While it’s a bit early to get out in the garden, this is a great time to start the seeds that can’t be direct seeded in New England, such as heat-loving tomatoes, tomatillos, celery, peppers, leeks and eggplant. Other crops may be sown directly in the garden but will have a leg up on the growing season if started inside, including broccoli, brussel sprouts, onions, kale and cabbage.
Dan Pratt of Astarte Farm in Hadley has been growing organic vegetables from seeds for decades. He offers some advice for getting young plants off to a good start.
Growing healthy plants from seeds can be very rewarding, he says, as long as they get what they need.
“What you’re striving for is uninhibited growth,” Pratt said. “By the time you transplant it out in the garden, you want a short, stocky, vigorous young plant, not a tall, scraggly thing.”
He said there are a number of factors to consider to ensure that plants grow steadily, including:
• water
• soil
• light
• temperature
• space
• timing
Pratt recommends using a prepared soil mix to start seedlings. There are a number of such products on the market, including several that are certified organic. These preparations provide the right amount of organic matter and minerals to give the young plants what they need in the first few weeks of life. They are usually sterilized to limit weed seeds and protect against the propagation of soil-borne diseases.
Supplies for starting seeds are readily available and for the most part, reasonably priced. You will need, at a minimum, a plastic tray with a leak-proof bottom and a variety of tray inserts with different-sized cells.
To get started, put the tray insert with the smallest cells inside the bottom tray, and fill each of the cells with soil. Plant the seeds, one per cell, according to the directions on the seed packet. As the plants grow, they are transplanted to trays with larger cells.
Pratt said it’s important to transplant before the plants’ roots reach the end of their growing space within the cells. If you wait too long, the young plant will become rootbound, and its roots circle the edge of the cell, stressing the plant and inhibiting growth.
To keep plants growing steadily, keep the soil moist but not soaking. When seeds have just been planted, and when seedlings are young, they should be watered gently. Using a mister is the best way to avoid damage. Using the two tray system helps ensure proper drainage, as excess moisture drains into the lower tray and away from plant roots.
Pratt recommends starting seeds under a grow light of some sort, because plants do not get enough light through house windows. A simple shop light works well, but there are a variety of growing lights on the market.
Pratt said it’s important to make sure the light is close enough to the plants. Generally, the light should be positioned several inches from the top of the seedlings. Hang the light on a chain or sturdy cord so it can be raised incrementally as the young plants grow. Be careful not to let the growing tips get too close to the light or they will burn.
Keeping seeds and young plants at the right temperature can be tricky.
For heat-loving plants, you may have to invest in a heat mat unless your house temperature is very warm. This is a thin, flat rubberized mat with a heating element built inside. The regulator on the mat turns the element on and off to ensure the temperature of the soil stays within the ideal temperature range for germinating and growing the seeds.
You can also buy clear plastic domes that fit over the seed trays and will help keep the soil warm enough to support the germination and growth of the young seedlings. Once the seedlings touch the top of the dome, they should be hardy enough to grow without it.
Another consideration is timing. Pratt suggest using the seed starting calculators on the Johnny’s Seeds website to plan when to start seeds indoors.
In general, plants should be started inside anywhere between four and eight weeks before they are set out in the garden (follow instructions for each crop on the seed packet). That will allow them time to develop but not get too leggy before being transplanted after danger of frost has passed. In Hampshire County, the frost-free date is typically in the last week of May.
Once the young plants are in the garden, they should continue to grow well as long as they continue to have adequate space, light, soil, and water. Follow the directions on the seed packets for each crop.
As the plants grow and eventually produce a bountiful crop, you might want to consider saving your own seeds for next year’s garden.
Grow Food Northampton director Clem Clay encourages local residents to try their hand at saving seeds. Clay’s organization co-sponsored a Seed Swap earlier this year so area residents could learn more about the process.
“At Grow Food Northampton, we’re always looking for ways to strengthen the local food system. When people start growing their own food and starting their own seeds, that just increases the degree to which people have access to healthy food. The more our community takes care of our food needs, the stonger we become as a region. What could be more sustainable?”
At the Seed Swap, Tevis Robertson-Goldberg of Crabapple Farm gave a few pointers for people interested in maintaining heirloom and other open-pollinated vegetable varieties in their own backyard gardens.
Unlike hybrid varieties, open-pollinated varieties are standardized through plant-breeding techniques people have used for millennia, and will breed “true-to-seed.” Robertson-Goldberg breeds a wide variety of heirloom vegetables and has been actively working on developing some varieties of his own. He said it takes about seven years to develop a new open-pollinated plant variety.
The process starts by crossing two distinct varieties of a single crop (the parents), then growing out the next generation in the following year. The seeds of the hybrid cross will produce plants with a wide variety of traits. Over the next five years or so, a plant breeder will select plants that have those traits they want and rogue out or get rid of plants that don’t. Eventually, the seeds of the new variety will produce plants that consistently possess the traits selected for.
Some of Roberston-Goldberg’s new open-pollinated varieties include Honey Drop and Pink Princess tomatoes, which he sells along with dozens of other tomato varieties at his farm stand and at the Northampton winter and Tuesday farmers markets. He also has been maintaining an heirloom tomato called Northampton Italian that is unique to this area.
“I got it from someone who got it from someone who got it from someone,” he said. “It’s been passed along from person to person but has never been carried through a seed catalog.”
Like Clay, Robertson-Goldberg believes that saving seeds is a critical way to keep a healthy sustainable food supply. He adds that the source of purchased seeds is critical to ensuring sustainability.
“Seeds are one of the dirtiest crops,” he said.
That’s because most of the big seed companies outsource seed-growing to multinational companies that grow seed in countries with the fewest regulations about the chemicals they can use on crops.
For that reason, he advises gardeners to buy organic seed, “if you care about the health of the workers who have had to work with and harvest the seed crop.”
Even regional seed companies like Johnny’s Seeds, High Mowing and Fedco buy seeds from these multinational companies, he said. Fedco does have an icon at the end of the variety description on its online catalog, which indicates the general source of their seed, such as a small U.S. farm or a multinational corporation.
Robertson-Goldberg recommends buying organic seeds produced on U.S. farms. He said there are a few regional seed companies that grow their own seed, including Turtle Tree Seed Initiative and Fruition Seeds, both based in New York. Sand Hill Preservation Center is another farm-based seed operation dedicated to preserving rare and unusual seeds. They offer thousands of varieties, the majority of which they grow on their farm in Iowa.
Saving your own seeds from one of these small regional seed companies or from plants purchased directly from local farmers is the most sustainable practice.
“That’s one of the great things about farmers markets — you get to know the farmer, you know how your plants and your food are produced,” he said.