From Seed to Plant: Starting Your Garden Indoors

Looking to grow your plants indoor this year? Want to get from seed to plant? Learn the best methods to grow full, luscious indoor plants!

It’s that time of year again. As the first days of spring are upon us we are all looking to get our gardens ready. Buying from a nursery can be expensive. Oftentimes, nurseries use chemicals to make their plants bigger and fuller.

Why not grow your own plants to save money? To make your garden truly organic? Below you will find several methods to get from seed to plant.

From Seed to Plant: Starting Your Garden Indoors

1. Growing Tray

This is the easiest method for those of you who do not have a green thumb. It is the least innovative but it will get you from seed to plant inside. Simply pick one growing tray up at your nearest discount store for a few dollars. All you have to do is place the seed with a starter mix into each cell. Water. Lastly, place the tray cover over the tray. Leave in a warm, sunny location (or under a grow light). Keeping the cover on will ensure relative humidity is optimal and will prevent you from constantly needing to water.

2. Rockwool

This is my personal favorite growing medium. You can use the medium straight up. Simply place the seed in the hole of the rockwool. If you are looking to not make a mess place the strips of rockwool in a tray that will not leak. Keep the tray filled with water. Rockwool is an excellent medium because it is very water absorbent. It will provide the best levels of water to your plant. It is also great because it is very fibrous. The fibrous nature will allow to roots to extend outwards. When the roots begin to show through the rockwool it is time to move them to a conventional pot.

3. Aquaponics/Hydroponics System

If you have a few extra dollars and want to have a cool ecosystem, try creating a hydroponics system. This is, in my opinion, the best way to get from seed to plant indoors. Supplies you will need:

• A large Fish tank
• PVC piping
• Rockwool
• Aquarium pump
• Air tubing

The fish tank (and living fish) will serve as the nutrients to your plants. The PVC piping will be cut to create two half-pipes. This means you will cut the full circle in half. Next, you want to place the rockwool inside of your freshly cut PVC. Arrange the PVC so that it can naturally drain back into the fish tank. Use the aquarium pump and air tubing to pump the water up to your plants. This is a self-regulating system (minus having to feed the fish). Fish excrement gets filtered out via the plants. The plants and runoff provide oxygen and aeration to keep the fish tank clean. What flaws could exist in such a system? You could also check out this book or this DIY project for more hydroponic system ideas.

There are many other ways to grow plants indoors; the above are just my personal preferences. If you have a few extra dollars, invest in a grow light. It does not have to be anything extraordinary. Its purpose is to provide extra “sun” and heat to your plants. Starting your seeds indoors can be more fun and cheaper than going to get plants at a conventional nursery. Look on the seed bags to guide you on when you should start your seeds! Happy growing.

Looking for more information on having your own garden indoors? Check out our article on the essentials for an indoor herb garden here.