A Novice Gardener: My Indoor Seed Starting Set Up (plus bonus seed starting crash course)

Here I’m sharing with you my indoor seed starting set up. I’ll show you what seedlings I have planted where and the equipment I’m using.

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Today I’m sharing with you a sort of sequel to my last post, where I shared with you everything I’m planting this year. There are a few things, such as garlic, kale, and carrots that I’ve already started outside. Some of the plants and flowers will be directly sown after the last frost date. The rest of the plants I’m starting from seed have already been started inside!

Gardeners who have greenhouses can start tons of plants easily indoors before the last frost. I live in a suburban neighborhood with a small yard, so a greenhouse is a dream for a future home. I’m making do with a small indoor set up.

The plants that could really use an early start, such as tomatoes and peppers, are the ones I’ve focused on starting early indoors from seed. I’ll show you here my full set up.

But first…

Why start seeds indoors?

A lot of warm weather crops can not survive outside until the weather is reliably warm, and a late frost will kill them. Starting the summer plants indoors gives them a head start. I can plant the starts in the garden after the first frost date, and they’ll be ready to go quicker than if I directly sowed the seeds in the ground at that time.

Certain plants can tolerate cooler weather or actually benefit from a frost, like kale. I’ve had my garlic plants overwintering outside, and I already planted kale and Parisienne carrots. Once the weather gets into really hot summer temps, these plants will be done. At that point, the summer plants, such as peppers and tomatoes, will be taking off.

How to know when to plant

First, we have to look at when we can start planting outside. Do a quick internet search for the last frost date in your area. Where I live, zone 8a in Virginia, the last frost date is projected to be April 2. No, that doesn’t mean we may not get a freak frost after that date, but it’s safe to say we can plan around that date and count backwards from there for our seed starts.

On every seed packet is a description for whether or not the plant is frost tolerant. There will be instructions for when to plant. Unless it’s a plant that does much better started indoors, there will probably be instructions for both indoor starting and direct sowing outdoors.

For example:

This seed packet for Sweet Curly Parsley from Renee’s Garden has instructions for both planting directly in the garden and starting early indoors.

On the other hand, this seed packet for Albino Bullnose Peppers from Baker Creek specifically tells you to start these seeds indoors and even suggests use of a heat mat.

These kinds of instructions are extremely helpful to a novice gardener like me. If you’re new to indoor seed starting, be sure to read the instructions for each variety. Also, there is a ton of information available online. I’ve gotten good information from asking people who work at the local garden center as well.

Starting Seeds Indoors

So you’ve decided to start seeds indoors, great. I’m pretty new to gardening, so take this with a grain of salt. The basic things you need are seeds, containers for growing, potting soil, and light. Everything else is an extra to help ensure your plants get the best possible start.

You can get seeds pretty much anywhere. They can be purchased at your local garden center or from an online retailer, if you want some cool heirloom varieties of food or flowers that you can’t buy at the store. You can purchase seeds from pretty much any big box store. I recently saw a big display of seeds at Target. Even the dollar store has them. You can even save seeds from food or flowers you have at home. Just beware that a lot of the food sold at grocery stores is a hybrid variety and won’t grow properly from the seeds.

As far as containers, anything will do, really. Sure you can get those plastic trays specifically for seed starting. You can use red solo cups – they’re great for tomatoes. Paper cups are also good, because you can transplant the entire thing directly in the ground when it’s time. You can use any kind of container, as long as it has drainage holes in the bottom. A plastic strawberry tub that you have in the recycling or a cottage cheese container with holes poked in the bottom will also do fine.

Start your seeds in potting soil, not garden soil, and make sure they have good light. You can also find soil specifically for starting seeds. If you have a very sunny windowsill, that will work. Otherwise, invest in some grow lights.

My Seed Starting Set Up

Since I have a toddler and a plant-eating cat, I need a place for my seeds where they will be undisturbed. The only place in my house where they will be safe and actually get a little sun is in the nursery.

Yes, it sounds weird to have all my seed starts in my youngest child’s room, but I’m making do. The cats are not allowed in this room, and my children don’t play in there much.

I started my roma tomatoes in red solo cups with drainage holes drilled in the bottom. I started these seeds weeks ago, and they are big enough to be separated. (Except that I’ve run out of room for more cups!) It is almost time to begin the process of hardening them off. This means taking them outside into a shaded spot for a few hours every day to get them used to the conditions they will be planted in.

Next to the romas, in more solo cups, are my Black Beauty Tomatoes. I also have a cup with Albino Bullnose Pepper seeds and Fish Peppers. The peppers are slower to grow than the tomatoes, but they just started sprouting within the last few days!

On the far side I have a large container, called a Jump Start Germination Station. I bought this set off of Amazon. It has 60 individual pods, a drainage holder, a cover, and a heat mat. (This thing was a great deal with the heat mat included. I’ll be able to reuse it over and over again.) I’m only using half the seed pods, so I actually have the heat mat half on the side I’m using and the other half under my box of tomatoes and peppers.

Lastly, on the far side, is my latest seed experiment. I’m trying out starting seeds in a used strawberry container. Keeping the top closed helps keep moisture inside while the seedlings are still small. The seeds in this are also an experiment. I took the seeds from a beautiful variegated cherry tomato from The Neighborhood Harvest (they always send the most beautiful tomatoes), fermented*, and dried them. I put six seeds into this container to see if any germinate.

*According to a Google search, you can not take tomato seeds and just dry them out, as you would seeds from any other plant. Tomato seeds come surrounded by a special gelatinous sac, so they require fermentation to mimic the natural process of a fruit falling to the ground and rotting.

I have two grow lights on all the plants right now. Since I keep starting more seeds, it’s not quite enough. Whenever the sun is out, I pull a table in front of the window and put the largest seedlings there in order to focus all the grow lights on the other starts.

The lights I use are more for house plants than starting seeds, but T5 shoplights are out of my budget and require a set up that I can’t do at this time.

Are you planting a garden this year? If so, what are you planting? Do you start seeds indoors or want to try? Leave a comment below!