1. Durham Master Gardeners
Indoors and Out
Durham Master Gardeners
Website:

2. Learn from the Seed Package

4. Seed starting times
Check the dates based on last frost in your area

5. Conditioning Your Seeds
Some seeds with a hard seed coat need to be soaked or scarified before planting

6. Starting Seeds Indoors
Use sterile, clean pots
Use a starter growing soil
Plant depth = 2 x seed diameter
Label your seeds – they all look alike when they are small!

7. Germinating Seeds Some seeds require humidity to germinate
Some seeds require dark to germinate
Check soil temperature guides if planting outside
Some seeds require heat to germinate

9. Cotyledon Phase

10. First True Leaves

11. Turn on the lights when the first true leaves appear
Using Grow Lights
Turn on the lights when the first true leaves appear
Raise the lights as the seedlings grow

12. Thinning Seedlings
Thin your seedlings to one or two plants per cell pot in order to give them room to grow.
Snip the extra or “tease” them from the pot and transplant into a new pot.

13. Transplanting

14. Conditions to Watch for
Mealy bug
White fly
Downy Mildew
Damping off
Aphids

15. Watering Best to water from below and allow to drain well Overwatered
Seedlings too dry

16. Phosphorous or Potassium deficiency
Fertilizing
Fertilize when first true leaves appear
Use water soluble fertilizer – 25% solution to start, then build to 75%
Fertilize every two weeks
Phosphorous or Potassium deficiency
Nitrogen deficiency

17. Easy seeds to start indoors
Basil Beans Broccoli Brussels sprouts Cabbage Leeks Lettuce Peppers Tomatoes
Alyssum
Columbine
Cosmos
Hollyhocks
Marigolds
Pansies
Shasta daisies
Snapdragons
Zinnias

18. Hardening Off

19. Planting Outside
Transplant outside in containers or beds after hardening off and after the last frost has passed

20. Seeds to direct sow in the garden
Beans Carrots Chives Lettuce Onions Peas Pumpkins Radishes Summer Squash Winter Squash
Coriander (Cilantro) Summer Savory Calendula Cosmos Johnny Jump-ups Love-in-a-mist Morning Glories Nasturtium Portulaca