Everything You Need To Start Your Summer Garden Indoors
I’m going to teach you how to start plants from seeds indoors early on, to guarantee you the best success this summer! While also saving you money, effort, and optimizing the time you’ll have a gorgeous garden!
Are you hoping to have an affordable, exciting garden this year? You’ve come to the right place!
1. Finding a Location
The first thing you need to do is find a good location in your home to store your plants. You’ll want to look for somewhere not too drafty, with good lighting, safety from pets and falls, and a moderate temperature.
I have my plants growing in small planters on my window and on a small shelf in a secluded area with a grow light. I have a separate post for that where I teach you how to grow plants indoors without direct sunlight. I keep them in my bedroom to prevent my pets from ruining them, especially cats which LOVE to eat anything green!
2. Determine What You’ll Be Growing
If you’re still at the beginner level, you may want to start with something simple like snapdragons or cosmos. These are pretty beginner-friendly as they are practically ‘unkillable’, and are beautiful.
You can buy some seed packets to experiment with for cheap at a local grocery store, or even the dollar store. Make sure to read the back to see how many weeks before the ‘last frost’ they should be planted. Some plants such as geraniums need a few months before they can be planted outside.
You can google when the predicted last frost is for your city, mine is mid-May. Although you can still have luck regardless of whether you start them earlier or later, you just will have to be more cautious of how you maintain them.
3. Supplies You’ll Need
Now that you’ve done the planning, here are the supplies you’ll need to get started!
- Standard Soil
- Planter pots (small starter kits are great!)
- Indoor watering can
- Basic tools like gloves and a shovel
- Plant Labels
As long as you’re planting flowers, you don’t need to be too particular about what soil you use. As a beginner, you can pick up some soil from the dollar store, grocery store, or any garden shop of your choice. For something more professional you can look for soils with worm castings, or high in minerals.
In the first stages of growing your plants, you won’t need large pots. You can start small by getting a package of easy planters. These have little pots that are great for transplanting into the ground later. Here are some cute pots that come in sets of 10. I like that they are a decent size, it’s always good to make sure it’s big enough so that the plant can grow easily, as they may spend 8+ weeks inside!
I highly recommend having a small watering can with a sprinkler head. This is essential for sprouting seeds as it’s a delicate manner! Running them under the tap or a steady stream from a jug may kill them due to the pressure on their delicate stems and roots. You can get something cute and functional that will look nice beside your green, luscious, well-watered plants! This one from Amazon does exactly that, and comes in multiple colours!
You’ll likely need a shovel to scoop the soil into your pots. You may already have this or something else you can use instead. Plant labels are always a good idea! That way you can watch their progress and learn what conditions each plant thrives best in. Please keep in mind, this is always a learning journey!
4. You’re All Set!
Once you have all your supplies, a nice location, and selected your seeds you’ll be all set to start planting! Make sure to follow all directions on the packages, ensuring all seeds are at their correct depths. Don’t forget to water them!