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Every bud’s got to start somewhere.
Whether it’s because you enjoy keeping your projects close by or it’s simply not warm enough yet, sometimes you gotta start a plant indoors before you can let it out into the wild blue yonder. It’s not that difficult, as long as the plant’s not too big and you’ve got a good place to put it.
The first thing you need to consider is what the plant will sit in. You can use all sorts of stuff if you don’t have an actual planter handy. Egg cartons, muffin tins, or even tin cans will work. The three things you need to be mindful of is drainage, space for roots, and most importantly, that the planter doesn’t have any chemicals toxic to the plant. When you’ve got a planter picked out, make sure there are drainage holes poked in, plant the seeds in soil (follow planting depth instructions on the seed packet) and place it in the planter. If you happen to have any seed-starter handy, use it. It might be a little hard to get right now, though, so regular soil is fine in a pinch. Place your seedlings somewhere warm like the top of the refrigerator. That ambient heat will help them get growing. Once they’ve sprouted, move them somewhere a little cooler, but with plenty of access to sunlight.
Once the seedlings are big and healthy, and assuming the atmospheric conditions are right, you can move them outside, either into the soil or a larger container. If you’re planting in the ground, just make a whole the same diameter as your planter, pick up the plant and its soil, and place it in there. If you’re using a larger container, same deal, though you might need to add some extra soil to fill the difference in space.
