Lose the spreadsheet and let seeds to their thing

I am not a person who relies on spreadsheets, with the exception of one: the spreadsheet that manages all my seed-starting information. So when my printed copy went missing and I couldn’t quickly put my hands on the digital file, I winged it.

Some of the first seeds I sow indoors every year are snapdragons since they are quite tolerant of cold and I’m usually able to plant them out before the last frost date. Since I’ve been growing them from seed for several years, I figured I’d remember the drill, so I sowed several seeds in a small tray, pressed them gently to ensure good contact with the soil, dusted on a wafer-thin layer of vermiculite and popped them on a heat mat.

Just shy of a couple weeks and several mistings later, two things happened almost simultaneously: I found my spreadsheet and realized that snapdragons do not want bottom heat to germinate, yet the tray was full of tiny snapdragon babies. In other words, I did exactly the wrong thing and it worked out anyway.

It’s not even close to the first time that I’ve done the wrong thing — from a horticulture perspective — and escaped with seemingly unscathed plants. I am constantly reminded that plants — even, or perhaps especially, tiny seeds — are remarkably resilient.

One look at the spreadsheet I’ve been cultivating for years, which includes columns on when to start, how to start, germination time and when to plant out, would convince any novice that growing plants from seed is an all-consuming, complicated process. The fact is, I’ve probably made it way more complicated than it needs to be.

So if gardeners who extol the virtues of their silly spreadsheets and seed storage gadgetry have scared you off from starting a few things from seed, rest assured, it’s not that hard, although it helps to keep three things in mind.

First, seedlings need good light. If you’re just growing a few plants, a very bright south-facing window might do the trick. If that’s not possible, an inexpensive LED shop light with a color temperature of 5,000 Kelvin or higher positioned a few inches above seedlings will work.

The next key to success is to avoid starting them too soon. Seedlings need room to keep growing properly, and if you start them too early, you’ll end up having to put them in increasingly larger pots until you can plant them out at the appropriate time, which is based on the last frost date (typically around the first week or two of May here). The seed packet will have information on when to start them.

And lastly, watch the water. Seeds need consistent moisture to germinate and seedlings need the same to grow, but too much water will likely kill them. Don’t plant them in pots that are too big to begin with as controlling soil moisture is more difficult in large pots. Bottom watering often works well, so long as you pour off any water in the tray that is not absorbed.

You won’t always be successful growing from seed, but there’s a good chance you will most of the time. Seeds are programmed to grow. Sometimes we just have to forget the spreadsheet and get out of their way.