this house is over 200 years old the
walls are thick and made of stone which
makes this windowsill nice and deep I
love this window but you know who
doesn't my seeds
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hello lovely people
I'm Nicole this is true food TV and this
is episode two of my season-long home
gardening series no experience no
problem because I'm breaking down
everything you need to know to get
growing finding optimal sunlight is just
one challenge you'll face when first
starting your seeds and then there's
soil temperature finding the right
container how much water they need but
there are always solutions and that's
what we're going to focus on today as we
explore how to start seeds two ways
indoors for transplanting later and
outdoors directly into your garden so
let's get planting
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okay so what things do we need in order
to start we need the seeds of course in
episode one we came up with a plan and
identified which ones will be starting
inside like I said then we're starting
them inside so we can get a jump on the
season because the more mature the plant
is when you put it in the garden the
faster you'll get to harvest so to begin
we need a container to grow our seeds in
in any normal year you would be able to
buy seed containers with individual
cells for each seed well we all know
this is no ordinary year we've all been
under some level of quarantine and you
know what there has been unprecedented
demand for seed starting equipment all I
could find available immediately were
these 10 20 trays so called because they
are ten inches by 20 inches but these
are typically used underneath the cell
trays for catching water or just for
stability but that's okay they will
totally work for planting seeds
themselves I just have to be a little
more precise when I plant and I will
show you how to do that but another
solution if you don't have these egg
cartons and not just the side with the
divots use the lid - some people
actually use egg shells filled with soil
to germinate their seeds germinate by
the way means when the plant emerges
from the seed egg shells are great
because they're porous and they provide
a source of calcium but here's the thing
before the seeds even need nutrition
they need warmth seeds will not
germinate if the temperature of the soil
is not warm enough and frankly eggshells
inhibit that warming process so I would
only use eggshells if you're sowing more
tolerant crops like kale or peas
certainly not your heat loving prima
donnas like eggplants tomatoes and
peppers instead you could try any
container that's 2 to 3 inches in depth
you can even get away with a baking tray
if you're in a pinch now you need to
fill your trays with potting mix potting
what I hate to break it to you you can't
just dig up your dirt in your backyard
your native soil is going to be too
compact for growing seeds seeds need
light airy soil that can pull up two
seemingly opposed function
at once allow for a good drainage but
also hold water potting mix has material
in it that basically acts like a sponge
holding just the right amount of water
but it's also loose enough to drain lots
of people think potting mix has some
kind of special fertilizer but it's
really more about texture than nutrition
for germination and that's because seeds
basically come with their own little
lunch box
that's how shannon mccabe explained it
to me she's a gardening expert over at
Baker Creek our sponsor for this series
Shannon describes seeds as perfect
little packages they have their own food
to feed the seedling inside before it
can develop roots and suck up nutrients
on its own so our first goal is to
create the right conditions to encourage
that seedling to burst out and start
throwing now let me show you how you can
plant seeds in a tray like this
using a ruler and a popsicle stick
though any kind of stick will do I'm
making a grid in the soil of each tray
measuring each side I divide the tray
into two inch squares 50 of them five
along the short side 10 on the long side
however a 1020 tray can fit up to 6 on
the short end 12 on the long with my
grid imprinted I read each packet to
find out the depth I need to plant each
seed at and I simply use my finger to
create a space in which to drop the seed
larger seeds like zucchini I plant just
one in each hole smaller seeds like
eggplant I drop two to three that gives
us a little margin for error in case a
seed doesn't germinate we'll be able to
thin the seedlings later I'll show you
that in a future episode it's a great
idea to start with already moistened
soil but if you forget that then give
your seeds a good drink just after
planting just don't use a strong spout
that will push the seeds further into
the soil than the depth we planted them
out in a pinch you can use an old spice
jar like this I'll get into watering
do's and don'ts as you maintain your
seeds and then seedlings in just a bit
ok so now we have to find a warm and
sunny place to put your seeds no problem
right I've got massive windows behind me
but these face north and don't get any
direct sunlight my south-facing windows
are in the old part of the house
remember where I was sitting at the
start of this video well I actually
started my seeds in those windows but
quickly realized here with huge trees in
front and deep cells my seeds just
weren't getting enough sunlight or
warmth and this is the key point right
here seeds need heat to germinate and
baby plants need light to grow at this
point when you're waiting for your seeds
to germinate warming up the soil is the
most important thing for me I needed an
alternative so I quickly ordered two
things that were mission-critical
heating pads and grow lights you can
find links to these in the description
below and then mark and I reassembled
our old Baker's rack
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for grow lights and three heat pads set
me back around a hundred and thirty five
dollars but I consider these an
investment I'll be using year after year
I keep the heat mats on 24 hours a day
because like I said I need the soil to
come up to a temperature that will
trigger the seeds to germinate basically
we're tricking the seeds into thinking
it's May or June you don't realize how
warm your soil needs to be tomatoes for
instance needs soil that's 65 to 85
degrees Fahrenheit now once my seeds
germinate they will need light for
photosynthesis specifically red and blue
lights quick light lesson light from the
Sun is made up of all the colors of the
rainbow but primarily red blue and green
most plants absorb the red and blue
light using it to photosynthesize while
they reflect the green light and that's
why we see green when we look at our
plants so do you absolutely need special
red and blue lights no you can use
regular LEDs or fluorescents it just
gets a bit complicated with having to
figure out the right mix of light
temperatures main rule of thumb is give
your seedlings 12 to 15 hours of
sunlight every day so basically turn
your grow lights off when you go to bed
and turn them back on
when you wake up now one last thing
watering you do not want to overwater
your seeds especially if you're using a
tray without holes like mine because the
seeds will rot however you do need a
constant presence of moisture so go
ahead and plunge your finger right into
the soil and feel how damp it is or get
to know the weight of your trays pick
them up feel how heavy they are when
they're well watered and how light they
are when they're dry at the seed stage
you want to give your trays a regular
misting once the seeds pop and the
seedlings emerge you want to give them
bigger but more infrequent drinks to
encourage them to develop roots that
will go looking for the water at that
point it's best not to order from above
wet foliage is the bane of
riki seed starters it can cause mold if
your seat ray has holes then sit it
inside a larger tray like a baking sheet
or something filled with water and let
the roots wick up the water from below
if you don't have holes like me then
carefully moisten the soil with a slow
drip watering can around the plants not
over them once I've got some seedlings
to transplant into the garden I'll show
you that process in a future episode but
now we have to head outside to sow some
frost Hardy seeds
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in my next episode I'm going to show you
how to build a garden in the easiest
fastest most sustainable way possible
but for now if you have a plot ready
this is how I planted my lettuce kale
and carrots
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okay since it's about two weeks before
my last day of frost I am focusing right
now on cold hardy crops one way of
growing your greens is a cut and come
again method that's basically where you
don't let the plants get as big as they
can be you cut them while the leaves are
still tender and the advantage of that
is that you can kind of really pack them
in to one bed so as you can see I have
one two three four five six different
varieties going into this one bed alone
I'm going to show you how to do a nice
tightly packed lettuce bed this approach
doesn't just maximize space after you
cut the young leaves the plants will
keep producing new ones so that you can
come again to harvest over and over
through the season we're basically going
to make very shallow trenches for our
seeds to be dropped into these are
called seed drills and basically greens
kales they like very shallow depths when
you put them in like a quarter inch to a
half inch and we're gonna build in this
way drop in our seeds not worry too much
about how many seeds are going in
because they're really tiny and hard to
control we're going to let them
germinate and then later we are going to
thin them out so this is a very kind of
no fuss no worry kind of planting let's
do it so I'm starting off with this
dazzling blue kale and if you can come
close you can see how small these seeds
actually are tip don't pour your seeds
out the side they'll stick in this
sticky part make a v-shape like this so
what we're going to do is we're gonna
just make a shallow trench with our
shovel I'm not gonna worry too much
about the spacing I'm just gonna drop
them in maybe every three inches or so
and remember we're going to thin them
out later so if one or two or three are
dropping in and you don't intend that
don't worry about it so basically we're
just going to pack the soil just a
little light covering right over the
trench a few tips worth mentioning about
sowing seeds tiny seeds that are harder
to control like greens and carrots I so
in these shallow trenches larger seeds
like beans and squash I poke individual
holes into the soil with my finger so I
get them exactly where I want them in
the bed your seed packet will usually
tell you the depth as well as the
spacing requirements between plants by
the way I got a ton of amazing comments
on episode 1 a lot of you guys asked
about container planting for small
spaces and growing tips for hotter
climates than mine I'll get into all of
this in upcoming episodes so that's our
baby leaf lettuce are cut and come again
fed now I have all the beds marked out
so I'm going to plant that kale again in
another bed but give it wider spacing so
I can get taller and I can cut longer
more mature leaves out of that so we're
gonna talk about succession planting in
another video coming up but in the
meantime let's get our carrots in their
bed this way
okay so carrots like to be planted at a
very shallow depth as well you'll notice
I sprayed this bed with some water to
start so I'm not going to water them
right after I put the seed down there's
already moisture in the bed so that
water won't push them down deeper into
the soil so we're going to start the
same way we did with the lettuce with a
little row you see that that's where
we're gonna put our seeds right and I'll
start here where are you guys can see me
should we start with a purple or an
orange this one okay we're gonna okay
this one is a icita doesn't this
look like caraway seed it's in the same
family it's very thin it's very light
and it's hard to sew in just one at a
time that's all right they're all
carrots they can grow together even if
they're mixed up a little in the trench
can I put something yeah
hold them for me perfect teamwork hey
lightly you don't want to put too much
soil on them so they can keep up really
easily
okay so I've done two rows of carrots
and I'm going to save the rest of the
bed for another two weeks gonna come
back into another two rows and then two
weeks after that I'm going to do another
two rows so that all my carrots don't
come up at the same time succession
planting we're going to talk about more
of that in another video but for now the
last trick I want to show you we're
going to put a bit of cardboard on top
of this row I'll get more cardboard and
I'm going to place it just over where we
planted the rose and I'm going to find a
couple of rocks I'll send my boy out to
find some heavy rocks to weight this
down so it doesn't go flying up what the
cardboard is going to do is protect it
from the rain the rain could push those
seeds down further than they should be
and germination will be much slower so
it doesn't entirely cover the bed so the
bed will still get rained on some of
that water will still get to the seeds
what we're going to do is check the
germination time on our seed packet and
in that amount of days we're going to
peak underneath the cardboard and if we
see little seedlings we're going to
remove the cardboard because seedlings
need life light they need light to have
life and then we don't need this anymore
this is just at this stage so we can get
that little seedling to break out of its
sea
even better than cardboard would be a
wooden board but I don't have any on
hand that are wide enough to cover my
rows
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so next time I'm going to show you what
I did to bring my old neglected raised
beds back into production and how even
if you only have a patch of grass you
too can grow successful and delicious
vegetables this season
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you