On February 23rd of last year, I started seeds for the first time. By that point, we were already experiencing highs in the 80's in Jacksonville, but I still chose to start the seeds in my garage with grow lights just in case the temperature dipped to avoid any danger of the seedlings experiencing frost. I started by taking a shopping trip to our local hardware store and impulse-buying seeds for anything that sounded nice to grow. I purchased seeds based off of the estimated planting times on the seed packaging, and then did more research upon returning home and worked out which it would be a good idea for me to start for a spring garden. I found these infographics from the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences to be so incredibly helpful for working this out here in North Florida; their tables indicate when you should start seeds or transplant in North, Central, and South Florida, and I would highly recommend using them.
I already had spare pots and grow lights for my houseplants, but needed to get a medium for seed starting. I didn't want to use the pre-made mixes available in local stores because I wanted to avoid mixes that contained peat moss for
environmental reasons and I thought I could keep the cost down my mixing my own. I ended up hybridizing a few seed starting mix recipes I found online and settled on the mix below:
1 part perlite
You may be able to find these ingredients at your local nurseries or garden centers; I ended up purchasing coconut coir online because I couldn't find it in stores locally. The coconut coir comes in "bricks," and has to be moistened in order for it to become a soil-like substrate. To do that, I just submerged one of the bricks in a bucket with some water, left it to sit for about 30 minutes to an hour, and then came back, strained the coir into another bucket, and broke it up with my hands a bit to loosen up any remaining clumps. I added the coir to a storage tub, mixed in the perlite and worm castings, and then used the pre-moistened mix to start filling my pots. I followed the instructions on the seed packets for planting depth, and then waited.
Within just a few days of me impatiently and excitedly checking the pots of soil constantly looking for any signs of life, the seedlings started to pop up-- the zucchini and tomatoes were the fastest and took off first. I can't describe the excitement I felt seeing those seedlings pop up for the first time; it felt like magic.
The bell pepper and milkweed seeds I planted were slower to pop up and grow.
Finally, once the seedlings grew to a point where they were outgrowing my grow-light setup in about mid-March, I started bringing the seedlings out to harden them off, leaving them in a more shaded area protected from wind initially and then slowly working them into full sun over about a week, until they were ready to transplant into the garden beds.
Fair warning: Once you've moved your seedlings outside, the local wildlife may move in and make themselves at home, like this little toad that I found burrowed in my milkweed seedlings. As adorable as he was, I did gently evict him into a better spot and from then on began to keep my seedlings up on a little plastic shelving unit outside to keep the critters at bay.
I found starting my plants from seed to be extremely rewarding and it really increased my confidence in gardening. Even now, when I start seeds, I still feel the magic when the first signs of green pop up in the soil, and I get such a sense of excitement from watching my little plant babies grow.
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