It's time to order seeds for this gardening season!
But first, you have to know what you'd like to grow. This part of the process is one of my favorite, let your imagination go wild and dream about all the beauty you'll get to have in your garden.
Here's my step by set process to planning my garden:
I - List all the things you want to grow.
No holding back here, in a dream world what would you like to add to your garden?
II - Map your space.
Alright, it's time to know how much space you're working with. This will help you narrow down how much you can actually grow. So go out there and measure your planting areas.
III - Do the math.
You've mapped your space, you know more or less how much square footage you're working with, now you can determine how many plants can actually fit in there.
Research the mature width of the plants you want to grow. Annual flowers? You can pack a lot more than you think in a small space. Vegetables? Each have different spacing requirements. This can get a little tedious and overwhelming but don't get a headache over it! You can always approximate it, grow a bit more and give the extra plants away!
IV - Order your seeds.
Yay! You're ready to order seeds. You want to order good seeds from reputable sources. This will avoid that you end up with weedy seeds, old seeds that won't germinate or the wrong variety all together.
Here are my go to seed suppliers:
V - Sow some seeds!
Got your seeds? Let's sow them! Make sure you have all the materials needed if you are starting them indoors. You'll need a heat mat or a warm room (around 70F), seed starting mix, grow lights, your precious seeds, a marker and some tags.
There are some tricks to starting seeds indoors successfully!
Water from below.
Some seeds can be really tiny and watering with a watering can can displace them. Plus, by watering from below, you are certain that the soil is evenly moist.
A window is not going to cut it (or grow it)!
If you want strong seedlings, you need strong light. Unless you have a greenhouse, the best is to get grow lights. Any neon lights will work, and you want to set them up 2 inches above your seedlings.
Harden off your seedlings.
You did it! You have strong little plants you cared for for weeks, now it's time to plant them outside. But hold your horses! They need a week or at least a couple days of hardening off. What's that? Well it's acclimating them to the outside conditions little by little. Otherwise they'll go into shock. Imagine if someone just threw you naked in an iced cold pond after you just got out of toasty bath - yikes!
So everyday, bring your seedlings outside a little more.
Day 1: 1 hour outside in the shade.
Day 2: 3 hours outside in the shade.
Day 3: 1 hour in the sun.
Day 4: 3 hours in the sun.
Day 5: All day outside.
Day 6: Leave them out overnight.
Day 7: Plant!
Voila!
Comment what you are most excited about growing below!
Still feeling a little intimidated at the idea of starting your own seeds? I'll be teaching some live Zoom classes to take all the scares out and prepare you like a pro!
So make sure you're signed up to the newsletter for updates on class availability.
Happy sowing!
Romane
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