10 Seed Starting Hacks You’ll Wish You Knew Sooner

If you've ever had seeds fail to germinate, flop over, or trees that got completely out of control, it's probably not the seeds, it's the process. After nearly 30 years of starting flowers from seed, I've learned a handful of simple tricks that make seed starting much easier and much more successful. So today I'm sharing some of my favorite seed starting tricks that have made a huge difference in how I grow seedlings indoors. Hi, I'm Stacy with Bricks and Blooms, and I've been gardening in Zone 6B New Jersey for nearly 30 years. I've been growing everything from cottage garden flowers to cut flowers in gardens both big and small, from the half acre garden at my former home to the 10 acre property that I care for now. Over the years, I've started thousands of seeds indoors, and along the way, I've learned a few tricks that make the process simpler and more successful. So let's jump into some of my favorite seed starting hacks. One seed starting hack that you can save quite a bit of money is how you fill your trays. Seed starting mix is best for germination because it's light and fluffy, but it's also a little bit more expensive than regular potting soil. So what I like to do is I fill the bottom half of my seed starting trays with a potting mix, and I pat it down to get all the air pockets out, and then on the top half, I use seed starting mix. So the seed still gets that light soil it needs to germinate and the roots grow down into the richer potting soil below. It's a simple trick, but when you're filling a lot of trays, it stretches your seed starting mix much further. Another trick that makes seed starting easier is pre-moistening your seed starting mix before filling the trays. Dry soil can actually repel water at first. So if you fill trays with dry mix and then try to water them, it can take a while for moisture to soak in evenly. I like to mix water into the soil first until it feels damp enough and then fill the trays. It gives seeds consistent moisture right from the start. Now, if you've ever tried planting really tiny seeds like snapdragons or foxgloves, you know how tricky that can be. One simple trick is to dip a toothpick in a little bit of water and use it to pick up the seeds. The seeds stick to the toothpick and are much easier to place where you want them. Instead of covering seeds with regular soil, I often sprinkle a thin layer of vermiculite over the top. Vermiculite is much lighter than soil, so it's easier for seedlings to push through as they germinate. It also helps retain a little moisture at the surface, which can improve germination. When watering seedlings, I always bottom water instead of watering from above. That means adding water to the tray underneath and letting the soil absorb it from below. This helps prevent disturbing delicate seedlings and encourages roots to grow downward. The important thing to remember though is to not let your seedlings sit in a pool of water. Check it after a little bit of time. I usually wait about 30 minutes and whatever hasn't finished soaking into the soil, I dump out. Now, when seedlings start to grow, you'll often need to thin them out. Instead of pulling the extra seedlings out, I like to snip them right at the soil line, which is like so sad, but I use a good sharp set of snips and just do it. Pulling them out can disturb the roots and it can harm how they grow, so it's much easier to just snip it there at the base. Now, I say this with one caveat because there are some plants where I will thin them out by breaking them apart and then potting them up in a larger container so I can get more plants. Okay, another trick that makes managing seed trays much easier is starting one variety of seeds per tray. And that is because when they germinate, they may germinate at different times. And when you have different types of plants in the same tray, you might have, let's say, foxgloves germinating and then, I don't know, snapdragons not germinating just yet and you're popping the cover off and then those snapdragons are losing the humidity. So, and this even applies to different varieties of the same plant. Different seeds germinate at different times. Once those seedlings sprout, you have to pop the cover off and remove the humidity dome fairly quickly so they don't stay too wet. If you have several different types of seeds in there, some may not germinate at all because you took that cover off. So starting one variety per seed tray ensures that they get that level of humidity and moisture that they need to germinate and that way the lid is removed at the right time for that variety. Okay, so if you start a lot of flowers like I do indoors under grow lights, it can get a little overwhelming, especially when you get to the process of needing to harden them off or maybe you need a little more space underneath the grow lights to start more plants like I do. So if you started some cool season plants, cool season flowers, perennials like foxgloves or snapdragons, things like that, we can harden them off a little bit earlier than before the frost date and kind of start that process earlier if your temperatures are right so that you can start, let's say, your warmer season annuals like zinnias or cosmos and have the space under the lights without having to buy more equipment. Moving them outside gradually opens up space indoors for those warm season plants that still need the lights. This is just a personal preference, but it's something that I've learned through the years that I'm gonna share with you today. I used to use those pre-made kits with the peat pellets in every cell. And I used to think that was so awesome because it was just all there and it was all just this one little nice packaged kit and you would put the water in the cell and yada, yada, yada, and you'd be ready to go. And I used them for years, but as I started growing more and more and more flowers, this actually became a lot more work than it was helpful just from the fact of having to water each individual pellet. And as I started doing it more for like a season or two, I was dumping the pellets in my little bin, adding water and breaking them. It was just a lot of work. It was a lot of work. I don't recommend it. So I suggest just getting your cell trays with the domes and the bottom watering tray and then purchase seed starting soil. It's just a lot easier. And I am not knocking these. I used them for years and they definitely work. I just found them to be a lot more time consuming to use for me because you have to soak each individual pellet. And if you're starting like thousands of seeds, all right, not thousands in a season, but you get my drift. If you're starting that many seeds and you got to wait for them to expand, it's just laborious. So for me, it's just faster and easier to pre-moisten seed starting mix, fill the cell trays and be on my way. So if you want a low maintenance system, trays and seed starting mix are a better option. And one mistake that I've made more often than not is not labeling my seed trays right away. When you are planting a lot of seeds, it's so, you really do think you're going to remember what's in the tray, even if you're only starting like a few different things, but everything germinates. It becomes surprisingly hard to tell varieties apart, especially now when I'm at the point of growing like eight or nine different varieties of zinnias and eight different varieties of snapdragons. And, you know, I've definitely had moments where I planted seedlings out in the garden and realized I wasn't completely sure which variety I planted, which is not good. It's not good. So now I label my trays immediately. So I always know what's growing. I usually start with one plant label and a masking tape just outside the tray. So that gives me a little bit of time to see which cells germinate. And then I go in and create labels for every single cell. It's just, you just gotta do it. It's a lot, but well worth it when you go to plant out. And I also like to record things like germination timing and plant performance each season so I can learn what works best in my garden. Now, seed starting doesn't have to be this big whole complicated process. I mean, if you grow as much as I do, it probably seems like it is, but I just love to do all things in my garden that this is just one of those things I enjoy doing. Some things I like doing a little more than others. I love seed starting. I do. It's really a thrill to see something grow from seed to flower or vegetable or whatever it is you're growing. It's just, you know, it's just super fun. And I just, I get a lot of joy from doing it. Sometimes a few simple tricks can make the whole process much easier, more organized, and a lot more successful. And the more you start seeds, the more you start to develop your own system that works for your space and your garden. And if you have any tips that you'd like to share, I'd love to hear them. Please let me know them in the comments below because I'd love to learn from you too. Now, one thing that's really helped me over the years is actually tracking what I plant and how it performs each season. If you've ever finished a gardening season thinking I need to remember that for next year and then didn't, that's exactly why I created my flower garden planner. It's where I keep notes on things like germination timing, planting schedules, and what varieties performed best so each season gets a little easier and a little better. And that's all I got for you guys today. Thanks so much for joining me in the gardens today. If you liked this video, please give it a thumbs up, subscribe to my channel, hype it up. I guess that's the new thing, right? And I will see you in the next video. I'm Stacey with Bricks and Blooms. Enjoy a beautiful day.