Seed Starting Methods or attention deficit disorder for gardeners

Living in Minnesota zone 4b presents some additional challenges to gardening.  The first of which is the length of time for growing anything. Those of us who live in middle MN ( I include Minneapolis, St. Paul and surrounding suburbs in my classification of Middle MN) struggle with when to plant and what to plant every year. If you live in northern Minnesota you know you just have to wait, period. If you are in southern Minnesota (yes that is an oxymoron) You can play with our zone assignment based on your exact location and average ground temperature and if you are valley or not you consider yourself to be nearer to zone 5A than 4b.

The choices for how to start your garden are the same as they are for gardeners everywhere with the exception of there is little to no time for "Do Overs".

I was always a little intimidated by seed starting. Just as I was a little intimidated about becoming a mother. I don't think it is a coincidence that starting a garden and starting a family have many similarities. When I noticed this I began to make choices about the preparation of my gardens that mirrored my family making choices. I also don't think it is a coincidence that gardening is one of the most common hobbies of retirees. Isn't it just another empty nest syndrome coping mechanism?

To begin with. You have to decide how much time you have to spend sowing seeds (Giggling is allowed) as well as how many plants you wish to have in your garden. If you are like me the choice of how many seeds you want to start is like asking me " If you could eat everything you want without gaining a pound what would you eat?" I collect seeds like the zombies are coming. Well aren't they? So my answer is to purchase or trade for as many seeds as you can acquire of the plants you think you may want to grow.

The  methods I have tried are indoor flats with heat mats and lighting and the winter sowing method.

• Indoor flats using special lighting require investing time in researching germination time required, temperature and light or no light requirements for each species you wish to start. Trying to determine the amount of time needed to do this depends on what you decide to grow and what medium you choose to use to start your seeds.
• The winter sowing method (WS) for short. This method is the closest to the "Set it and forget it" method of seed and plant starting that exists other than waiting for the nurseries to sell the plants you wish to grow. The equipment is bare bones, potting soil and any plastic container that light can pass through. Milk cartons, take out containers. They should hold a minimum of 2 inches of soil. See Winter Sowing Method

My blogging buddy serial tiller Pat and I will be using both methods and blogging about our experiences with both. My preference is the winter sowing method but Minnesota has a very short growing season that makes growing hot peppers and some tomatoes difficult to WS with predictable success since the ground temperature does not warm up quickly enough and days required to maturation exceed what we typically have available in a normal growing season. This means a few of my hot peppers and tomatoes will be started inside and all seeds will also  be winter sown (WS) because I prefer the heartiness of the resulting plants. It isn't really double work more like I have learned that some peppers will have time to produce more if started indoors. For example last year a new favorite the "Fish Pepper" sprouted and grew from the WS method but didn't have time to produce many peppers.

I am not the winter sowing method expert. That would be Trudi Greissle Davidoff  the creator of the Winter Sown.org page. I am very grateful to Trudi for introducing this method to me.

When we have successful seedlings, we will grow them using various methods. I will be using a container methods as well as in ground methods. I will feed using composting and other organic methods as well. Serial tiller Pat will be doing hay bales and raised beds.

I will be building my own containers that will mimic the "Earth box" and "Garden Patch" self watering systems with my own take on the design. I will purchase one of these to compare to my homemade container. How does it work? Well I found this video to explain it best. Using this wonderful instruction guide I will be constructing my own. I will blog about this project. I invite anyone reading this to do the same and let me know what worked for you.

We are all in this together, Peace!

Sow dig it Meredith