S13 E21: What You Didn't Know About Starting Seeds
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- Опубліковано 10 гру 2023
- You’ve probably heard me say that starting your own seeds is one of the most cost-effective things you can do on your homestead. And while it's not difficult, a lot of people struggle with it.
I'm thrilled to be joined by THE seed starting guru today, Shawn McLoughlin of All About the Garden. Never in my life have I met a person this passionate and driven to understand every detail related to successful seed starting. Shawn holds nothing back in this episode and I learned SO much. Listen in if you're ready to 10x your seed starting ability this year!
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I consider myself fairly good at seed starting, but I'm hearing interesting things I've not heard before! Thank you!
Well so glad I could add a little something to an already accomplished seed starter! Good luck this Spring!
This was super informative!
Rarely would I ever click on a 1.5 hour video, but I did not hesitate on this one, and it did not disappoint.
Thank you! yes I do tend to go on an on when it comes to gardening 😂 I just can’t help myself.
Mylar blanket wrapped around the sides of the seed shelves/rack works well also, instead of aluminum foil and is less expensive.
Oh, nice suggestion.
If you are starting plants from seeds, this is a must watch!
Loved this! Great information and its great to hear about people gardening/homesteading on acre or less farms
Thank you. There’s lots of things we can’t do without land, but we just focus on what we CAN do.
Last year I did a little experiment with my peppers. I planted seeds from the same batches into several different mediums. Store bought seed starting mix, DIY seed starting mix, peat, coco coir, potting soil, compost/vermiculite, etc.
The seeds planted in the compressed Jiffy pellets were hands-down, the most vigorous, robust plants out of them all. I have a problem where I like to make things way more complicated than they need to be (lol) but I've been sticking with those basic pellets ever since.
So glad I found this. There are many things I learned about what I've been doing wrong starting seeds!
Jill is right! Truly valuable information is worth the listen. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for listening. ❤
I started using a heat mat last year, it saved me!! I will NEVER be without a few ever again! If people have never used or tried one before for seed starting & germination, I highly recommend! I have greenhouse & use lights & also use tubs as “mini greenhouses”, especially in the winter, early spring & for the little seedlings! Last spring I had an unexpected “visitor” in my greenhouse - all the sudden I started noticing my seeds trays (which are large like yours) had tunnels & in some nothing was growing & in the trays that were growing it was gone… my trays were on shelves, in trays - some might say ants - the tunnels were BIG! I was thinking maybe some kind of bird got stuck in my greenhouse.. everyday more of my precious seedlings GONE, by this thing! I was going crazy! Something broke into my greenhouse & was snacking on my seedlings & this thing was now knocking off my tub cover! Where was this thing & what was it? Finally I opened another container that CLICKED SHUT that held my precious mixture of STORE SEED MIX, STORE Peet & as I was adding in more vermiculite I SAW IT! I GAINT BLACK BEETLE! But not NATIVE to my area! Big headed Ground BEETLE! I captured him & took him to a public garden (by my house which has several gardens & bird/animal sanctuary, volunteers there are wonderful & I spent a lot of time there helping out & I get plants 😂) they confirmed probably travelled over by accident in my seed/peet bag 😮- doesn’t normally come out this early that why he ate my seedlings. I was gifted my first heat mat, otherwise I would have been seedless & probably my garden would have been very sparse last year! Only what was already in the ground. Believe me- I had planted A LOT, that beetle ate A LOT! With the mat & starting seeding OVER in late April- normally I start in Jan (we also had e very unseasonably cold spring) I had one of my best growing seasons! I do not recommend starting late! But point is - SPEND THE MONEY because as they say s@:t happens - sometimes there is NOTHING YOU CAN DO! But BE PREPARED 😊 I’d rather have food than NONE!
I understand about the varmint! For the first time in years, since my one greenhouse door doesn't close all the way (a half inch open), maybe mice, a bird, something came in and was eating my start's tops!
So very interesting--things I've not heard before, like how tiny roots grow and their need for a fine type pot soil, etc. etc. and then their transfer up gradually into a different soil that is more like the soil outside in the garden. Thoughts I've never heard before. And don't recall ever really hearing about warming mats for germinating, as this guest informed, that I've always used. Thanks so much, Jill! Learning so much!
All I can say is WOW! A great game changer.
Yep! ❤🎉 happy to help.
I just now subscribed, solely for the name of your channel. I know that I'm going to love your content!
We make our own compost for indoor seed sowing, and it includes solarizing our compost over the summer to kill off any potential seeds and critters. Then add perlite (the little styrofoam looking balls) and vermiculite (looks like granular corn cobs, it's brown tinged). Along with other amendments to get everything going. Each year, I feel like our process gets better and better. And our plants love it, we have really successful gardens each year. A good start for seeds, to me, is imperative. It's a process, but it saves us money, because I don't have to buy enough starter mix to get seeds planted for our 6200 sq ft garden.
Phenomenal podcast! We have always bought plants at a local greenhouse here in the spring. Our latest discussion has been to set ourselves up to be able to start seeds for the next garden season!Thank you so much for the information!
I love your videos Jill. I also buy my meat from T someone you know GBC and by the way I have never been happier! #bestbeef I miss your tutorial videos on cooking as well as canning. We can everything we grow and having help knowing how to start seeds is a godsend.
I am in NE Florida and I have tomatoes growing today in my high tunnels. I use incandescent Christmas lights to keep my plants from freezing. I would love to share if anyone's interested
Love and appreciate you. 👍🏼💖😘
I’d be interested to know how that works with the Christmas lights!
Wow wow wow. This was a MASTERCLASS lecture. I learned so much. Also cringed so much because I’ve made every single mistake. 😅 ordered those warming mats! I’m in zone 10b and thought I could be excluded but I guess not!
@allaboutthegarden
Wow! Learned so much!!!
We skip the starting pots altogether and do soil blocks in an open tray instead. The air pruning means that they don’t get root bound while still able to grow roots as soon as the air gap disappears. We start in the 1.5 inch soil blocks and transplant anything that needs a longer starting time (primarily tomatoes, cucumbers, and occasionally squash/pumpkins in our northern climate). The soil blockers are metal so highly reusable.
I definitely should have at least given a shoutout to soil blocking. It’s a solid practice and I’m glad to hear it works for you! If something works I always tell people to keep it up. Happy gardening!
Zone 8b and I start seeds indoors on top of a regular heating pad. As soon as they germinate I take them outside and protect them by placing them under a plastic tote. If it’s cold at night I bring them inside overnight. I also put them under cover if there is heavy rain. I have great success this way. No lights or other equipment needed.
Love it! That’s a great suggestion. I’m just too forgetful. AND we have four kiddos. If I put them outside I’d forget them for sure. 😢
One thing I’ve learned about amplifying light is just using brute white paint works far better than aluminum foil. I lined two of my theee cabinets with aluminum foil thinking it would do better than the cabinet just painted white but I was wrong. The ones in the white painted cabinet grew significantly bigger than the ones in the aluminum foil. I know most people don’t have three walls and a top around their trays but that’s just my experience.
Great info! Learned a lot. It was great to see that you were learning some basic info, too! Often, too many of us may think you guys on YT know everything! Of course, we know you can't, but sometimes that's the expectation from some viewers. Great video, Jill! Thanks, and merry Christmas!
So cool how God originally watered seeds via springs. Rain came much later. His model is following nature, & the original design.
🤔🤔 from the sounds of it I am doing everything wrong, and I have struggles keeping the watering just right and yet I still have way more plant starts than I ever need and give away lots of plants to family.
My take away, if u r a newbie reading this and feel defeated before u even get started....I can tell u starting seeds is very forgiving, do what u can with or without all the expensive things he mentions and just start seeds and enjoy it!! I could but I won't be buying expensive lights and trays. This was interesting and I enjoy listening to new info, but if I didn't know any better I would totally be overwhelmed
Well your name does have greens in it! You are absolutely right. Seed starting doesn’t have to be complicated. Like I mentioned a time or two, “seeds love to grow” and I agree there’s no need to complicate it. I’m glad to hear you are succeeding and I bet your family appreciates it to!
The perfect Homestead size is one hectare - about 2.5 acres - per family. You might need 50 acres if you want to be a rancher 🙂
As for watts - A 80 watt florescence light and a 80 watt LED light has two different light levels.
For light levels we need "lumens".
1000 Lumens per square foot I think it is.
I use solo cups drill holes thru a stack at a time, with smaller clear ones for humidity, bottom water in disposable roaster pans. Vivosum heat mats and plain old shop lights on chains and timers.
Super cheap and pretty durable.
Oh, and I wrap it all in mylar as the other commenter stated
In MN I definitely NEED MORE than a few days to harden off plants, like tomatoes or peppers....all this info changes from where u live.... everyone needs to take all info with a grain of salt!
Hey cool, I should b able to remember the amount of light needed, just the same as intermittent fasting 👍👍
😂😂😂
❤
Our natural soil is clay. We filled our raised beds mostly with topsoil, compost on top. I’ve been trying to get the soil mixture more ideal without breaking the bank. Our gardens are large. Any suggestions on how to do this?
Change your name to allaboutthegardenORIGINAL if you can’t get the allaboutthegarden.