How to Plant Your Own Garden

Jacket required in the morning? Check

T-shirt and shorts in the evening? Check

Probably one more surprise snow storm before summer? Check

All the signs of a Minnesota spring are here!

And with the arrival of spring, it is time to start our gardens. This can seem like a daunting task, especially if you don’t have any horticulture experience. I’m here to reassure you that it’s not as complicated as it seems.

While it might be a little early to start putting plants outside (click here to see the DNR’s final frost date probabilities), many plants not only can but should be started indoors within the next few weeks. Here is a quick guide to starting your plants so as soon as that last frost happens, you can hit the ground running!

Starting Seeds

While you can usually buy starters, or plants which have already grown to an adolescent stage, at most farmers markets and grocery stores, many gardeners prefer to start their plants from seed. You can find seed packets online, or at your local hardware store or garden center.

Here’s how you start your plants from seed:

1. Find out when to plant your seeds

The majority of seed packets will have information on when the average growing season is for the plant. You can also readily find this information online; for example, if you’re looking to start bell peppers, you can search “When to start bell pepper seeds”. If you find that you’re a little too late, don’t be disheartened! It is still early enough that it is worth a shot - a below-average yield is still better than no yield.

2. Procure potting soil

There are many kinds of potting soil, which can be purchased at hardware stores and garden centers. Generally, you want something that is well-drained, as water-logging is the main killer of seedlings. I typically buy potting soil meant for succulents for all herbs and vegetables that I grow, though you can’t go wrong with most anything you find in stores.

It is typically a poor idea to take soil from outdoors, especially if you live in an urban area. Urban soils can have high amounts of pollutants from runoff and can introduce pathogens to your plants. In addition, potting mixes often have fertilizers, high organic content, and well draining material (like coconut husk) to help your plant along, which are things you cannot guarantee with regular soil from outside.

3. Choose the container to start your seeds in

It is recommended that you start your seeds in a small container. Putting them in a full sized pot from the start can cause water-logging issues in the lower parts of the pot, raising seedling mortality. Anywhere you can buy seeds and soil will have seed starting trays, which have many tiny little cups. If you don’t want to buy trays for this purpose, egg cartons work wonderfully as a substitute- just be sure to poke holes in the bottom to make sure they can drain properly.

4. Plant Your Seeds

Next, fill each starter pod with soil. Then, you’re ready to plant your seeds!

Create a tiny hole, that is roughly as deep as 1.5x the seeds diameter. You can use anything from your finger to a toothpick to make these holes. The seed packet should also have information on how deep to plant. Be sure not to plant too deep! This is a killer of many gardening projects.

Pro tip: put 2-3 seeds in each hole. Not all seeds will germinate in a seed packet, and this ensures as many of your starters as possible will have seedlings.

5. Water and Wait

After your seeds are sowed, it’s time to water them. It is suggested to mist your starters, or gently water if misting is not an option. If your water stream is too forceful, it can displace the seeds, complicating germination.

Then, place the starters in an area with lots of sunlight and wait. LED growing lights will also work. Be sure to keep the soil moist to damp until the seed is germinated. Seeds only need two things to germinate: light and water. As long as you provide these two things, you’re on track to have a bundle of healthy seedlings.

Alternate Method (Editor’s Choice)

If you’re like me and the idea of shilling out for seed starters sounds like too many expenses or steps, don’t fret. While not ideal, you CAN start seeds in a standard pot. It is still important to not bury them to deep.

The only difference is, instead of planting a few seeds in individual starters, you will plant many seeds in 1 pot. If you do this method, the thinning stage is much more crucial - read on to learn more!

Thinning and Transferring Seedlings

So, you’ve waited and you have lots of starters (or a few pots) with a bunch of little green seedlings - now what?

While all your little seedlings are growing, they are competing with one another for light, water, and soil nutrients. This early stage in seedling development can actually have a substantial impact on the later overall size, health, and yield of the plant. This is why it is important to limit competition through thinning.

To thin your seedlings, target pods or areas of your pot where there are many growing in close proximity to each other, and remove some of the seedlings. As you’ll be left with whatever you don’t thin out, try to leave the sturdiest looking seedlings. And while it is important, height isn’t everything! Some plants grow too tall too fast, and it can result in a weak base which can become a problem when adding on the weight of foliage and later, produce. Try to leave the seedlings that look the healthiest. Thinning can be an ongoing process as well- you need not do it all at once!

Once your seedlings have grown, it is time to transfer them to a larger pot. Carefully remove the soil and root ball from the starting pod, and place it in a pot. Adding soil around the root ball gives better results than digging out an area for the roots, but use whichever method is easier. Take care to not compress the soil; your plant will grow much healthier roots if the soil is loose. After transferring, be sure to water the plant in in the new pot! The same methods work if you are planting directly into the ground. Then, after the last frost, place your plants outside and watch how quickly they grow!

Why This Topic?

You might be thinking, “gardens are great and all, but why is this activist group writing gardening articles while our constitution is on fire?”.

It is no secret that tough times may be ahead. With tariffs and economic uncertainty likely leading to a recession, food security and access may become an issue that impacts many more Americans than it already does. And, recession aside, there already are many Americans in need of fresh, homegrown, healthy food.

Planting our own gardens empowers us to take our destiny into our own hands. If we can grow our own food, what do we need our billionaire overlords for? Just as we carefully cultivate our seeds into vegetable gardens, so too will we carefully cultivate our actions into a garden of democracy and egalitarianism.

The plant-to-activism metaphor opportunities are ripe, pun intended. But it IS important not only to ensure we have enough healthy food to go around, but to empower ourselves and each other. Because tyranny cannot thrive in a nation of empowered people.

All that, AND being outside and getting your hands dirty is good for you! So when you have time, go pick up some seeds and potting mix. You might surprise yourself with how simple gardening can be. And, as always, if you have any gardening questions, please ask them in the comments and I’ll be happy to answer all of them.