Want to start your own seedlings at home to transplant them into the garden? And, do you wonder how to grow these ‘starts’ and bedding plants organically?

If so, read on! Here is your step-by-step guide. First, note that you cannot officially call these bedding plants “organic” unless you certify each variety as Certified Organic under the USDA National Organic Program with paperwork, inspection, and fees. Unofficially, you can grow them happily and effectively in the spirit of the organic tradition by your choices of seed, potting mix, fertilizers and containers.
 

Seed Selection

First, make a list of the vegetables, flowers, and herbs you want to grow. Ask experienced gardeners which ones will grow well in our cold soils and short, cool growing season. Then list how much of each kind you want. Now imagine these plants full-grown and figure how many will fit the garden space you have. For example, one cabbage takes nine square feet of area and a mature head of romaine lettuce takes a square foot. 

Next, buy your seed from store seed racks or from seed catalogs.  In Anchorage, the seed racks at Alaska Mill & Feed and Natural Pantry offer many brands in addition to Denali Seed. In Palmer, Budget Feed store will not only mail your order to Johnny’s Selected Seeds for you, but also waive the shipping cost of your seed order. 

I like seed catalogs that offer detailed information about growing, the number of seeds per packet, germination temperature, transplant spacing, etc.  A few of my favorites are:

Johnny’s Selected Seeds, www.johnnyseeds.com

Seeds of Change, www.seedsofchange.com

Nichols Garden Nursery, www.nicholsgardennursery.com

Fedco, www.fedcoseeds.com

Why?  Because these businesses are not corporate giants. They have a policy for preserving biodiversity, supporting sustainable agriculture, offering organic choices, and do not knowingly sell genetically-engineered seed.

Now you have choices to make! Here’s how to navigate through those options of seed, soil, fertilizer and containers.
 

Variety Selection

Treated or Untreated Seed? 

Treated seed is coated with a fungicide and/or insecticide. How do you know? Look for specific wording or an alert written on the seed packet. Also check the seed color. Treated seed is usually (but not always) dyed pink.  The safer and organic choice would be untreated seed.

 
Open-pollinated, Hybrid, or Heirloom?

Open-Pollinated (OP) seeds are non-hybrid plants. Pollination occurs by uncontrolled natural agents such as bees, birds, and wind. The resulting seeds produce plants just like the parents; thus, OP seeds are appropriate for seed-saving.

Heirlooms are open-pollinated cultivated varieties which were once commonly grown in home and market gardens. There is no rule about how old a plant variety must be to be called "heirloom", though these varieties are often 85 years or older. 

Hybrids are denoted in catalogs by F₁ and F_2.  Plant breeders create hybrids by controlling cross-pollination of parent plants to increase characteristics such as disease resistance or yield. Hybrids are perfectly acceptable for organically certified growing. Indeed, hybrids should not be confused with genetically engineered (GE) seeds (an organic No-No!).  Hybrids are not appropriate for seed-saving, because the next generation will be genetic throw-backs (rather than being like the parent plants).
 

Soil or Potting Media Selection

Most conventional potting media are soilless mixes that use Canadian peat as a main ingredient. These also include a chemical wetting agent and are often sterilized.  Sterile media leaves your seedlings vulnerable to disease-causing microorganisms (such as “damping off” disease) that lurk in your propagation area. You want some compost in your mix to provide beneficial microorganisms to protect your seedlings from disease. Compost also supplies a wide range of balanced nutrients and retains moisture well. Choose a potting medium that contains a portion of compost. Or, simply add one part compost into three parts of your conventional medium.

Two excellent Alaskan choices of potting media are Fishy Peat (provided you mix in some perlite) or Alaska Earth potting medium from Anchor Pt. Greenhouse (907-235-7288).  These are composted from fish waste, seaweed, and local peat.
 

Fertilizers

Conventionally-raised seedlings are fertilized regularly with a drench of soluble chemical fertilizer. This practice can build excessive salty levels in the root zone, discourage beneficial soil life, and force-feed the plants whether they need those nutrients or not.

With organic methods, your compost is your fertilizer as well as your disease protection. Compost is an excellent food because it gently nourishes your plants with a natural, balanced, steady release of nutrients. If your developing plants seem to need more nutrition than the compost supplies, choose fertilizers like manure tea or compost tea and administer a weekly drench or spray. Or, purchase liquid fish and seaweed fertilizers, and follow the directions.  Never over-dose your fertilizer applications!
 

Containers

Commercial growers start with new black plastic cell packs and flats every year. Instead of using brand new ones, start saving and re-using 4-paks, 6-paks, and flats. Also consider substituting cell packs with yogurt and cottage cheese containers with drain holes. Or, if you want to skip the plastic in any form, order a soil block maker and press out soil cubes into your flats.  Soil blocks handle well, and you avoid container fuss and storage space.

Okay, you are ready to sow your seed, identify each kind with a marker, and place your flats in a warm place. As soon as you see the slightest germination, get them under shop lights for 14 hours per day. The lights must nearly touch the baby leaves to prevent spindly growth.

Water every day as needed. By mid-April, you may have enough daylight to transfer your seedlings from shop lights to a sunny windowsill, but be sure they don’t fry there. A week before transplanting your starts to the garden, get them used to UV sunrays and wind by exposing them to direct sunlight for an hour the first two days, and two hours for another couple days. Gradually increase exposure up to four hours.

Now your babies are toughened up and ready for living outdoors in your garden! That is, as soon as your soil is warm enough—probably around Memorial Day.  Congratulations!  You have successfully gotten your hands into the soil, and enjoyed the satisfaction of growing your bedding plants organically!

 

Book Review Feature Ask Mother Nature: A Conscious Gardener’s Guide Ellen Vande Visse (Findhorn Press, 2009, Softcover, $14.95)  Attention, gardeners of South-Central Alaska! Here’s a double treat: a horticultural how-to book finally pertinent to our region, plus a spiritual guidebook for co-creating with nature. As I chuckled my way through the many illustrative stories the author shares, I also learned both practical organic strategies that work in our cold growing season and how to ask for divine counsel and cooperation from the soil, plants, and pests themselves. Slugs, cutworms and root maggots... Oh, the shock of discovering their devastating assault on our beloved lettuce, basil, and broccoli! We automatically reach for a chemical control, determined to exterminate the ever-looming enemy.  If you are expecting to do battle again, hold on!  Long-time Alaskan gardener Ellen Vande Visse suggests that there are more peaceful options available. How? Ellen demonstrates ways to reach out to the God-like core of so-called “pests” and respectfully negotiate with them. She believes you can apply this same earthy spirituality to achieve a harmonious partnership with all of nature, as evidenced by the Findhorn and Perelandra Gardens models. Ellen’s narrative gives us a glimpse into the unseen energies in our own backyards, and reveals how eager these conscious Beings are to work with us humans. She introduces us to Devas or “the overlighting angel of a plant, animal, or mineral,” as well as Nature Spirits, who joyfully carry out the energy functions and processes of nature.  Each chapter teaches how to have two-way conversations with these magnificent spirits of nature. What are the results of working at the life force level of growing vegetables and flowers? Ellen shows the astounding gains in yield, balance, and vitality. Everyone wins—humans, plants, and yes, even slugs. I admit I was highly skeptical at first. I’m the product of a society whose win/lose language presumes gardeners deploy arsenals to stop invaders. It was a tough sell to convince me that Devas and Nature spirits actually exist and are willing to assist us in making our gardens harmonious and fruitful. Yet Ellen’s own doubts and awkwardness make all this spiritual gardening both believable and captivating. Some of that angelic guidance from nature still makes my head spin.  And what about the problems in my garden that this book does not address?  This year, I will do what Ellen recommends.  I will ask Mother Nature directly. Alys Culhane is a freelance writer/writing coach who lives in Palmer, Alaska.  Her work has appeared in many publications, her area of gardening expertise is composting.

Ellen Vande Visse is the author of Ask Mother Nature: A Conscious Gardener’s Guide.  See her website for more information and for a schedule of classes at her school:  www.goodearthgardenschool.com