Originally posted in 2019, this seed-starting article has been viewed more than 3 million times over the past six years. Recently updated and refreshed, it reflects both evolving techniques and enduring gardening habits. As January arrives and garden planning begins in earnest, seed starting once again rises to the top of every gardener’s mind—marking the hopeful start of a new growing season.

Why Seed Start?

Seed varieties far exceed the selection of transplants available each spring. This renewed enthusiasm for seed starting is fueled by growing interest in cut flowers, heirloom varieties, and the simple satisfaction of growing plants from scratch. It’s also one of the most cost-effective gardening habits you can adopt, and over the years I’ve gathered countless tips and tricks to make it successful.

New gardeners often assume seed starting is as simple as sprinkling seeds into potting soil, setting the container in a sunny window, and hoping for the best. While that approach sometimes works, there are far better—and far more reliable—methods. With a few inexpensive pieces of equipment and the right techniques, anyone can grow strong, healthy transplants ready for the garden.

For a tour of my greenhouse where I start hundreds of seedlings a year, check out this video.

Choosing Your Perfect Seeds

Seed starting in spring is a rite of passage for me. In the frigid quiet of January, I find myself fingering seed packets, shaking them gently, admiring the artwork on their covers, and dreaming about what my garden might become. Each packet holds a promise—color, texture, fragrance, abundance—waiting patiently for its moment.

If I don’t have at least a hundred seed packets stacked nearby, I grow restless. That’s usually when I reach for another catalog or open my browser and start wandering through seed company websites, adding just one more variety to the list. After all, there’s always room for another experiment, another discovery, another season of hope tucked into a paper envelope.

Too Many Choices

The choices can be dizzying—and have you seen the prices lately? Five or six dollars for a single packet of seeds means it pays to choose carefully. In some cases, it really is easier to buy transplants in spring rather than fussing with seed starting at home.

But if you’re after unusual, hard-to-find, or heirloom varieties, starting from seed is often the only way to get them. The same goes if you want large quantities of a plant. If you’re dreaming of a thousand zinnias, seed starting quickly becomes the economical option—those individual transplants add up fast.

There’s another factor to consider: space. The more seeds you start, the more room you’ll need under lights, and indoor growing space is almost always limited. Even with a greenhouse—as I have—bench space is precious and fills up faster than you expect.

Seed or Transplant? A Simple Rule of Thumb

Start from seed if:

• You want unusual, heirloom, or hard-to-find varieties

• You need large quantities (cut flowers, mass plantings, succession sowing)

• The plant germinates and grows quickly (zinnias, cosmos, basil, lettuce)

• You enjoy the process and have adequate light and space

Buy transplants if:

• The plant is slow-growing or finicky (artichokes, celery, some perennials)

• You only need a few plants

• You’re short on indoor space or grow lights

• The plant is widely available and inexpensive in spring

Always consider:

• Seed cost vs. transplant cost

• Time to maturity

• Available light and bench space

• Your patience level 😉

Choose the Best Seeds for You

Seeds are tiny botanical miracles. Each one contains an embryo, stored nutrition, and a protective seed coat that—given the right conditions—will grow into a plant identical to its parent (with the exception of hybrids). Inside every seed packet are miniature plants waiting patiently for their moment to emerge.

For excellent guidance on selecting quality seeds and learning how to “shop” seed catalogs wisely, this article on Understanding Your Seed Catalog is immensely helpful by an extension service, the un-sung heroes of the Gardening World.

Before you dive headfirst into seed starting, however, take a moment to assess two critical factors: your budget for equipment and—just as important—your available time. Seed starting can be as simple or as involved as you choose, but success depends on matching your ambitions to the resources you realistically have.

Order Early

This year, it’s wise to order seeds sooner rather than later. After browsing several seed company websites, many varieties are already sold out. If you haven’t placed your order yet, don’t wait—popular selections disappear quickly, and availability only becomes more limited as spring approaches.

It is All About Timing

Before you even pop a seed into a peat pot, it’s important to understand a few basics: the optimal soil germination temperature, the light requirements, and whether stratification is needed.

Stratification simply means breaking a seed’s natural dormancy by exposing it to cold—essentially mimicking winter conditions outdoors. Some seeds won’t germinate until they’ve experienced this chill. I accomplish this easily by placing seeds in the refrigerator for a designated period before sowing.

A little preparation at this stage can make the difference between spotty germination and strong, uniform seedlings.

A lot to think of before you even plant, google each seed type to see what its requirements are, as it can vary. For example, don’t cover seeds of primulas or begonias as they require light to germinate. Pressing the seed into the seed starting mixture will give the seed good soil contact, a necessity for germination.

Know Your Seed Types

Understanding the type of seed you’re buying helps set realistic expectations and leads to better results in the garden.

Open-Pollinated Seeds
These seeds produce plants that come true to type, meaning the offspring will closely resemble the parent plant. They are pollinated naturally by wind, insects, or birds and are reliable choices for gardeners who want consistency and the ability to save seed from year to year.

Heirloom Seeds
Heirlooms are a subset of open-pollinated seeds that have been passed down for generations, often prized for flavor, history, and unique characteristics. When properly isolated, heirloom plants produce seed that can be saved and replanted with predictable results.

Hybrid Seeds (F1)
Hybrid seeds are created by crossing two carefully selected parent plants to produce offspring with specific traits such as uniform growth, disease resistance, or improved vigor. While hybrids often perform exceptionally well, seeds saved from hybrid plants will not reliably reproduce the same qualities.

Treated or Pelleted Seeds
Some seeds are coated to improve handling, visibility, or germination rates. Pelleted seeds are especially helpful for tiny varieties, but they may require consistent moisture to dissolve the coating properly.

Choosing the right seed type depends on your goals—whether that’s saving seed, growing rare varieties, maximizing performance, or simply enjoying the process.

And everyone wants to know when to start your seeds. Start too early, and the plants will get unwieldy and root bound. If planted too late, you will have tiny tender seedlings to place out and they might not make it. Go to A Way to Garden for a handy reference where you can plug in your frost free date and it calculates exactly when you should be starting your seeds. A valuable reference that has saved me a lot of time figuring dates in my head, you can customize it to your area.

Here are the Reasons I Start Seeds

1. More Choices-At a nursery they might sell 20-25 varieties of tomatoes. From seed you can grow at least a thousand more. Some flower varieties like Nigella, Love-in-a-mist, or annual Poppies must be started from seed outside to be successful. See my post on Annuals that Rock!

2. Save Money on Plants

A packet of Zinnias will set you back by $4.00 to $6.  If you bought all those transplants of annuals at the nursery that one packet can start, you would pay that many times over. Plus, if you grow heirlooms (open pollinated), you can save the seeds and regrow every year.

3. It’s Easy

Most vegetables should be started directly into the garden. Planting transplants of cucs, beans, peas, beets, carrots, lettuce can be expensive and  not practical. A single transplant of a 6′ tall tomato plants can sell locally for $6-8 a pop. Starting seed directly into a vegetable garden avoids transplant shock and gives veggies a head start.

4. Help the Pollinators

Many transplants have been treated with insecticides that negatively impact bee visits. Some nurseries are careful and transparent, but some are not, and many times aren’t labeled with the insecticide treatment. Go to my post on Pesticide Free Nurseries. You are controlling your quality of new transplants by starting them yourself.

5. It’s Fun!

Reconnect with nature during the dark days of winter and watch your seedlings grow! Make it a kid project! I love watching the snow pile up outside while my healthy seedlings are growing before my eyes inside.

Right Conditions & Equipment

Your job when planting a seed is to provide the right conditions for germinating and growing on to be ready to transplant into your garden. Here’s a rundown on some handy equipment that will make your seed starting journey a whole lot easier.

My Go-To Seed Starting Equipment

Light Stand

My most important piece of equipment is a PVC light stand for my grow lights. Go to DIY PVC Light Stand for easy to follow, inexpensive directions for a light stand out of one piece of PVC pipe. I put this together myself, so anyone can construct one. Yes, you can use your window sills for light, but a light stand a few inches above seedlings is vastly superior and will make your seedlings fat and happy, not thin and spindly. There are too many cloudy winter days for seedlings to get their required allotment of light.  I like these Barrina full spectrum linkable grow lights. You can link several together to cover a large area and they have a simple on a off switch. LED is the key word here, as it gives off a much stronger light than fluorescent.

Heat Mats

Most seeds benefit from bottom heat and will germinate much quicker. You could use a radiator or other warm surface, but I like heat mats as they fit exactly under a flat and you can control the temperature. Inexpensive also, heat mats are available on Amazon. Be sure to remove the germination mat when the seedlings start to pop up, especially if you have a clear hood on top to create a moist environment. You don’t want the seedlings to bake!

Flats

Flats are simply low shallow plastic trays with drainage that you can fill with soilless medium. Once filled, I nest the flat into another waterproof tray to catch any excess water. Some trays are divided into cells, so you are growing a seedling in its own contained root run, making it easier to transplant to a larger one. Once you sow your seeds, cover up with a clear plastic dome that is vented. I love these seedling flats from Amazon. The plastic dome is high enough that you can easily put plant id tags into the cells without interfering with the dome.

Plant ID Tags

I always forget what I planted and where. White plastic ID tags with a black water proof marker are essential to jog my memory. Tiny seedlings tend to look alike and I used to use popsicle sticks but they will rot and fade.

Use Fans for Damping Off

Damping Off is the number one reason for seedling failure. The seeds germinate and then just melt away. A fungal disease spread by spores, you want to keep everything – soil, containers, trays- very clean. Wash containers with a dilute bleach solution and use sterile soil.

Damping Off thrives in warm and moist conditions, so you need good air circulation. I use a clip-on small fan attached to my light stand to move the air to discourage “damping off”. And it works. Simple solution, but effective. Just be sure not to over saturate your soil with water as that is the most common cause of seedling failure. For my greenhouse, I have a heftier fan to circulate the air.

Another way to stave off damping off is to use some anti-fungal spices like cinnamon, turmeric, and cayenne sprinkled on top. Or water your plants with a tea made out of one or a combination of these spices.

Watering Can

I like to water with a mister, as it disturbs the seedlings the least. I just discovered the Flairosol Mister.  As soon as I tried this, I bought several. It uses a pre-compression technology that delivers a continuous 0.3mm ultra-fine mist lasting 1 second and multiple consecutive full trigger strokes will provide a consecutive spray. You don’t have to continue to press the plunger which saves my hands.

But it requires a lot of time to mist all my seedlings by hand, so I graduate when the seedlings are larger to a Dramm watering can with a fine mesh “rose”. A “rose” just diffuses the water so it falls gently onto the seedlings and is much more efficient than a mister. Dramm has a heavy duty weather resistant plastic and I have had it for several years.

Additional Lighting Units

The LED grow lights are wonderful, but sometimes every seedling won’t fit under the grow light. So, I supplement with LED spray lights. You can twist them to fit into any space and they are full spectrum.

Soil Medium

You need a source of sterile soilless medium to start your seeds. I use concentrated soil blocks as I don’t want to lug home large heavy bags.  Much less expensive and more convenient, you can find these compressed coir bricks online or at Home Depot, or other hardware stores. There is no nutrition in this soil medium, so as soon as your seedlings are up and running, you need to fertilize. Another soil that I use is Pro-Mix, a peat-based mix with lots of perlite added so it won’t compact and incorporates lots of oxygen to the new seedlings.

Seed Starting Containers Options-There Are So Many!

An easy and cheap way of starting your seedlings or to transplant all those little seedlings is to create small biodegradable pots out of newspaper. If I have newspaper hanging around, I try to use it up. Simply fold your newspaper into strips, roll around a water glass the size you want to create, and tie with twine. Tucking in flaps at the bottom creates a snug little container to start seedlings.

Another sustainable option is to use CowPots.

Cowpots is a family owned American company that are peat and plastic free made from recycled, renewable composted cow manure. CowPots are 100% biodegradable and they don’t smell! That means, there is nothing to throw away. Here is my friend Amanda who helps run the family farm in Connecticut describe them.

CowPots have a suggested shelf life of approximately 12 – 16 weeks. The natural aspect of manure allows for even the smallest root to penetrate, so when it’s time to transplant, you never crush or tear the pot wall, leaving the tender roots intact. CowPots continue to benefit your plant and soil as they decompose in the garden. Coming in all shapes and configurations, these are my go-to for transplants of all sizes.