Seed Starting and Tracking

Seed starting can be fun and exciting. There’s the anticipation of all the yummy and beautiful plants you will soon have, plus you saved a bunch of money using seeds instead of buying actual plants. THEN…they get leggy, moldy, die off or don’t even germinate at all. It’s a lot! That’s why I track my seed starting process and keep good notes to help me do better each year.

Seed Packet Info

Seed packets usually have bunches of information printed on them. There are the basics like germination time, depth, spacing and days to harvest. All are important. Others will have special information like if those seeds do best in the freezer a few days before or that some seeds don’t handle transplanting well. Here’s what I look for first:

• Inside start date:
  • I’m itching to get things growing but you don’t want to start your seeds too early…especially if you don’t have room for 150 tomato plants in your laundry room (ask me how I know this – facepalm).
• Outside sow date:
  • This matters and is based on your frost date and hardiness/gardening zone. Check out my post HERE if you need more info.
• Germination days:
  • This is the time frame from when you plant the seeds until you should see seedlings poking through.
• Seed planting depth:
  • How deep to plant your seed. Kind of self explanatory. A good rule of thumb is to only plant the seed twice as deep as the size of the seed. So if you have a sunflower seed, plant the depth of 2 sunflower seeds.
• Seed planting spacing:
  • How far apart to plant your seeds. This matters more in ground where you aren’t using cells or blocks.
• Thinning:
  • You’ll sometimes want to plant a few seeds in each hole to make up for gemination rates. Sometimes all the seeds germinate however and you need to thin them out to give the strongest seed a chance to succeed. Some seed packets will tell you when and how to thin.
• Days to harvest:
  • How many days from when you plant until you can harvest, cut or pick your veggies, herbs, and flowers.

Special Instructions:

Some seed packets will include special instructions about that particular seed to help the sowing process be more successful. This could include freezing the seeds for 48 hours before you sow them like with snapdragons. Some seeds do well to be soaked in water for a few hours or overnight first like with some peas. A lupine packet I have suggests running sandpaper over the seed once or twice before planting.

Seed Sowing Problems

I’ve come across my fair share of seed sowing problems along the way. Leggy seedings happen when the seeds don’t have enough light. They grow tall but are weaker. This post HERE explains it in more detail. Mold growing on your soil happens with too much moisture and not enough light. Make sure your potting medium isn’t sopping wet, your cells or trays have holes in the bottom for drainage and that your seeds aren’t sitting in water all day. A oscillating fan can also help. You’ll also want to wash your trays with a bleach solution after you transplant the seedlings and start over. The seedlings can rot and die if they are left in soggy soil for too long.

I like to track all these things along with the basic seed information to help me do better the next year. I’ve learned what brands I like, what seeds do best started inside vs outside, how to manage leggy seedlings and moldy soil and how to harden off and transfer seedlings successfully. I’m a big not taker and list maker so these seed starting trackers are right up my alley.

Free Printables

Feel free to download and print these seed starting trackers. I like to staple the seed packet to the back of it. It helps me be organized and my seedling germination and success rate has gone up significantly since I started keeping track of what works for me.

Good luck with your seed sowing! xo, Jen