How to Start a Garden Inside
High Altitude Gardening presents it’s own set of unique challenges. We have dreamed of a simple garden since the infancy of our marriage and this year we are ready to go for it!
Colorado and its natural beauty has captured our hearts for almost 20 years. So we are embracing the weather, the wildlife and it’s time to begin the Kitchen Garden Project.
Here is my plan for the garden. After asking a lot of questions to gardeners in my area, I’ve been told we may be better off putting our efforts into warming the soil outside rather than planting seeds inside. It may not buy us that much time. Alas, I was just too excited.
As a family, we decided to conduct a little experiment. We’ll start some veggies inside while we simultaneously build our structures and work to warm the soil for planting by Mothers Day. We’ll transplant AND plant a few seeds of each veggie when we are ready to move outdoors. Then, we’ll do a little comparison to find out which is method is more effective. Here is how I planted my seeds inside. I watched this tutorial video before I began and found it incredibly helpful!
Supplies:
- Plant tray
- Vessels to plant in (solo or even punch cups work)-I used peat pots.
- Quality organic garden soil-I used an organic seed starter mix by Jiffy.
- Water, spray bottle
- Seeds (my seeds are from BBB Seed, based in Boulder, CO)
- Labels/pot stakes
- A small trowel or an extra plastic cup to scoop soil.
- A sunny location that gets warm, diffused, light for 4-6 hours a day.
- Plastic wrap or a clear plastic covering of some kind.
How to start a Garden Inside:
Indoor Location
To begin, you need an indoor location with access to light. If you don’t have a place that gets natural light consider providing some artificial lighting. A location with 4-6 hours of diffused sunlight was what I wanted.
Plant
Lay out your vessels and begin! Fill the soil to the top of your pots. Once you water, the soil will settle.
Plant your seeds. I did a few seeds in each pot and I’ll just see what pops up. Once I get a strong growth, I’ll thin the plant to one or two starters.
Label
Label the plants, with names and dates. Also, date your seed packs to record when you opened the packet. Seeds usually have a two year shelf life so keeping track of when you opened them is important.
For my pot stakes, I had my son find a long stick in the yard. He cut it into enough pieces for my pots, then whittled a small section of bark away. He carved enough bark off so I had room to write the name of the veggie on the stake. Aren’t they cute?!
Water
Time to water. Water the tops of your plants so that the soil is saturated, but not puddling. Next, I poured water directly into my plant tray to allow the peat pots to absorb the water. I saw this handy trick here. Keep the spray bottle filled and right next to your plants, use it when the soil is dry. I also plan to refill my plant tray as needed too.
Cover
I chose to loosely cover my plants with plastic since they are sitting next to a window. I want them to get nice and toasty. It’s Colorado and we’re bound to have several more cold snaps before the weather gets warm. Hopefully the plastic will help incubate the plants.
Record
Write it all down. This year I’ve dedicated a significant amount of space in my planner to write about the garden. Don’t be in such a rush that you forget to document what you’ve done. You’ll really regret it when you need to remember what you did, or what date you started your seeds.
If you’d like to take a closer look at this process hop over to my Instagram Stories- Inside the Garden
This year, we are beginning a wonderful new journey of closer living with the earth. We are dreaming of having enough in the kitchen garden to supplement many summer and fall meals. To touch the soil, and take in the aroma of earth and water was just what my winter’s heart needed. Next up, it’s time to build the garden structures! In the meantime, I’ll be anxiously waiting 12-15 days for the veggies to pop!
