The Advantages of Starting Seeds Indoors

Seeds germinate and grow better in a controlled environment. By starting seeds indoors, you avoid many of the hazards of having them start outdoors. By having the seeds and young plants inside where you can monitor their growth and development, you can have a more active role in making sure that they get a good beginning.

You can control the temperature and moisture level of the soil when you start the seeds indoors.

Starting the seeds indoors gives you the ability to keep the temperature and moisture level of the soil at a better and more constant condition. This will keep the seeds from rotting or being exposed to mildew. Most seeds and young plants do best in warmer soil. Early spring soil outdoors is many degrees cooler than the pots that you use to start seeds indoors. It is easy to keep the soil moisture right to germinate the seeds.

It also protects the seeds from birds and other creatures that might feed on the them.

At the close of winter, many birds, squirrels, and other creatures are looking for food. Your newly planted seeds may be just the snack that these outdoor creatures are looking to find. Planting and growing the seeds indoors offers protection against this danger. The seed gets an opportunity to sprout and grow without becoming some animals breakfast.

Starting seeds indoors offers better protection for the young plants.

Birds and bugs like to feast on young tender seedlings. Your young vegetable garden will look like a before dinner salad to these hungry creatures. Starting the plants indoors offers them a chance to get started before facing outdoor life. It gives them a chance to get larger which should give them a fighting chance to make it after you transplant them later in the spring.

Starting plants indoors lets you get a jump on spring.

By starting your seeds indoors, you do not have to wait for the right conditions to get your garden growing. Starting seeds inside can give you 2 months of a head start on planting. By the time that you transplant your seedlings, they have already been growing for weeks.

You are already that much ahead of others who wait to plant outdoors. Also, if you live in an area with a slightly shorter growing season, it will allow you to grow plants that might not be able to produce a crop within the normal growing period. You have extended the growing season by possibly months.

By planting and starting your seeds indoors, you can help solve one aspect of cabin fever by bringing the feel of the outside into the house. For the dedicated gardener, whether flowers or vegetables or both, early planting can feel like spring has already come.