Why should you sow seeds inside?
Sowing seeds inside can allow you to start seeds earlier, which can lead to better harvests. It can also protect the plants from pests and lead to quicker plant growth. Check out my Planting Seeds: Inside or Outside blog post for more information on which to choose.
Please note that some links in this post are affiliate links, meaning I may earn a small commission if you purchase through them. Thank you for supporting me.
What you will need
- Grow lights. If you are growing them in a greenhouse, then natural light might be enough, but grow lights can still help. If you are growing them anywhere else you’ll want to use grow lights for the best results.
- Seed trays or pots. You’ll need something to sow the seeds into. There are quite a few options here, including trays, cell/modular pots, and individual pots (including fibre pots or making newspaper pots). I personally use multiple types, including trays, modular pots, and individual pots.
- Propagator. Seeds need certain temperatures in order to germinate. Depending on the temperature of your growing space, you may need to warm it up a bit. Electric propagators should increase the temperature by around 10°C above the ambient temperature, with non-electric increasing by a few degrees. You can also get heat mats that do the same sort of thing.
- Plant labels. You need some way to keep track of what you have planted where. While you can write this down on paper, I find it easier to use labels of some sort. You can use old ice cream sticks (the wooden ones), make flags out of toothpicks, or you can buy labels.
- Compost. You need something to plant the seeds in, and compost is going to be the best option. If you have homemade good quality compost, then you can use this. Or you can buy it from somewhere (garden centres are a good place for this).
- Seeds. You need the seeds that you want to be growing. You can save seeds from the plants you grow, which I will release a blog post about how to do later in the season. If you are buying seeds, I would really appreciate you using my affiliate link for JustSeed and supporting me. Thank you.
Once you’ve decided which seeds to sow inside, you need to check what time of year you should sow them. Seed packets will tell you this information for your chosen variety, and my blog posts about plants to grow also cover this for the UK.
How to sow seeds inside
- Fill your chosen pot with compost, filling almost to the top
- Follow the instructions on the seed packet, as it can vary plant to plant
- For some plants you may want to soak the seeds before planting
- Some seeds want to be sown on top of the compost and only lightly covered with compost
- Generally you’ll want to push the seed into the compost, just below surface level and then cover with compost
- Then water the compost, being careful to not move the seeds
- Place it in the place where you intend to grow it, likely either in a greenhouse or under grow lights.
How to care for seedlings
- Keep an eye on how wet the compost is. It doesn’t want to be really wet, but you also don’t want to let it get dry
- Make sure they have adequate light – if they are leaning towards a light source or growing tall and thin, then they probably don’t have enough light.
- Thin them out if they are overcrowded – if you plant more than you need (e.g. 2 per module) and they both come up, then you may need to remove one (which you can try replanting into another)
- Move them into a bigger pot if they become too big for their current pot, but it isn’t yet time to plant them outside.
- When you’re a couple of weeks before the time that you want to plant them outside into their final growing position (usually after the last frost), start acclimating the plants to the outside by moving them outside during the day and bringing them in during the night. This process is called hardening off.
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