Gardening - Indoor Seed Starting Engineered for Simplicity

Knowing what to start inside vs outside can be a challenge and will vary from one growing region to another. I address the decision points for this topic and include a worksheet afterward to help you determine which plants are and are not appropriate for your region and when to start them inside and when to plant them outside.

You need to start your seeds in something, and there are a lot of options for doing so. In this lecture, we discuss the container I recommend to keep things simple and inexpensive, as well as how to deal with potting up.

Here we cover the purpose of soil and how to choose an appropriate one to keep your seed starting as simple as possible.

Watering can be a lot of work if you don't know how to simplify it. Concerns about over and under watering are also very common. Here we discuss a method for watering that eliminates the majority of the work and makes over and under watering nearly impossible.

In this lecture, you get to see watering up close and personal so there are no surprises when you do it yourself. We discuss both how to start the watering system and then maintain it throughout your seed starting inside.

You can't be successful with seed starting if you don't plant the seed. Here we cover how to plant the seed, the appropriate depth, and why the planting depth is important to seed starting. I provide examples of some different seeds and discuss tips to help with germination.

This lecture shows a hands on demonstration of planting onion seed, a discussion of plant markers to use when planting as well as how to work with a partner when planting to make some of the logistics easier. Putting a seed in dirt may sound easy, but there's a bit more too it than might come to mind at first thought. By watching us do it, you'll be prepared to keep a dirty job as clean as possible when doing it.

Germination is rarely 100%. We cover some of the various germination issues here and how to handle germination in such a way as to not disrupt your garden plans. If you planned for 10 plants of type X in your garden, then you need 10 plants and you need them ready at the right time. Here we discuss how you can easily stick to your garden plans with germination. We also cover some tips for onions for those of you who may be struggling to have success with onions.

Lighting is critical to successfully starting seeds inside. If you get it wrong, you've got a sure formula for disaster. It doesn't help that the topic of light interaction with plants is complicated enough to warrant a sizable book by itself.

Here we discuss exactly what I've used that works and, if you need something different, we cover shortcuts you can use to choose a successful lighting solution without needing a degree in rocket (light) science.

Why do work you don't need to? Here we cover automating your lighting including equipment and settings you'll want to use to do so.

Given the changing market availability/pricing of different lighting options, this helps you better choose between T12, T8, T5 and other options such as HPS, HID, LED, etc.

Here we cover what seed starting frames are, why you need them, and some common materials used in frame construction.

There are many different ways to build a seed starting frame. The correct way depends on your resources, environment, and needs. We cover basic frame construction here.

Tables and benches can sometimes provide great opportunities for ready made seed starting frames.

Given that one of the main purposes of your frame is to support your lighting, you can't properly build a seed starting frame to meet your needs without considering how your lighting design will interact with your frame.

What is the downside to not using a frame for seed starting? Can you use multiple frames? What is another space saving option if you don't have room for a traditional frame? We cover all of that here.

Framing is still mostly about your lighting and your lighting needs change as your plants grow. We cover additional notes on how your framing can allow your lighting to be flexible enough to meet your plants needs.

If you're starting seeds inside, temperature is most likely what drove you to do so. Here we discuss the importance of temperature to seed starting as well as economical ways you may be able to provide needed heat to your seeds and seedlings.

Controlling your temperature is not only necessary to get your seeds started and keep your seedlings alive, but can be used to control the growth of your seedlings as well.

Rarely does a topic inspire so many different opinions and controversy as does the topic of fertilizer. At the end of the day though, all you want is to successfully start your seeds and keep them healthy so you can have a successful garden when you plant them out later in the year.

If you incorrectly fertilize your seedlings, not only can you kill them abruptly, but it's also possible to do damage you can't see and won't impact you until much later in your growing season. Worse, when most people see the results of this damage, they often incorrectly blame something other than fertilizer.

Here I show you how to keep it simple with your fertilizer so you can avoid these painful mistakes.

When you plant out, nature may be inclined to blow your plants over, resulting in death or damage to the plant. Here are steps you can take to prepare your plants for the windy life outside.

Nothing is more discouraging than starting a plant from seed and carefully watching over it for weeks just to plant it out and watch it die almost overnight. The job isn't done until it's done.

Here we discuss how to prepare your plants for your garden and why things are very different for your plant in the garden vs inside. This step is known as "Hardening Off". If you understand why it's needed, then it's easy to determine how to do it correctly.

Seed Starting Inside - the checklist. This will be missing many important details included in the lectures, but in a nutshell, here's what you need to do in the order it needs to be done. It starts with planning your garden and finishes with a few tips for after you've transplanted out.

Important last steps to take before finishing the course.

Udemy does not do the best job of notifying me when one of you has a question unfortunately - to reach out to me directly, or to "ping" me and let me know you have a question I haven't answered, feel free to e-mail me directly at [email protected]