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3 Keys to Successful Indoor Seed Starting

Growing your own healthy plants from seed can be tricky. Even expert growers have trouble keeping their seedlings alive and well. Luckily, three simple keys are all you need to focus on.

Discover how to start your plants off right so they thrive. Be sure to stick around to the end for a Bonus Key!

Do you have a successful seed story? Please share!

Unusual Edibles for Your Front Yard Garden

Make your front yard garden beautiful so neighbors can enjoy it too.

There are many factors to consider when picking your plants each growing season. One factor you might have to deal with … does your neighborhood allow front yard gardens?

Here’s your chance to get inspired by some unusual yet stealth edibles.

How about adding some garlic?
Complimentary eGuide: Your guide to growing, harvesting & curing delicious garlic

What do you grow in your front yard garden? Let us know in the comments below.

Superfood Garden Summit Sponsor: GARDEN TOWER

Indoor gardening for BIG harvests

There’s a tool we want to share that is especially useful if you…

♥ Don’t have a lot of space to plant
♥ You want to have a garden that can grow food year round

You see gardening in a tiny space teaches you a lot… but it can also be challenging!

♥ You never feel like you can grow EVERYTHING you want!
♥ You wonder if your plants are getting enough sunlight, nutrients, or water to get the harvest you saw on the seed packet.
♥ It’s easy to feel a little envious when one of your friends posts a picture of their full, lush garden planted in 4 raised beds in their backyard.

We know all those feelings…
But what we want to show you today solves a LOT of these issues.
It lets you take small-plot growing to a whole new level (and we love it!):

♥ You can grow over 50 different, individual plants and vegetables in just 4 sq. feet! That’s less space than most coat closets.
♥ You can grow indoors or outdoors however you like. Perfect for growing year round in any climate!
♥ This tool lets you vermicompost right inside your garden! No need to move compost around or waste food scraps. Plus all those wonderful vermicompost nutrients end up right in your food!
♥ You’ll be able to use this tool for years to come… it lasts for up to 12 years even in harsh climates.
♥ It’s 100% safe for the environment and your family (no BPA or PVC toxins leaching into your foods)!

So what is this tool we are so excited to show you?

It’s the Garden Tower 2 from our friends over at the Garden Tower Project.

 

Save the Bee Logo

It is actually one of the Grow Your Own Vegetables Team’s favorite gardening products!

Yes, it does look a little strange… but the harvests from your garden tower will definitely make your mouth water! 😋

AND here’s the cherry tomato on top. We talked to the Garden Tower folks and asked if they could get YOU a special deal since you’re a Grow Your Own Vegetables reader… They said YES!

As a sponsor of our Superfood Garden Summit, they’re willing to give you a special discount on your next Garden Tower. Go Here to see their offer.

The Garden Tower Project makes all their garden towers right in the USA. So they are able to keep up with all the people new to gardening! 

Part of the reason we like it so much is that it is simple to use. It doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner or an experienced gardener. It’s easy to set up and only takes 6 cu. feet of soil to fill completely. Then you just add water, compost scraps, and worms as needed.

Go check Out Our Favorite Product, The Garden Tower 2

Who knows… maybe you’ll be sharing YOUR huge harvest from your Garden Tower in our Facebook group soon! 🍅🌱🍆🍠

Superfood Garden Summit is happy to have the Garden Tower Project as a Summit Sponsor.

This article contains links to a product that we are a referral partner for. If you click and take action, Grow Your Own Vegetables LLC may be compensated. We only recommend products that we love and that we know can be helpful to you as a gardener.

Have you been enjoying the Superfood Garden Summit? Share your take-a-ways with us!

Getting Started Growing Your Own Vegetable and Herb Seedlings

Seedlings are the baby plants you see at the nurseries, ready to be transplanted into your garden. But you might want to grow your own instead. While there are many benefits of starting your own vegetable and herb plants from seeds, there is one BIG reason why you might consider purchasing instead. Here’s the most important considerations for growing seedlings at home. 

Benefits to growing your own:

  1. You know exactly how the seedlings were grown. Ensure your plants are grown organically without any toxic chemicals entering your garden. When purchasing ask whether plants have been treated. 
  2. You ensure your plants immunity is high for a healthy life. Temperatures and conditions are important to baby plants, and stress at a young age can cause transplant shock or a weak plant that doesn’t yield well. Sometimes you bring home a seedling, plant it, and it dies. And you’re not sure if it’s something you did. But it could just be a plant that wasn’t cared for properly.
  3. You have complete control of when you put plants in the ground. When purchasing transplants, you are relying on what’s available at the stores. And what you want is not always there when you need it. Growing your own means you can plan ahead for your most abundant harvest.
  4. You have access to hundreds of varieties of vegetables. There are so many varieties of mustard greens and tomatoes on the planet that nobody could even tell you how many there are. And that’s true of most vegetables. Choose exciting varieties for flavor, yield, what grows well in your climate. 
  5. You save money. Once you get the hang of growing HEALTHY plants and you have all the supplies, you will save money. However, the first few years, planting your own can actually be more expensive than buying transplants. This is the one BIG reason you may want to purchase instead.

Three garden supplies essential to growing your own seedlings

You’ll need 1) growing medium (not soil), 2) containers to put it in, and 3) grow lamps if you’re growing indoors. We’ll focus on containers in this article. But real quick, our favorite growing medium is Fox Farm Ocean Forest, It’s got everything your plants need in one bag, from earthworm castings, bat guano, sea-going fish & crab meal to forest humus and moss. This mix will not disappoint!   Click here to get it on Amazon. And here is a bulk order option

This article is too short to include recipes for making your own mix. A couple key ingredients to include are perlite, vermiculite, peat moss or Canna Coconut Coir and Wiggle Worm – Worm Castings. For small gardens choose the 4.5-pound size. For larger gardens choose the bulk 30-pound option.

This is not a complete list, just some of our favorites to get you started.

Reusable Containers for Starting Vegetable and Herb Seeds


Generally, plastic trays are flimsy and end up in the landfill after just one or two uses. However, one farm is changing all that and helping to redefine our relationship to the Earth. Bootstrap Farmer offers durable trays with a one year warranty against warping and breakage… that’s amazing! Clean trays between use to prevent disease spread.

These are the best, longest lasting trays on the market. And they have different cell sizes available. Get cells for smaller varieties like lettuces here and get larger six cells for your larger transplants like tomatoes and cucumbers here.

Containers You Plant Right in the Ground

Avoiding plastic altogether?, Consider Fertilpots over at Arbico Organics which compost right into your soil. Plant the whole thing in your garden and avoid any transplant shock from handling the plant. Unlike many similar compostable products, they are OMRI listed meaning the ingredients have been tracked as organic. Fertilpots are breathable and help prevent roots from getting root bound, too. However, the downside is that you have to keep buying more.

“Soil Blocking” Eliminates the Need for Containers

Soil blocking is a process where you press your growing medium together into squares that hold together without the need for containers. Once you have the right equipment for this process, you never have to buy containers ever again. However, you do have a higher initial investment to get started.

There are benefits to this method: no cleaning trays, conserving growing medium, and providing optimal root health. The details of how to soil block effectively is the topic of another post. NOTE: You’ll need to mix your own special growing medium (not one that you can buy at a big box store), and a bit of time to get used to the process. 

Soil blockers are for anyone who wants to get away from plastic, has a little extra time and money, wants the healthiest seedlings and plans to garden long term. 

20 Cell Soil Blockers come in a hand held and stand up  versions. The stand up soil blocker is much easier on your wrists, shoulders and back. 4” Soil Blockers are the largest blocker available and are perfect for your larger transplants like tomatoes, gourds, cucumbers, eggplant, etc.

How do you make your garden decisions?

Ultimately, there are many garden choices you will make. Some questions to consider: What do you really have time for? What feels like the best environmental choice for you? And what amount of investment feels good right now? Whatever suits you and your lifestyle is the right choice for you. And that goes for making decisions about seed starting at home, too.  

Check out our NEW Garden Freedom Series Micro Course for more information and instruction on successful seed starting. In this course, you’ll find resources for setting clear goals that reflect your values and make gardening everything you need and want it to be…

 

NOTE:  This article contains affiliate links and Grow Your Own Vegetables, LLC may be compensated when you click and purchase through the links above. By purchasing through these links, you’re supporting our mission to help green the planet and create food stable communities across the globe. We only recommend products we LOVE and that help growers on their quest for a fresh food lifestyle.