usually large enough to transplant into the garden. 

Within a few months, you’ll be enjoying the fruits of your labor – literally!

Check out last month's article "Raised Bed Gardening" By Nan Sterman

About Nan Sterman

I am delighted to be contributing to Sungro’s website! Writing about plants and gardens, talking about them, teaching about them, creating gardens are my absolutely most favorite things to do. Fortunately for me, that’s my profession!

I grew up gardening. Among my earliest memories is the sweet scent of sweet pea flowers that surrounded my childhood home in Los Angeles. Equally memorable was the musty tomato forest my grandfather planted each spring behind the garage. As a college student in the 1970s, I was in the first wave of the sustainability movement that arose from the birth of Earthday. That was the first world-wide wake-up call about the limits of our natural resources.

Outdoors, I was in charge of the edible landscape, the vegetable garden, the chickens, rabbits, and compost. Many lessons from those days became permanent features in my life. I’ve made a vegetable garden in every place I’ve lived. I composting and recycle everything. I am notoriously frugal when it comes to using energy and even more so about water. In fact, my specialty is low water gardens, but I’ll get to that in a moment.

After my botany degree, I earned a Masters in marine biology at UC Santa Barbara and another in educational design at San Diego State University. For a decade I worked as an education and training consultant for companies like Union Bank and Century 21 Real Estate and organizations like the San Diego Zoo and Scripps Aquarium. In the early dot.com years, I designed educational software.

When I started testing the first generation of garden design software, the editor of National Gardening Magazine (yes, it was a magazine once) invited me to write up my findings. Soon, I was garden editor of San Diego Home/Garden Lifestyles Magazine. It was the end of one career and the beginning of the next. Today, I write for Sunset, the Los Angeles Times, San Diego Union Tribune, Organic Gardening, and etc.

My first solo book, California Gardener’s Guide vII was published in 2007 and in early 2010, Waterwise Plants for Southwest Gardens will be released. I have a TV show called A Growing Passion and am a regular guest on the morning talk show on San Diego’s Public Radio station. I speak, teach, and lecture to garden clubs and at garden shows from Albuquerque to Seattle, though most of my work is in Southern California. At the same time, I consult with water districts, public agencies, and the Water Conservation Garden at Cuyamaca College in southeast San Diego County.

While many people promote low water gardening as a way to save water, I take a broader perspective. Low water plants are sustainable plants. Why? In addition to being low water, they need little if any fertilizers and have few pests so they don’t need to be sprayed or treated. Because they grow slowly, they seldom need pruning. Therefore, they contribute very little to the mountains of yard waste that are trucked and processed with fossil fuels while releasing greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. How much “greener” can you get?

Somewhere along the way, I started designing gardens. I love to dig in other people’s dirt! My own garden is “slightly controlled chaos.” My 2/3-acre property includes beds of gorgeous perennials, shrubs, trees, and succulents, all adapted to growing with little water. I have a large vegetable garden, more than 20 fruiting trees and shrubs, an herb garden (couldn’t live without fresh herbs!) a brand new meadow, and a corner devoted entirely to California natives.

My goal with this column is to write about things that interest you. Please, email me your questions, comments, and photos of your garden. Let’s see what we can discover about gardening, together!

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