Zone 6: Seeds are Started, Spring Seeds are Planted

Continuing on with our 2026 garden challenge, today we’re talking seed starting. There are two main ways to acquire vegetable and herb plants for your garden and either way is acceptable, one gives you more control over varieties and one gives you more time in your life.

Determining what you want or need to plant

I’ll go a bit more in depth on another blog for this but before you aquire seeds you have to know what you need. You can plant all sorts of things but if your family won’t eat it, you’re just wasting space. If you can buy it easily or cheaply, you might consider skipping said item and planting something else that’s more important, especially if you’re limited in spice.

For me it’s simply, what tomato products do I need to preserve ? How may tomatoes will I need do said products ? How many plants will I need in order to get the amount of tomatoes I need ? And then do that with each type of plant. Peppers, onions, garlic, cucumbers, corn, squash, beans, peas etc.

The basics of starting seeds indoors

In a previous post I talk a alittle bit bout how I plan my garden. You can find it here. Now that you know what varieties you want to plant or grow, how many of each plant, let’s get them started.

This year I had several seed pods left over so that’s what I used, in the past, I have used red solo cups, store-bought seed trays, the list of options goes on. Pick something that is either one, available to you or two, affordable to you.

Then you need your soil. Some people will mix their own seed starting soil, to date I have never done that but hope to try it soon. I currently just buy a seed starting mix from the store and I use that as my growing medium.

This might seem like an obvious step, but next you plan receipts. I do 2 to 3 seeds per seed pod/cup/tray holder. This leaves space for an 85% to 95% germination rate and means that at least one of my seeds will sprout and come up. More often than not, all of them will come up and once to true leaves are on each plant I determine which ones I will pull out or cut. This allows just one plant to remain and continue to grow and thrive.

You will most definitely need grow lights, a heating mat, and a humidity dome for the first few days after you plant your seats in your soil. The humidity dome is something that I will remove once my seeds have peaked through the soil. I continue to use the heating mat for some sometime after and of course the grow lights will remain. We keep our home pretty cold so a heating mat is essential to you is beyond the initial sprout, though most homes are warmer and it will not be required.

Using a fan is important to help create strong seedlings that will not die the moment they’re left out in the elements.

If I start my seeds in peat seed pods, like I did this year, eventually, I will need to move them to trays or solo cups as they will need more room for their roots to grow. I do this around 2-4 weeks after planting. This year, I will not be using solo cups. I will be using these pods from Amazon. They are reusable, clean them after use, spray some vinegar and let them dry and re use the next year.

When do you actually plant your seedlings in the ground ?

Officially, after they’ve been hardened off, but then after the last frost has passed for any plants that are not cold loving. Cold loving items that I’ve already put directly in the ground this week or last week: Shelling peas, beets, and carrots. Next up I will get cabbages broccoli, leeks and onions in the ground.

Figure out what growing zone you are in and that will help you figure out your approximate last frost date. Once you know that, you just have to keep an eye, feel the weather, and plant when it’s time.

If you buy starts from those are almost always already hardened off. Hardening off means if you grow something indoor in perfect conditions it’s not going to know what to do with full sun, rain, wind, and other such weather elements. Hardening office is a slow process where you build the amount of time that your seedlings are outside in the environment that they will officially grow in. This is an important step and cannot be missed. If you skip it, and plant all your seedlings that have not been hardened off. They will likely wither and die within 24 to 48 hours. Don’t let all your hard work go to waste. Be patient and do it right.

Once I’ve planted everting, I journal.

For the last few years in someway shape or form, I have written down what I have planted and when. Some years I’m a little more in depth, and I write down when everything has sprouted how well it did or how well it did not do and so and so forth some years, I just write down when I got them planted, and whether or not it was successful. This is very important because while searching USA hardiness zones is helpful and giving you a guide for when to plant things. The more you journal the more intuitive gardening will become for you and it will give you a chance to tweak when you plant things what you plant and how many you plant to your specific needs. You can track what bugs devoured what plants this year what natural pest repellent worked what did didn’t. You can also keep track of any little thing that you would like, including how bad the birds and the moles and the voles were that year.

Happy gardening! Share what you hope to plant!

-C. Shank