Should I start my seeds indoors, or wait until spring and planing season?

This is a common question we're asked nearly every year, with gardening season just around the corner. For new gardeners, or for anyone who's looking at upping their gardening game, starting plants indoors is a great option to kickstart your garden and have more control of your growing season. This post will explore the pros and cons of starting seedlings indoors and introduce Daniel's Plants Naked Pots, the perfect companion for indoor seedling starting.

Let’s dive into the benefits and challenges to help you decide if indoor seedling starting is right for you!

Pros of Starting Your Garden Indoors

1. Get an early start: Normally, you want to make sure the risk of frost has passed before starting your plants outdoors. By starting your plants indoors, you can start earlier and ensure your plants are well-established by the time it's warm enough outside to transplant them. This is helpful with plants like tomatoes, peppers, and herbs, which can take some time to grow before they're ready to harvest (for example, cilantro can take up to 70 days before it's ready to harvest!)
2. You control the growing conditions: This ties into our earlier point—you can't control frost, but you can control the temperature, humidity and light your seedlings receive! Unpredictable weather outdoors can be catastrophic to new growth, but by starting your plants off indoors, they'll be more established by the time you bring them outside. Plus, you also have control of the pots you use indoors—choose pots with no glues or adhesives to ensure your plants aren't impacted by chemicals or other additives (like Daniel's Plants Naked Pots)
3. Protection from pests: Pests can easily wipe out young plants. By starting your seedlings indoors, you can minimize the chance of aphids, slugs and other pests getting to your tender new growth.
4. Reduce waste: This is one  factor that you may not have considered, but gardening is actually not the most green industry. By starting your plants indoors in biodegradable pots, you're reducing the number of nursery pots and other plastics in circulation. A lot of established vegetables come in flimsy pots that aren't in any condition to be reused, which end up in landfills. Choose seeds that come in paper bags and pots that don't contain peat (which is often the product of unsustainable harvesting practices), and you're making a positive impact on the world around you! (All of our Naked Plant Pots are made from forestry byproducts and come in bulk packages to reduce packaging materials)

Cons of Starting Your Garden Indoors

1. Space and setup: Growing your plants indoors may take some additional setup. Depending on your environment, you may need grow lights to supplement natural light. If your space is cold, heat mats can be a great investment, but require some research to get ones that work well. Remember to ensure you have some kind of tray to catch any water runoff, too!
2. Extra effort: Starting your plants indoors requires different work than outdoor gardens—you may not be weeding, but you do need to monitor your plants daily. Due to the material that biodegradable plants are made from, they'll require more moisture, and you may need to thin your seedlings. You'll also need to harden them off before transplanting outdoors (we'll be posting a how-to guide on hardening off your plants soon!)
3. Risk of weak/leggy Plants: If you overcrowd your seedlings or don't give them enough light, they can get leggy and may struggle when transplanted. Another concern is transplant shock, if you start your plants in cardboard or plastic. By choosing biodegradable pots that can be planted directly into the ground, you can mitigate this risk.

Tips for Success 

• Choose high-quality products: Choose high-quality items will help increase your chance of success. We suggest choosing planting soil that is formulated for seedlings, and high-quality grow lights and seedling mats. Choosing the right plants for starting indoors is key as well—tomatoes (especially heirloom varieties),  peppers, herbs (look for slow-to-bolt seeds for an easier time at harvest) and flowers are all great options for starting indoors. And, of course, choose the right pots! Our pots are made with only one ingredient, spruce fibers, are manufactured in France, and support our North-American owned company. You can learn more on our website.
  
• Monitor your plants daily: One issue that people have with indoor plants is that they don't water their plants enough. Check in on your plants daily so you can easily adapt your watering schedule, or the amount of light your plants are getting. If you notice mold or mushrooms growing in your grow pots it means that you don't have enough air circulation, so we also recommend having a small fan handy OR spacing out your pots more.