It’s that time of year! It’s time to start thinking about the summer garden. I know many places are very much still cold and wintery, my home included! But this is the perfect time to do some planning and dreaming about what you’d like to grow this year. Starting seeds early in the season brings me so much joy!

There’s a quote that says, “Anyone who thinks gardening begins in the spring and ends in the fall is missing the best part of the whole year; for gardening begins in January with the dream. (Josephine Nuese)”

I don’t know about you, but I am certainly dreaming of seeing some green! Part of what gets me through the second half of Alaskan winter is planning the garden and starting some seeds early. 

If you haven’t read my blog post on how to go about starting a garden, check out this post. There’s some important information in that post about how to identify what zone/climate you are in, what types of plants might thrive in that zone, etc. This post is focused on organizing, ordering, and planning seed starting. 

First things first, seed inventory

Before I go dreaming, scheming, and ordering way too many seed packets, I review what I have in stock. I keep my seeds in this photo container. My preferred method is to organize them by when they need to be planted.

Seeds don’t last forever, but some of last year’s seeds will still sprout. Each year that passes the germination rate will just decrease. If you are using older seeds, you can just plant a couple seeds in each seed cell since its likely that germination won’t be 100%

What to grow, what to grow 

Each year I have vegetables that I grow no matter what – kale, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, carrots, cucumbers, herbs, etc. And then each year there are either new vegetables I want to grow, or different varieties I want to try.

I take inventory of what I have, make a list of what is missing, and then pick out a few fun new varieties that I want to try!

My favorite places to order seeds are: MIGardener, Denali Seeds, and Baker Seeds. I just placed an order with High Mowing Seeds for the first time so I will report back on that after the 2024 season. 

I think part of the fun of gardening is trying different flowers or new varieties of vegetables every year. It’s a science experiment each season! 

A plan for seed starting

Once you’ve determined what you’d like to grow. The next step is to determine when the seeds should be started. There are a lot of factors here, which will change when you should plant seeds. 

A good place to start is what the seed packet recommends and then modify based on your factors. For example, a seed packet of calendula tells me to sow 3-4 weeks before last frost. However, I know that I want blooms early AND I have space in my sunroom to allow them to grow until my last frost date. So I actually start calendula 6-8 weeks before my last frost date. 

The example I just gave comes from years of recording my start dates and making modifications. Please keep your own circumstances in mind whenever you are planting seeds. I have a sunroom that allows me to start hundreds of starts. However, if I didn’t have that room, I would be limited to a couple seed trays that could fit under the few grow lights I have. 

Seed Starting Tools

I have a couple things I like to use to track my seed starting every year. I like printing these calendars for the months prior to my last frost date to help organize my planting. When you are counting ‘6 weeks before last frost’ it’s a lot easier to count out on a physical paper. So after I’ve received my seed orders, I typically go through them and write when they need to be started on the calendar. 

Another tool I have used since I started gardening is an excel spreadsheet. Here is the template that I made for myself and use. I’m not perfect, I miss things, I forget to record things, but it also helps me to organize my experience. Year to year it’s helpful to see what I’ve done in the past, it helps me plan for the current season. 

For example, I made a note to start my tomatoes 2 weeks later this year. Last year they got big and would either become root bound in a small pot (which can stunt growth) or I had to pot them up, which can take a lot of soil and space. 

Seed Starting Schedule 

Here is my rough seed starting schedule. Keep in mind that I am in zone 4 with roughly a 100 day growing season. This schedule is based on my preferences and the amount of space I have. There are many methods to successfully growing plants! Consider your circumstances before blindly taking anyone’s schedule for your own. 

I hope this post inspires you to get some seeds ordered and start looking forward to the upcoming growing season!