The seed catalogues have been coming in since late fall with their beautiful pictures of growing season promises. We look at the costs of seeds and think to ourselves, "I could grow more if..." and you can. You will need extra equipment as most of us don't have a spot warm enough or light enough to grow at home. That is not what I am going to touch on in Seeding 101. I want to teach you about the WHEN of home sowing, not the HOW.
The first thing you need to do is inventory what seeds you may already have on hand so you aren't purchasing duplicates and spending money that your could have used on other gardening pursuits. In 2012, I started to track my seeds more effectively in an Excel spreadsheet.
I prefer the spreadsheet because I can sort this by any of the categories to make a usable tracking sheet while I am in my basement doing the actual work of seeding. I started winter sowing last year with very good results especially for hardy perennials. I can create a list by sowing week which creates a chronological list verses an alphabetical list. It helps me to track when I used saved seed and what year I collected it. There are also the very important notes that I transfer over from the seed packets. This helps me to remember which ones I need to soak ahead of sowing dates or to stratify early enough to achieve better germination. It also has tips for direct sowing outdoors and the temperature needed to germinate seeds indoors or out.
The one question I see all the time which is answered in so many ways is, "When should I start (fill in the blank)?" Someone with unlimited space will have a different answer than the person working with limited resources. The most important part of the equation is your last anticipated frost date. Someone can tell you that you can have your tomatoes in peppers blooming by mid-May in Wisconsin, but that doesn't mean you can plant them outdoors. Both of these are very cold sensitive crops. Even if a cold night doesn't kill them, the set back on blooming can be weeks of delay. The answer for when you should seed them is right on the seed packet. The companies you buy from spend the time and effort of providing this information for you so you can be successful. Follow their advice. The key to timing is not counting forward, but counting backwards. Look at this seed chart which any good grower will use when considering the timing of their crops to transplant time.
I plant out my tomatoes and peppers in USDA zone 5b the first full week of June as the earliest date I will do this. In 2023, that is week 23. My seed packets tell me that this can be anywhere from 6 to 12 weeks depending on the variety I am planting. The latest I will plant is week 17 (April 23rd, for 6 weeks), the earliest is week 11 (March 12th, for 12 weeks). If I want my plants to be a bit larger and have the growing space of warmth and light available, I will choose the earlier date. If I have limited area and have to fit more plants in less space, I choose the later date. That is how you time your seeding dates.
I have included this very helpful publication from our University of Wisconsin Extension office which has a nice overview of sowing information for vegetable planting in our state. We do span several growing zones, 3-5, so adjustments have to be made based on which part of the state you live in. Check your own extension office for possible publications pertinent to your own growing area.
Happy planting!
