How To Start Your Own Seeds

Step 1: Growing onions:

Today I’m going to plant onion seeds in the box on the left, which I made out of scrap plywood, 5” high. This will accommodate the onions as they grow and we’ll put them out in the garden in a couple of months.

Step 2: Alternate materials

This frame will hold the florescent fixture, which has two grow bulbs in it and it can be easily lowered and raised with a mechanism that comes with it. You can also build something out of wood or metal to do the same thing.

Step 3: Creating furrows:

The seeds are for storage onions and its just amazing when you think about these tiny little seeds can create plants which will feed us excellent food. All the information for that plant is in the seed. The first thing we do is create furrows. The final depth of the seed should be between ¼” and ½”. So you can go a little deeper because when we pack in the soil it will pack it down and it should end up about a quarter to a half-inch deep.

Step 4: Spreading the seeds evenly.

What I do is put some seeds in my palm, pick some up between my index finger and thumb and gently roll my fingers together and make the seeds fall out. This takes some practice, you won’t get it right the first time, but you can practice over a piece of paper.

Some folks like to use the seed packet and move it along the furrow, gently tapping with their index finger, and the seeds come out, in this case with onions we are supposed to get four to the inch. I never get it quite right but that’s what we’re shooting for. It does take some practice.

Step 5: Close the furrows.

Once the seeds are in I gently push the soil back over the seeds and close up the furrows. And then, very important, we should tamp the soil really well to insure that the seed contacts the soil firmly. If we don’t do this, as the soil dries out between waterings the seed could dry out also. Once the seed gets stamped it can never dry out. This is one of the most important procedures in seeding anything, whether it be flats or in the garden.

Step 6: Looking after the seeds:

Once the seeds are in and its all tamped, carefully water with as fine a gentle spray as you can. This is not the best arrangement here but I think I was careful enough not to wash away any of the soil. Then cover with plastic, clear plastic, or if you have a little mini greenhouse that works excellent also. Keep the lights two to four inches above your plants at all times and keep them on for sixteen to eighteen hours a day, except for onions – twelve hours a day.

Thanks for watching the video, we’ll see you next time.