5 tips to growing successful starts

1. Timing is everything! 

Deciding when to start you plants depends on two factors - how fast they grow and when you can plant them in the ground. The ultimate goal is to keep the plants from getting too big and "leggy" before they go in the ground because if their roots get too long the plant will get "rootbound." 

Some plants, like many herbs and flowers, grow very slowly, so they can happily hang out in a small seedling tray for a two months. Other plants, like salad greens, kale, and asian greens like bok choy, grow very fast, and will need to be planted out in three weeks to a month.

The next question is how cold tolerant the plant is. Tomatoes and cucumbers and basil, for example, hate cold air and especially cold soil, and can only be grown under some sort of protected cover, and even then appreciate a few extra weeks after your region's last frost date. For plants like these, you may need to consider planting starts in larger pots and "potting up" your starts after they get sizeable so they can hang out in a heated space longer. 

Other plants, like kale, are cold-hardy and can be planted out before the last frost date if soil and weather conditions allow and simply covered during cold nights. 

If that seems like a lot, don't worry! There are many resources out there, including the back of your seed packs, that will help you! Most seeds give a recommendation on the back about when to plant them. 

Here's a handy guide to Alaska's planting for starts you plant to plant outdoors. For planting in a high tunnel, low tunnel or greenhouse, subtract 2-4 weeks depending on the conditions. 

2. Light, light, light! 

Everyone knows Alaska's winters are dark, and even when the sun starts to return, the amount of sunshine a veggie or flower start will be able to get from your window sill just isn't enough. 

Luckily, LED lights are now available at reasonable prices, and they don't use much electricity to keep your plants happy! Two or three rows of these lights are perfect for most starts, as long as they are positioned close enough above the start (about an inch or two above the top leaves is good.) 

3. Potting soil matters

Using the right seed-starting mix is extremely important, and can make or break your success. While there are lots of options, two popular brands are the Sunshine Mix sold at Home Depot as well as other locations, and ProMix, which has a variety of different kinds, some of which hold more or less water than others. 

Do you need to add anything to these mixes? In general, seedlings that are in their trays for only a few weeks don't need much extra nutrition, and some amendments can do more harm than good, causing mold and fungal issues on the surface of your soil. 

If your starts are hanging out indoors for longer, though, you may want to consider some sort of a boost, especially through a water-soluble mix, like organic mixes made from fish emulsion or kelp. These can have an odor (watch your cats) but it quickly dissipates. 

4. Water, but not too much water

How much you water your starts is key to successful growth. Too little water and they will shrivel and die, but too much water is just as bad, as the plants roots can't breath. 

So how do you know if your plants are wet enough? Picking up the trays and feeling their weight is an effective way! 

When you start your plants, you want to make a moist mix that is about as wet as a damp sponge - when you squeeze it into a ball in your hand, a couple drops of water come out. 

Now fill your seed trays with lightly compacted, moist soil and pick one up. That's how heavy your seedling trays should always feel! 

When you water your trays, you may want to start by watering lightly on the top of the trays, but after your starts develop roots, bottom watering is a better method. 

5. Follow your seed packet directions! 

Every seed has a preferred environment - some like it hot, some like it cold, some like it dark, some need light to germinate. 

As luck would have it, all this info can typically be found on the seed packet itself! When you start seeding a new variety, make sure you read the directions! I know, I know, but seriously! There are even seeds that require a period of cold before they will germinate. 

If all this inspires you to get your seed-starting game going, the Kachemak Bay Campus Growers School has a class this Saturday from 2-4 p.m. on all things seed starting! You'll get a chance to try your hand at seed starting and will head home with a tray of starts of your choice from our seed library along with a set of lights to get them going! To register, visit kpc.alaska.edu/communitycourses or call (907) 235-1674.

When we think about starting our garden plan for next year, it might seem like the natural place to start is with a pile of seed catalogs in front of the fireplace. But before you get out your highlighter and start dreaming of growing greatly, you should think long and hard about what you really want to accomplish with your gardening efforts and time. If your only goal is to get outside and play in the dirt, then the catalog approach might work. But if your goal is to feed you and your loved ones from your toil in the soil, then your approach should be more methodical. 

1. How much garden do you have time for?

For most of us, there are some limiting factors to our gardening efforts. Space is the obvious one - our gardens are only so big, so how do we use that space to our best advantage? But even if you have infinite space to garden in, the next limiting factor comes into play - time. How much garden you can effectively manage is partly determined by how you garden. Do you use weed-prevention techniques or do you have to spend hours fighting back the chickweed? Do you have an irrigation system or do you hand water? If you reflect on your last growing season and found you were growing in a space that was too much to manage in the time you had available, then you either need to scale it back or come up with a plan to manage your precious gardening hours better. 

2. What are your favorite crops to grow and eat?

Once you’ve determined how much garden you can effectively manage, the next thing to consider is what the most valuable crops are for you. This is different for everyone - it depends on so many factors - what you actually like cooking with, what you can effectively preserve, what grows well in the area you currently have to garden in. Write down a list of your favorite crops, the ones that mean the most to you and your family. Do your grandchildren love pulling out fresh carrots and picking peas off the vine? Well, those go to the top. Do you enjoy having rhubarb in your freezer to bake with all winter long? Bring on the rhubarb! Do you want to have fresh salads for as many months of the year as possible? Then put that at the top of your wish list. 

3. What grows well for you? 

While you put this list together, be realistic about what really grows well for you. Sure, there is always room for improvement, but given finite space and time, is it worth it to toil away for months to get a handful of cherry tomatoes? Did that gigantic pumpkin plant really produce pumpkins? 

4. What veggies are worth their space? 

Another thing to consider is what crops really paid their rent, so to speak? The perfect example is the cauliflower. On average, a cauliflower takes more than 70 days to grow to full size, and requires about 18 inches of space around it. Once it reaches full size, you harvest it and get one head. Broccoli, on the other hand, produce a head in about 45 days, and after you harvest it, many varieties will go on to produce more side shoots than you get from the initial head. That doesn’t mean you should plant broccoli and not cauliflower if you dislike broccoli and love cauliflower, but thinking about these things will allow you to get the most out of your garden. 

5. What crops are worth the time?

Lastly, there are just some crops that take more time than others. Many tomato varieties require weekly pruning. Zucchini need to be hand-pollinated for best production. Carrots are great once they get going, but in those early weeks of germination, the soil must be kept moist at all times, and there is a lot of time spent weeding and thinning. It might be better to avoid crops that take a lot of babying if you know your time is finite. 

6. Consider how much you can actually eat.  

Now that you’ve got your list of favorites, it’s time to start thinking about how MUCH of any one crop you need to grow to meet your veggie needs. A few kale plants will produce kale all season long - you don’t need to plant 10 feet of them for a family of two. Radishes only take 20 days to reach maturity, so you can plant them several times throughout the summer, and there is definitely such a thing as too many radishes at once. Think about what you didn’t manage to eat in your previous gardens, or what never gets eaten when you bring it home from the grocery store or farmers market. Plan to plant less of those things. 

Now that you have your refined list of favorites, it’s time to start putting plants in the ground (on paper, that is). Next up, we’ll come up with a plan for a continuous supply of the food you want throughout the summer.