S13 E21: What You Didn't Know About Starting Seeds

I consider myself fairly good at seed starting, but I'm hearing interesting things I've not heard before! Thank you!

Mylar blanket wrapped around the sides of the seed shelves/rack works well also, instead of aluminum foil and is less expensive.

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.

Absolutely hands down my favorite podcast to date, Jill! I needed to learn this info on seed starting. Thank you for inviting Shawn to share his knowledge. I'm looking into purchasing his seed trays right now.

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

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.

All I can say is WOW! A great game changer.

Jill is right! Truly valuable information is worth the listen. Thank you for sharing.

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!

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

So glad I found this. There are many things I learned about what I've been doing wrong starting seeds!

I just now subscribed, solely for the name of your channel. I know that I'm going to love your content!

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!

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. 👍🏼

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.

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.

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.

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!

Wow! Learned so much!!!