Jumpstart Your Spring Garden

When spring rolls around after a long winter, you don't want to waste a minute of that glorious warm weather growing! Starting seeds indoors is a great way to get ahead of the season. This is a fun and rewarding project that you can often make with what you already have on hand; No need to buy any special items. And with just a few dollars worth of seeds, you can grow many plants very cheaply. Starting your own seeds allows you to try unusual and exciting varieties that you might not find at the local garden center. Here's what you need to know to successfully start seeds indoors to plant seeds in your garden if temperatures stay above freezing.

Easy seeds to start indoors

If this is your first time starting seeds indoors in winter, it's best to go small. Choose one or two varieties that are easy to grow from seed, like these favorite flowering annuals

Marigold Flowers

Many of us have fond memories of these cornflowers in our grandmother's or mother's garden. There are many colorful varieties, including some you won't find in garden centers, so growing your own from seed is your best bet.

Cosmos

These cheerful flowers come in soft pastel shades and vibrant oranges, yellows, and pinks.

Morning Glories

These climbing vines look stunning growing on a fence, where they will produce abundant blooms throughout the summer. Flower colors come in shades of blue, purple, red, pink, white, and both.

Nasturtiums

Grow Them, Eat Them: This edible flowering plant grows vigorously and in many colors.

Sunflower

There's a lot to love about big, happy sunflowers. Bonus: Birds and bees love them.

Test Garden Tip: Check the seed package label to find the number of weeks you should start seeds indoors before the average last frost date. It usually takes six to eight weeks to start your seedlings in the spring, so count back from your area's frost date to figure out when to start your seeds indoors.

Caring for seedlings indoors

You started your seeds. Their first leaves poke into pots. What will you do next?

1. Give them some air.

After the seeds have germinated, remove the plastic wrap or other covering to give them room to grow.

2. Thin the seedlings.

As seedlings make their presence known, they need their space. Only one plant per pot, keeping the healthy and strong ones.

3. How to replant seedlings.

After they are two inches tall and have two sets of leaves, your seedlings should be primed. Transplant them into larger containers, this time in a regular potting mix instead of a seed-starting mix.

4. Mist seedlings.

Do not let the seedlings dry out! Sprinkling them is a great way to give them a drink. Do not place them under a faucet or faucet, because water pressure can wash them out of their containers.

5. Harden off the seedlings.

Before moving your seedlings into the garden (keeping your frost-free date in mind), give them a few days to slowly acclimate to life outside. That's called hardening off your plants. To do this, put the seedlings out for a while in a protected place (about an hour or two). Each day, increase the amount of time you leave them out until they are out all day.