603 March Starting Seeds

Hey Listener, 

In this month's episode, we are revisiting a favorite topic of ours: STARTING SEEDS! Starting seeds inside can be a fun way to enjoy gardening before you can put plants in the ground.   With the right light and simple equipment, growing transplants is easy.  In this episode, we discuss the equipment you need to start your transplants and give you some tips to get going. 

To find your frost-free date check out the National Gardening Association website:  https://garden.org/apps/frost-dates/ 

We also have the Native Plant of the Month ( Smooth Alder), Bug of the Month (Mourning Cloak Butterfly), and Monthly garden tips. 

We don't discuss starting native seeds in this episode, but you can learn more about them by visiting the UME HGIC website.  

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The Garden Thyme Podcast is brought to you by the University of Maryland Extension. Hosts are Mikaela Boley- Principal Agent Associate (Talbot County) for Horticulture; Rachel Rhodes- Senior Agent Associate for Horticulture (Queen Anne's County); and Emily Zobel- Senior Agent Associate for Agriculture (Dorchester County).

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Transcript

Garden Thyme Podcast Transcript
 S6:E03 Starting Seeds ( March 2025)

Note: The Garden Thyme Podcast is produced for the ear and is designed to be heard. If you are able, we strongly encourage you to listen to the audio, which includes emotion and emphasis that's not on the page. Transcripts are generated using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and may contain errors.  
 
:Up Beat Music:

Rachel

Hello, listener. Welcome to the University of Maryland Extension presents the Garden Time Podcast, where we talk about getting down and dirty in your garden. We're your hosts. I'm Rachel.

Mikaela

Hi, I'm Mikaela.

Emily

And I'm Emily.

Rachel

In this month's episode, we're talking about one of my favorite topics, starting seeds. Now, we talked about this early in our podcast career, I think back in 2020. But the sound quality wasn't great, and we thought that it was important enough to revisit seed starting. And seed starting inside can be a fun way to enjoy gardening in the late winter. With the right light and simple equipment, it's easy to grow from seed to harvest. Growing your own transplants allows you to grow the crops and cultivars you like best, rather than what's available in the retail stores. The idea is to grow baby plants so that you'll have transplants in four to eight weeks, depending on the vegetable and the rate of the plant growth. And then you get to plant them outside when it's warm enough for them to mature and to be harvested. In this episode, we're going to focus mainly on annual vegetables and annual flower transplants. You will need some really easily accessible items to get started, and those are seeds, potting media, some containers, some grow lights, and an optional side. Here is a heated grow mat. That's not a necessity, but it will help kick off your seedlings.

Rachel

And we're going to go through each one of these. Seeds are the funnest part for me. And there's nothing that I like more than going to a store and looking at all the seed packets or looking at all the seed catalogs that I get in. And then I have a really hard time narrowing it down on what I want. And I typically overspend. And I think all of us do that. And it's just. It's marketing.

Emily

Seeds are, like, right up there with books, right?

Rachel

Yes.

Emily

If they're cheaper. So then you don't feel quite as bad filling, like, a whole bunch in your cart. And then you get up there and you're checking out, and all of a sudden it gets, like, really expensive. And you're like, why is it so expensive? Each one of these seed packets was under, like, $3. And then you realize, oh, I have, like, 15 of them.

Rachel

Yeah, exactly. It's so hard for me because I see all the seed packets in the store and they're all so pretty that I'm like, oh, I could grow that. And it's going to be just as beautiful in my garden as it is on this seed packet. And that's where marketing gets you. Right there.

Mikaela

Right. Honestly, I'm a little bit like a dragon because I hoard those seeds. Like I think I'm going to use all of them, even though I never do.

Rachel

Yes, so do I. I feel the same way.

Mikaela

Signs. You're living with a gardener. There's more seeds in the fridge than anything else.

Rachel

Or you have a spare refrigerator in the garage versus just seeds.

Mikaela

Right. The beer fridge is now the seed fridge.

Rachel

Yeah. What are all these seeds doing in here? I'm saving them for next year. Don't worry.

Mikaela

Don't worry about it.

Rachel

I think so. After you have perused your seed cabin catalogs, one of the things that you should really remember is to purchase your seeds from a trusted source. Fresher, high quality seeds will have a higher germination rate. That means that you're more likely to have a higher number of plants sprout. And that will give you a head start in growing vegetables and beautiful flowers. Most stores will be okay. Yes, Even the dollar store. But you will want to check the year on the package. So when you get your seed packet and you flip it on the back, it will usually have 2024 or 2025, or you know, it will have the year that it's shipped out to the store. When buying online, you'll visit a trusted website, check the reviews for new seed companies or seed trading groups. Always order from within your country. Look for local seed swaps or even seed libraries. A lot of programs and county extension offices have seed libraries now and seed swaps. Because each plant has a unique seed starting requirement, you want to make sure that you read the information found on the seed packet. You really should do as I say, not as I do and read the seed packet label before buying it to make sure it's going to grow in your area.

Mikaela

That sounds like a mother. Do as I say, not as I do.

Rachel

Yes.

Emily

Yeah. And you can check the USDA hardiness zone map to see what zone you are in to guarantee that those seeds will be profitable for you and that you'll be able to move them outside.

Rachel

Yes. And our hardiness map has changed in. It changed in 2024. So you really want to look at that before you start seeds to make sure you know what zone you're in now. So some plants and vegetables are best started indoors. There's a big benefit to growing them indoors because they germinate and grow quickly. Some of the seeds that we usually start, start out inside are going to be your Tomatoes and your peppers. Eggplant also like to be inside if you're going to grow them. And there are some seeds that are usually marked as direct sow and that means that you need to sow them directly in your raised garden beds, in your containers or directly in the ground. And those vegetables really struggle as transplants and they don't do well. If you transplant them, they'll get really unhappy. So that's going to be like your carrots, your beets, radishes, onions, sunflowers, beans, squash, even peas. They really, really like to have that direct sow. And the seed packet is going to give you the information about direct. So versus so start as a transplant, the planting time, the depth and then the water and the light requirements as well.

Mikaela

There's a ton of information on that teeny tiny like 4 inch by 3 inch packet.

Rachel

Yes. There's so much information, it's unreal.

Mikaela

If you don't have like the original seed packet or maybe, you know, it got ripped apart or something and you can't read it, you can always search online for that variety and get the information from either the seed source itself or another source.

Rachel

Yeah. And even on our Home and Garden Information center website we have a generic list of different plants and what depth they require to be started, at the date range and when they should be started versus transplant or direct. So. And if you can do those again in the fall, so. So our Home and Garden Information center website has a lot of great information on seed starting as well.

Mikaela

Home and Garden Information center, ever heard of it? Do we not, do we mention it at least like five or six times every episode?

Rachel

That's probably.

Mikaela

Which brings us to potting media, which is something that is often undersold and under talked about I think because just like outdoors, how important soil is, your potting media is equally as important and sometimes nuanced. Depending on what you're doing. You're going to want to plant your seeds in a sterile potting media or mix. These mixes don't actually contain any actual soil, but they are blended to create an ideal environment for seed germination. And the mixes also provide a good balance of drainage and water holding capacity and they minimize hopefully problems with disease on some of the more vulnerable seedlings. And the reason that we don't use soil from the outdoors is because they often have microbes and bacteria that can kill seedlings. And I think we'll talk about damping off in a little bit, but that's a, that's a huge issue with seedlings. So these seed starting mixes usually contain a mix of peat moss or coir and vermiculite. Now, peat moss is a dead, fibrous material that forms when mosses and other living material decompose in peat bogs. So peat moss first became available to gardeners in the mid-1900s, and it's actually revolutionized the way we grow plants.

Mikaela

It has the remarkable ability to manage water efficiently and hold on to nutrients that would otherwise flow out of the soil. But most of the peat moss used in the United States comes from remote bogs in Canada. And there's a lot of considerable controversy surrounding the mining or the harvesting of peat moss and the use of it being that it's not as sustainable as a resource. So coir, on the other hand, is a very similar texture, fills a very similar role. But it comes from the husk of coconuts. So what makes up that fibrous material on the inner shell of the coconut? And it's used for all sorts of products, including rugs, ropes, brushes, upholstery stuffing. It makes a really good fiber, but you're probably most familiar with it as those stiff, scratchy doormats. So it can be very tough like that. But the coir that's used in potting mix is actually quite soft and kind of pliable. It's also very rot resistant, which means it's not going to mold, it's not going to kind of like decompose too quickly, which makes it perfect for outdoor products. And it's becoming more popular as a in potting mixes because of its more renewable resource characteristics.

Rachel

I love it. It's one of my favorite things to purchase when I'm buying seeds. I love that it comes in these tiny little disks or blocks, and then you just add water and it expands.

Mikaela

It reminds me of those. Do you guys remember those washcloths that came in, like, in like a pill form and then you put them in water and they expand? That's what those blocks remind me of.

Rachel

Yeah. And I. Not only do I use it for my seeds and my containers, but I also use it in my vermicomposting bin. My worms love it. It's great stuff.

Emily

That being said, we don't recommend reusing it for potting mix because, again, as Mikayla pointed out, you always want to put your seeds into a sterile environment. When your plants get a little bit bigger and they go outside, you can deal with compost and other stuff. But in this case, we want to start them out as babies in a very sterile environment, at least for their roots because they're so delicate. Right. When those roots start coming out.

Mikaela

That's a very good point, Emily. Thanks for reminding us. And so vermiculite is another really common thing you're going to find in these mixes. It's an aluminum iron, magnesium silicate. Say that 10 times fast. That resembles mica in appearance. So it has kind of like a shiny appearance to it. So for use in horticultural applications, vermiculite is heated to expand those particles and then the expansion enables it to absorb moisture when used as a potting medium. Because the idea is that when you're putting things in containers is that they dry out more quickly than if they were in the ground. Right. So you want particles or you want things in the potting media that hold on to the moisture. And vermiculite can soak up to three to four times its volume in water, which I did not know that. That's a new fact for me. And I'm floored by also will help attract plant nutrients such as potassium, magnesium, calcium and phosphorus. And then so the last thing I'll say is we're talking about potting mix and potting media. It's important to note when you're doing seeds, you should look for seeds starting media or potting mix.

Mikaela

And that's because it tends to be a finer grade. So it's really chopped up very finely because seeds that are small won't get lost in the seed mixture itself. So it's a little bit better to sow with as opposed to potting media which you, you can find everywhere for like container gardening. Those particles are a little bit coarser and they may contain other byproducts like pieces, chunks of wood or mulch and things like that. And they also have fertilizer pellets in them which whereas seed starting mix won't have any sort of fertilizer included in it. And that's, that's sort of important because seeds don't necessarily need it until they start getting bigger anyways.

Emily

So the next thing that you're going to need in order to start your transplants inside is a container to house that potting media and that seed. And the good news is is that you can use a wide variety of things for this. You can go traditional and get some store bought kind of four by four or six cell ones that you can find, can also find like tiny little store bought pots to start in. You can also get like the larger cells if you're going to do bulk seed starting. But you can also use repurposed food containers. So examples would be things like empty yogurt containers or I actually started a whole bunch of things in those K cup containers. I've been stealing them from our office and they work for things that I'm already anticipating having to pot up because they just don't have a lot of root space in them. So ideally you want something that's 2 inches deep in order to do this with your repurposed containers. And we recommend doing food containers for repurposed just because you know that they're food safe. Then if you are using a repurposed container, make sure to poke holes in the bottom of the container for drainage so your seeds do not get over watered.

Emily

And ideally you are looking to make about a 18 of an inch hole. You can also find the biodegradable pots, which are fine. I sometimes find that I don't like them as much as I just like using other containers and taking my plants out. If you do do biodegradable pots, I recommend when you go to plant them outside, you rip the bias or the bottom off. Because sometimes I find biodegradable pots don't biodegrade very fast in my garden. I also have used things like toilet paper rolls up on top, which I actually have found to be super useful. I like them more than the biodegradable pots. I also don't really like using the egg carton containers because it's that thicker cardboard. I prefer to put those in my compost bin and just use either plastic pots that I can reuse over and over again, or reusing or repurpose food containers or use toilet paper rolls.

Mikaela

And I know lots of people actually buy. What is it? It's like a wooden dowel and they make their own pots out of newspaper. It's like a whole. A whole thing.

Emily

Yeah. That's really cool. I tried doing that once and I. They worked a little bit. I don't think I folded them quite well enough.

Mikaela

Oh, like it didn't press enough.

Emily

Yeah, yeah. But I like the idea of it. I might try it again this year as well. So if you are going to reuse old pots, which I tend to do a lot of, you'd want to wash them out to get all the debris. And then. So the next important thing that we're going to need, if we talk about plants, we know that plants need lights. Yes. So ideally, once your seedlings start to emerge, you're going to want to place the pots in a bright location. Now, most people will ask us, hey, will a Sunny window work, and it will in a pinch, if you have to. But in all honesty, a lot of times you, especially at this time of year, you, one, don't get enough light coming from a sunny window. And two, because of the way that the window is situated, the plants closest to it will get more light than the plants farther from it. And what will happen is those plants will tend to grow tall and start leaning into that sunlight. So you'll get kind of leggy, weak seedlings. So if you can, I recommend some lights. The nice thing about having lights rather than a window is that you can control where they are.

Emily

And every plant can get a consistent light because you're basically putting that light overhead of them. So fluorescent lights are the preferred bulbs to use over incandescent. Incandescent bulbs tend to give off more heat and less quality light. So chlorophyll, so the green pigment in plant absorbs the most amount of energy in that blue, violet, and that orange, red wavelength. So when you're looking at iridescent bulbs, they tend to give off a lot of the red light and heat versus the fluorescent bulbs tend to give off more of a balance between the red and the blue. You can also buy the grow lights that will have red and blue bulbs in them. Those are the ones that I prefer to use because I'm not bulk making transplants. But that being said, I also know that if you're doing a big shelf of them, the grow lights tend to be more expensive. And ideally, what you want to do is have these suspended about an inch and a half to two inches above the top of your plants. As your plants grow, you want to raise that light up so that it stays that same height from it.

Emily

If your plants get too hot to it, the light quality, quality actually decreases. So that height is really important to make sure that you're going to get good transplants.

Mikaela

I would say that you want to tend to grow things that will be of a similar height. It's hard to grow things that grow at different rates. Or. Or you'll have something that's really tall and something that's really short because it'll make it hard to suspend the lights over both of them. You know, you're like, you'll have to tip the light or something like that.

Emily

Yeah, yeah.

Rachel

I like to keep all of my trays in the same species, I guess.

Mikaela

Yes.

Rachel

And that helps as well. Like, I only want to put tomatoes in a tray, and then I only want to do peppers. Now what that means is that you might wind up with 50 tomato plants.

Mikaela

Right.

Emily

That just means you have some to give to friends.

Rachel

Exactly. Or you have 50 tomato plants and you don't have to plant. I always have to remind myself I don't have to plant every single cell.

Mikaela

Yeah, you do.

Rachel

I can't. I don't.

Mikaela

You absolutely do.

Emily

Rachel, you have been transplanting for years, so you're probably more successful at this. I over plant because I always feel like through the process of this, I end up killing at least 25% of my transplants. Whether I forget to water, I over water, I forget to rotate them to light, I end up killing a certain percentage of my transplants. So always plant a few more than what you actually think you're gonna need.

Rachel

Yes, that is true. I mean, and everything is different when you're starting transplants too. Like some things I'll add like two or three seeds to a cell. And some things I only add one seed because I don't want to throw thin that plant. I don't like thinning anyway, so, like, I have a hard time doing that.

Mikaela

And I know you mentioned this a little bit earlier, Emily, but you talked about using like six cell containers. Those are, are great for like an average homeowner, but I would not plant like a 32 or what is it, 64 cell with like all of the same plant. Otherwise you're going to be way overwhelmed. And I think that's where you also can get yourself into trouble. If you mix species in those like 32 or 64 cell flats, that's where the height disparity is going to be a real issue. You can't move them around, right?

Emily

Yeah, I pretty much only ever reuse my 6 cell ones and or yogurt containers. Or I actually like the red flip cup cups. Like I drill holes in those and you can put a whole bunch of them in the aluminum turkey pans.

Mikaela

Now, like, I know a lot of people who use the washed out yogurt containers, but the Tetris millennial in me cannot handle round things next to each other. I need like all of the space to be used. So I usually have to use the rectangular or square pots.

Rachel

Yes, I am the same way. I can't handle it. I need square things with square things and round things to be with round things. And that's just how it is in my life. And it all has to fit properly.

Mikaela

So now that we have gone over some of what you need to get started with seeds, we're going to discuss some common questions that people have and some tips that will hopefully help you be successful. And actually, a lot of this comes from our own trial and error. So we always like to say learn from our mistakes.

Emily

So many mistakes.

Mikaela

So many mistakes.

Emily

But that's okay, because here's the thing. If at the end of the day, your transplants fail, you can go to the store and you can buy some generic type and you can still garden this year.

Mikaela

Right? And you know what, you can just say, this is in the name of research and science. So if you kill your plants, it's science.

Emily

Plus, these are very tiny, very delicate plants. They are very easy to kill.

Mikaela

Right. All right, Rachel, how do we plan?

Emily

It's supposed to be how do we plant?

Rachel

I was gonna talk about planning.

Emily

Rachel's getting ready to pull out the color chart to tell you how to plan your transplants, which you sort of almost have to. Yeah, there's a balancing act if you're doing multiple species here.

Mikaela

I mean, planning when you're talking about starting seeds is very appropriate because often you need to like almost calendar it out.

Rachel

Y I have a master gardener, always says the seven Ps proper planning and preparation prevent piss poor performance. So when you plant, you have to have a plan. All right, we're not going to start carrot seeds in the garden the same time as we throw tomato seeds. You really have to look at the back of those seed packets and, and see which ones need to be planted when and which ones want to be direct sown or started inside. So when you plant really depends on the varieties that you want to plant. So the goal with seed starting is to have your seedlings ready to go outside when the weather is favorable. That could be different for cold weather crops or your warm season crops or your flowers. So you really have to know what the back of that seed packet says, and that's going to tell you when to start them inside. It will usually say something like plant inside six to eight weeks before the last frost. So you can go on your USDA hardiness zone map and kind of figure that out. You can even type in your zip code and it's going to tell you when your 10% frost free date is.

Rachel

Or is it 90% Michaela? 90%, 90% frost free date. And for us in Maryland, that's usually May and it can depend on where you're located in the state of Maryland. So some of us along the Chesapeake Bay are. Our frost free date may be the end of April now, but if you're in Garrett county or Allegheny county, you might be mid May or Memorial Day, May. So you really have to figure out when your frost free date is going to be for the warm season plants. If you're growing cold crops, that could be a totally different thing.

Mikaela

I don't know if you guys use this tool, but the National Gardening association has an app or a tool where you can put in for your frost free date, depending on your.

Rachel

Yeah, that's the one I use.

Mikaela

That's my favorite one. And it, and like I think like you said, it gives a chart and it gives you the probability, so it's percentages of the likelihood of having a frost free date by certain dates and it gives you different temperatures that you can look in that chart. So like for Easton, there's a 90 chance that we will have a frost free date by April 27th. So I usually say like the end of April is pretty safe, but there's still a 10% chance that it could go, you know, below that freezing point. And the same thing with the fall, it'll give you the fall probability of first frost dates.

Rachel

Yeah, I love that one.

Emily

Cool. We will link to that in the show. Notes.

Rachel

Most seeds are going to take five to 10 days to germinate based on the plant and the growing temperature. So that goes into planting as well. If you think you're going to put it in the ground the first week of May and it takes 6 to 8 weeks to grow, you need to calculate 5 to 10 days germination rate in that as well. Cold weather crops and eggplants usually take about eight weeks to be ready to go outside and they need 70 degrees to germinate. Tomatoes take about six weeks and they need about 80 degrees to germinate. So I have found that with peppers, if you don't have a seed starting mat, they're going to take a long time to germinate. So they can take about two to three weeks to germinate. If you have a seed heat mat, then they're going to germinate faster. But they like to be at a consistent 80 degrees. So if you're going to grow peppers and you want to start them by seed, you need to make sure that you're starting your seed anytime between Valentine's Day and March 1st. Now if you started a little bit later, those peppers are going to be smaller when you put them in the ground in May.

Rachel

Squash, cucumbers, they are one of those things that I like to direct seed because they do really, really well with that and they need their soil to be pretty warm at about a consistent 80 degrees. You can start them as transplants, too. That's really easy. And you want to start them four weeks ahead of when you want to plant them.

Mikaela

All right? So a common mistake is to sow seeds too early because we all get excited and want to start it immediately. And they're selling seeds earlier and earlier every year. You know what I mean, guys? Like, I'm getting the catalogs before Christmas now, now. So it's almost like they're trying to get you to sow them too early and then trying to hold those seedlings back under light that is artificial so it's not sunlight, and trying to keep that temperature appropriate for those plants as well that are still really tender. And this can really result in tall, weak, spindly looking plants that don't do very well in the garden. So it's better to start a little bit later, even if you think it might be too late. And then it's better to replant those transplants into a bigger container in order to hold the seedlings of a proper size, because otherwise you're trying to make those roots grow into a very tiny little space and they might not be so happy. I don't know if we talk about hardening off, but that's another really annoying task is when the weather starts to get kind of like warm and so they can go out during the day, but then you got to bring them in at night so they don't die.

Mikaela

It's super annoying. You don't want to start that process too early because it's, it's like watching babies.

Rachel

And that's where your frost date really comes into play. So if, you know, your frost free date could be, you know, April 27th. So then not only do you have to keep track of when you're starting seeds and when you need to transplant them, but it's also, hey, when do I need to start hardening these transplants off so that they're ready to go in the ground outside with variable temperatures? So they're not going to, you know, decide that they don't like to be alive anymore because they're too in shock for the colder nights. So that's usually, for me, that's usually about two weeks before I know I'm going to transplant them. And I'll start moving them out for a couple of hours on the first day in indirect light, and then I'll move them back inside. And then I just keep increasing the time and the length and the sunlight. So, you know, the second day they might be outside for three or four hours and I'll move them a little bit towards the sun so they can get used to all of those elements.

Mikaela

Elements outside, they're so needy.

Rachel

They are needy.

Emily

Okay, so our next tip for planting is to make sure that you get your seeds at the right depth. So again, you're going to want to check that seed label to see what depth they should be planted at. And be careful not to plant them any deeper than it's suggested. A rule of thumb is to plant the seeds two to three times as deep as the seed is wide. If you sow your seeds too deeply, they won't have enough energy stored in them in order to break through to the surface. Always plant a few extra seeds and thin down, especially if you're using older seeds. So if your seeds are from 2023 or 2024, you can also do a germination test to test on them.

Rachel

So generally our seeds germinate best at a temperature between 65 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit. Fahrenheit. This should be the temperature of the growing media, not the air. And before you plant, bring potting mix inside a day or two beforehand so that it warms up to room temperature. I also like to wet my seed starting mix with warm water. Not scalding hot water, but warm water so that it has a warmer temperature as well. Your seed starting mix needs to be moist. So you're going to place your dry growing media into a bucket or a tub and you're going to pour lukewarm water in slowly and mix it into the growing media. This is where a trowel or a little handy shovel works really, really well. And it should be moist as a wrung out sponge. It shouldn't be stopping. Wet water sprinkled on the top of the dry soilless media will bend up and fail to soak in. So you really gotta mix it in there. And get your hands dirty.

Mikaela

Get your hands dirty. It's the best part.

Rachel

Get your hands dirty.

Mikaela

Watering is hard. That's if you take away anything. Is that it? There is no like, like equation to perfectly nail the watering. You want your potting media to be damp enough, but not soaking wet, just like Rachel said. But it's really hard to keep it at that perfect moisture level. And what I recommend is when you do go to water your seedlings or your pots, try to water from the bottom because that soil media will, will actually soak it up. Remember when we had really long jeans and you went for a walk through the puddles and the jeans soaked it all the Way up your legs. That's exactly what the soil does in these pots. So if you water them from the bottom, it will wick it up to where it needs to be. So if you water from the top, like with a watering can, it tends to sometimes even wash them out or displace them. And so that's why we recommend doing it from the bottom up. But just make sure that it's not sitting in standing water. So you don't want it sitting in a tray full of water all the time.

Mikaela

Otherwise, that's too much. Okay. Too much. And after planting and sowing, you want to set those containers in a warm location. So you can do this on top of the refrigerator or on top of a radiator, as long as it's not too hot. Those are usually pretty good spots. And you want to check your pots every day for signs of growth or signs of drying out as well. Sometimes if you put them in these warmer locations, the soil media dries out a little bit quickly. So seedling heat mats are available to purchase. They can help speed up germination and stimulate that root growth by keeping the soil temperature consistent at about 70 to 75 degrees. You don't have to have this, however, but some of the warmer season crops, especially tomatoes and peppers and eggplants, they like to have a warmer soil. I don't know if you guys mentioned this already. Sometimes putting a little fan up can also help keep, like, fungus gnats away, which can be a really big problem. When there's no airflow and you're trying to keep the soil media, you know, moist enough, they will actually, like, start to kind of populate your pods.

Mikaela

And so keeping a little fan helps keep them away. It also helps give them simulated wind so that they can grow stronger stems. I know that sounds kind of crazy, but it makes sense. Okay, it does.

Rachel

And they need it, too.

Mikaela

They need. They need a little airflow. And that also helps prevent any, like, fungal or algal issues on the. On the soil surface. Sometimes you will see a little bit of algae. It's not harmful to the plants, but it might be an indicator that things are too wet.

Emily

Yes. So as soon as your seedlings emerge again, you want to move them into that brush bright light. So preferably under a grow light. But if you must, a southern facing window that gets sunlight can also work. You want to make sure that even underneath the grow light that you are rotating the pots or the cells that they're in in order to keep the plants from leaning any one way. This is Very important, especially with the window because of their leaningness. But even if you're overhead, the ones on the outside might start leaning inward and the ones on the inside might start leaning a different way. So go, go ahead and rotate them a little just so that they get to see some new scenery and that they're kind of being exposed to different elements within your house. You do want to set that light on a timer for about 15 hours a day. And this might seem counterintuitive because a lot of us think like plants need light, more light equals healthier plants. But those plants, because they're so young and even our normal full hardy plants do need some nighttime hours. So I tend to say 15 hours of light and then when I go to bed, I turn it off.

Emily

Now, transplants themselves actually like a slightly cooler temperature. So think mid to high 60s into the mid-70s is ideal for them. So keep them preferably in a cooler room in your house or not right next to a heat vent. You want it that warmth in order to get that seed to germinate. But high temperature, once they are actual seedlings will dry up that grow medium faster and then potentially you'll end up killing your, your transplants because of lack of water.

Rachel

Once your seedlings have two sets of leaves, it's time to thin. You want one seedling per pot, so you choose the healthiest, strongest looking seedling to keep. Snip the other seedlings off at the soil line with a pair of scissors and discard them. This is the hardest thing to do, but even if you try to pop those seedlings out and transplant them, they're not going to live. It is better to thin and have one really strong plant than have five weak plants. So after you've set up the best environment for your seedlings, you're going to start fertilizing them weekly and you're going to use a half strength fertilizer. Once your seedlings have about one or two sets of leaves, organic fertilizers are a good choice since they provide a range of nutrients, including micronutrients. So some things can cause poor germination like damping off of a transplant. And this is typical. And it's due to the potting media being too wet and infected plants should be pulled up immediately because you don't want that to spread to your other plants. So to help deter dampening off, you're going to water less often and avoid watering overhead.

Rachel

You want to water at the root zone.

: Rain sound. It's the Native Plant of the Month with Mikaela. Rain sound: 

Mikaela

Does that mean it's time for native plant of the month.

Emily

It's time for native plant of the month.

Mikaela

I'm actually kind of excited about this one. This is a very overlooked native in the natural landscape. Smooth alder or alnus cerulata. Smooth alder is also called hazel alder because the leaves bear a very strong resemblance to witch hazel and they do look very similar. But I can tell you some ways that we're going to tell these apart. So this is actually a small deciduous tree. One could argue it's also a large shrub somewhere in the middle of that. And it's going to be about 10 to 15ft tall. It is a denizen of bogs, wetlands, stream beds and other wet areas. So it belongs to the birch family, which means it supports a high number of caterpillar species and is considered a great wildlife food. Food source. It's a very tough native species, by the way. It can withstand some really harsh environments, including flooding, heat and humidity, wet, acidic. I mean, the list kind of goes on. The only thing it really doesn't tolerate is being super dry or super sandy. Fun facts. This plant supports the harvester butterfly larva. It's a carnivorous caterpillar and it eats the aphids commonly found in the alders.

Mikaela

And the adult butterfly does not sip nectar from flowers, but they will feed on the aphid honeydew. I know, isn't this like it's fascinating in the plant itself. The alder is also a nitrogen fixing plant which helps it to thrive in some of these lower fertility environments, so it makes its own nitrogen. More fun facts. Tiger swallowtail, white admiral, Green comma and mourning cloak also rely on alders as a larval food source. So those are all butterflies. And those are all kind of amazing, cool looking butterflies as well. So starting in early spring, sometimes even February here in Maryland, these trees will bear separate male and female flowers that can be found on the same plant. So they have separate flowers, but they're on the same plant. And the flowers are called catkins. And they look kind of like, I don't even know how to describe them. They're dangly. They look like dangly earrings. And the male catkins will appear yellow brown in the early spring. And those are the ones we see kind of come out first. And then the female catkins or the female flowers bloom later and they are red. And the female flowers will continue to develop into small fruiting cones.

Mikaela

So they look like teeny, tiny pine cones that persist on the plant through the following winter. So the little like cone looking things that you would see on the plants right now were from last year's flowers. And birds are noted to feed on these pollen rich catkins as an early spring food source. And this includes goldfinches and grouse. And this is a great plant for wet areas that receive full to part sun. And it can tolerate both clay and acidic soil. It also has a tolerance for temperatures from zone 4a to 9b. So it has a very wide growing range. And its natural habitat spans most of the eastern part of the United States and into Canada. There are a few drawbacks and I can think of two in particular. One is a susceptibility to canker, so it's an actual disease that it gets on the bark itself. And then the second is the deer will snack on tender branches if given a chance. So it is very susceptible to deer browsing as well. But other than that, this is an amazing find. It's always one that brings me joy. When I see those teeny tiny cones, they make me think like they belong to fairies or something.

Mikaela

And actually they're great to collect and use as decor for like Christmas time. So sometimes Fletcher and I will build fairy houses with the little tiny cones. Anyways, that's my pick of the month.

Rachel

I love it.

Mikaela

It's not a flashy or a fancy looking plant, but it just fills so many cool ecological roles out in the environment.

Rachel

Now would this be an alternative to river birch in our.

Mikaela

Good question. Yes, it would grow in very similar environments, but it doesn't get as big. It doesn't have as interesting of bark. But I really like the little, the little cones that they make. So I. They're interesting in a different way. But you're correct, birch will also like river birch will produce catkins as flowers as well.

Rachel

Yeah.

: buzzing noise. What's Buzzing, It's the Bug of the Month with Emily. Buzzing noise:

Mikaela

Hey Emily, what's the bug of the month?

Emily

What's the bug of the month? So Michaela and I were of two minds combined in that like my happens to feed on her native plant of the month. And she sort of already mentioned the bug of the month. But I just think it goes to show how amazing we are and how very few things that are out in March because there's only a handful of bugs that are out in March and I didn't want to do a pest bug this month. So my bug of the month is a very cool bug. It is the morning cloak butterfly, also known as Nymphaeus anto opea. And this is kind of a unique butterfly in that it's pretty much the first butterfly that most of us in the northern part of the Continental United States will see as a sign of spring. And what's unique about it is that it actually overwinters as an adult butterfly. So it doesn't have to go through a pupation once it gets warmed up. Once it gets warmed up, it sort of triggers it to come out of hibernation and it starts flying around.

Mikaela

That's amazing.

Emily

Actually it is. So it is a member of the brush foot family, Nymphadea. All insects have six legs, but in this case their front pair is really reduced and they're super teeny tiny. So if you just looked at it, you'd say this butterfly only has four pairs of legs. But if you looked very closely, you'd find a reduced front front pair. And they're often hairy or brush like, hence the name brush footed butterfly. So its common name, morning cloak, comes from its dark coloration that resembles kind of traditional morning wear. And I found several different sites with several different stories behind this. But basically the story is, is that this butterfly reminds people of young ladies that oftentimes would have to wear drab clothes for mourning but would want pops of color. So, so the idea since it's brown and like drabby looking, but with bright pops around the edges, is it made people think of these girls that would sort of wear their brightly colored clothes underneath their morning dresses and you'd see just those pops of color, which is.

Mikaela

A, is a good time to mention because I didn't even think about it till you just said that. Hearing the word morning, it's not like early in the morning, it's not the time of day, it's morning. As in like. Yeah, you're grieving over the dead.

Emily

Yeah. Then it's cloak, like what you wear. So yeah, it's a morning cloak butterfly. So this butterfly is found in most northern parts of the world, actually globally. So you find it in northern areas of North America and then it is also found in the northern regions across Europe and Asia. And it gets its name because the dark colors are reminiscent of that traditional shroud of morning or grieving. It's got a wingspan of up to 4 inches and it's got this very velvety kind of texture, but it's a dark reddy brown rust kind of color. And it can look a little black sometimes in the light. It's got yellow edges with bright blue spots along the margins. So around here you typically would find it basking in kind of open woodland areas and, or you'll find it in meadow, but then it'll flutter back in and out of the woods. So another unique thing about it is this one doesn't really like flower nectar. This is a butterfly that prefers to feed on things like tree SAP, rotting fruit, dung and mud. There's not a lot of flowers that are available this early in the springtime, so that kind of makes sense.

Emily

The females are known to have multiple broods, generations, and they do this unique thing where they lay their eggs in ring clusters around twigs of their host plants. And this is early enough that it's before the leaf spud out. So they're not laying single eggs on leaves, but rather in like a ring around the twig, which is really kind of cool looking. Now if this butterfly isn't cool enough, the caterpillar is very neat looking. It's also known as a split elm caterpillar, so I recommend looking it up. But they are black with white speckles and then they have orange and red prolegs and then they've got eight orangey red spots that come down the center and then lots of numerous long spiny branches that come off of them. So this is not one of our venomous caterpillars, but it definitely does not look appetizing to eat and full grown. So in that last instar before it pupates, it's about 2 inches in length. So it's a good sized caterpillar. The caterpillars will feed on a wide variety of leaves, including willow, which happens to be their favorite. But they'll also feed on elms, poplars, aspens, birch, huckberry, wild rose, hawthorns and others, including, including our native plant of the month, alders.

Mikaela

I don't know if it's any correlation but like willows are one of the first things to bloom in the spring, like as early as March and February. So maybe there's something to that, like early blooming or leafing out trees. I don't know. It's interesting.

Emily

Well, I guess it makes sense. Like if you want your young to have something to eat, you're going to put them on the things they're going to make leaves first.

Mikaela

The caterpillar is so cool.

Emily

Aren't they cool looking? They're so neat.

Mikaela

They look like they belong in our stinging caterpillars episode. No, no joke. It's like, in fact, I would probably avoid touching this thinking it was a stinging caterpillar. Yeah, it looks thorny.

Emily

So on top of that they also have the tendency to build the communal silk webs the same way your fall webworms and your eastern tent caterpillars will but again, they tend to feed more on these trees that we find out in more native habitats. People, people tend not to associate them as much as we do with the other two pest species. They tend to be a little bit more sporadic, so they will defoliate an entire branch. But just like with fall webworms and eastern tent caterpillars, you don't really need to control for them if you happen to find them. One thing that these guys can do is that they can engage in sibicide, meaning that newly hatched caterpillars will turn around and eat their non hatched siblings. So they like to feed together as groups. But man, if you're one of the late bloomer caterpillars, you might get eaten by your sibling first. So the pupae are a little shy of about an inch, and they tend to be tan to gray, and they tend to have like a spiky structure to them, and they just tend to pupate like on a branch of a tree someplace.

Emily

So these guys aren't pupating down in the soil. They do hibernate through the winter as adults underneath bark and in small crevices. And then they'll emerge sometime in March or April in which they'll mate. And another fun fact is that they go through an estavet for the summer, which means they go dormant and hibernate in the summer, which Michaela wishes she could do.

Mikaela

Absolutely.

Emily

One of their many insects that we resonate with. Yeah, these guys do not like the heat.

Mikaela

So estivate. I've never heard that term before. I love it.

Emily

I had to look it up.

Mikaela

This is my word of the year.

Rachel

We're all gonna do this in July.

Emily

Yeah. So that's my bug of the month. I know we haven't had them for a while, so I felt like I had to do a good one. And I really liked this one. This is a pretty butterfly.

Mikaela

Emily blew my mind this month. Not gonna lie. This is amazing.

Emily

And I think it is funny that we managed to pair up. So it's perfect.

Music : Get you Garden Tip Here with Rachel: Music

Rachel

All right, let's talk about our garden tips of the month. So we have had a pretty cold winter. So if you have broadleaf evergreens, you might see signs of leaf scorch symptoms. And these are instead of a normal green color, they will be gray, yellow, blue, purple, brown, or bronzed leaves or needles. And the damage is most severe on shallow rooted plants such as azalea, rhododendron, holly, cherry, laurel, boxwood, or those at their northern limit of winter hardiness. So think Magnolia grandifloria aucuba, japonica, camellia, and others. In these cases, damage occurs during the winter months, but the symptoms are not going to appear until the spring when the plant begins to emerge from their winter dormant period and move into a spring growth phase. The causes of winter color can include low temperatures and drought stress. We already know that we've had drought stress because we were in a drought going into the fall and we've had some very, very cold temperatures in January and February and often these foliage colors will revert back to normal. When springtime temperatures return to normal, the ground can be worked and you can dig in that layer of well aged manured compost, mushroom soil or leaf debris to improve your soil texture and fertility.

Rachel

Consider leaving old perennial flower stalks standing in the garden or cutting them down to varying heights between 8 to 24 inches and these stand stems provide nesting sites for native bees who pollinate our plants. If you had a scale outbreak at any point last year on any of your trees or your shrubs, now would be a great time to check them and to treat them with a dormant rate of horticultural oil to control any overwintering scales. And be sure that the temperatures are expected to remain above above freezing for about a 24 hour period after spraying. Even though these products are low risk, you always need to read the label and follow the instructions and wear your personal protective equipment. Eastern tent caterpillar eggs will begin hatching this month. You can rip open any nest you find for the birds to feed on, but control is unnecessary right now. A spring application of fertilizer should not be necessary in your lawn if it was fertilized in the fall. March is considered the second best time to seed your lawn, to make any repairs or to repair bare areas. The best time is typically late August through mid October, and seeding needs to be completed by April.

Rachel

Cut back any of last year's perennial herb plants like oregano, thyme and merandrum. Leave rosemary and lavender unpruned. You're gonna really, really hurt their feelings. If you try to prune rosemary and lavender, the plants will look better and have room for more growth and this will also help reduce insect or disease problems and especially with your time. If you're going to prune it, go ahead and start up some rooting for plants to give away to your family and friends. That's a great use of your time.

Mikaela

That was good, Rachel. I almost missed it.

Rachel

Apply water around the base of your seedlings when planting that contains a soluble fertilizer. This will help your roots grow nice and strong. And since we're still in March, it is the perfect time to sow seeds of spinach, lettuce, arugula, salad greens in your cold frames or even if your vegetable beds under a floating row cover. You can even do some microgreens of like broccoli rub or beets. You're going to harden off leeks or shallots or onions in a cold frame or set them on a porch in a protected area for a few hours each day at first before bringing them in at dusk and then gradually working your way up to that eight hour a day. And do this for a week or 10 days before you transplant them out in your garden.

Rachel

I'm pretty sure we say this every single March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October. It's the perfect time to do a soil test and look at those results and amend your soil accordingly. Some may say that you need to add lime or other nutrients and you can always consult with your extension professional to help. We also have a link on our Home and Garden Information center for soil test labs in your area.

Emily

Awesome. It's always a good time for a soil test.

Rachel

Who doesn't love a soil test? Well, that's all we have for this episode listener. We hope you enjoy it and will tune in next month for more gardening tips. If you have any garden related questions questions, please email us@umegardenpodcastmail.com or look us up on Facebook. Gardentime podcast that's Garden T H Y M E For more information about the University of Maryland Extension and these topics, please check out the University of Maryland Extension Home and Garden Information center website at Go hgic. Thanks for listening and have fun getting down and dirty in your garden.

Everyone

Goodbye 

Mikaela 

The Garden Thyme Podcast is a monthly podcast brought to you by the University of Maryland Extension. Mikaela Boley, Principal agent associate for Talbot County. Rachel Rhodes, senior agent associate for Queen Anne County, and Emily Zobel, senior agent associate for Dorchester County.

 Emily

Programs, activities and facilities are available to all without regards to race, color, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, marital status, age, national origin, political affiliation, physical or mental disability, religion protected, veteran status, genetic information, personal appearance, or any other legally protected classroom.

: Upbeat Music

Mikaela

What we did not include in our tips is talking to them and giving them lots of encouragement in verbal confirmation that they're doing great.

Rachel

I just said to Lee  that we needed to play music for our pepper seedlings.

Emily

Yeah, I do the opposite. I degrade mine and tell them they're worthless so they grow up strong and healthy.

Mikaela

Wow. Wow Emily.

Emily

This is why I don't have children of my own. I'm gonna cut that bit out because that makes me sound like a horrible person.