If you’re new to starting seeds indoors, the huge supply list and supposed “rules” for good growing can be a little intimidating.
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Today I’m going to show you my best seed starting setup, my favorite tools and boil it down to the basics—the things you ABSOLUTELY need, the things that are NICE TO HAVE and things that everyone tells you need, but you don’t really need for a cheap DIY seed starting setup.
Let’s start with the obvious one. You need seeds. Sorry guys, can’t get around this one!
If you’ve come this far in your gardening journey, you’ve graduated from buying plant starts of unknown varieties from unknown companies, and you want a little bit more control over your garden.
Buying seeds allows you to pick the flavor, color, disease resistance, and planting time, not to mention it saves A LOT of money.
I try to grow using organic seed as much as possible, so my favorite herb and vegetable seed companies are High Mowing Seeds, Territorial Seed, Johnny’s Seeds, Botanical Interests and Stark Bro’s for potato seeds, garlic seeds and sweet potato slips. You can always get seeds at your local garden supply center, home improvement store, or even Amazon or a dollar store.
Of course I have my favorite seeds (doesn’t everyone?), but I am ALWAYS looking for new varieties to try. If you got an awesome one, let us all know about it in the comments, along with your zone or climate.
Speaking of seeds, Here’s one thing you DON’T need. You do not need a fancy seed organizer for your seed packets. You don’t even need ANY kind of organizer. You can throw all your seed packets in a drawer like I did starting out. That being said, something portable and categorized is a nice thing to have. There’s a lot of options if you want to upgrade here.
Check out my seed organizer video where I go over all the ways, including mason seed jars, seed shoe boxes, seed binders, seed photo boxes, and a tutorial on how to make what I’m currently using, a customizable plastic lidded box with dividers.
Vegetable garden planners are something that never gets mentioned in seed starting supply lists and I think that’s a real oversight. I know when I was first starting out, just the sheer amount of data was overwhelming. Gardening is a long-term project, so you really need SOME kind of plan.
It could be a sheet of paper or a notebook, with a simple list of varieties, locations and dates, or a sketch of your yard with the plants marked. There’s some nice printable garden planners and garden journals out there.
You could go with a virtual garden planner. In the past, I’ve used Google calendar and task apps like Todoist for planning my garden tasks.
If you guys have seen my garden planning video you’ll know I’ve since upgraded to a spreadsheet to plan my garden. (Let me go get my nerd glasses!) For me, that took the best of both worlds of the virtual and the paper. It was easily editable and sortable and I could link to websites like a digital planner, but I had the ability to track more custom plant data like harvest quantities, and transplant dates, like I would have had on paper.
If you are a fellow nerd, download this garden spreadsheet and customize it for your own garden.
So, you got your seeds and seed starting plan. Do you need a seed starting kit? No. You CAN make your own, BUT if this is your first year starting seeds, kits are a really great way to limit a lot of stress and guesswork. That’s how I got my start. Jiffy and Burpee both make popular seed starting kits.
AND, not sure how long I’m going to do this, but for a limited time, I’m also offering the kit I use, a heavy duty metal seed germination kit for sale. It consists of a galvanized steel soil blocker and stainless steel trays, which I’ve had A LOT of people asking me about. They’re zero-waste and completely indestructible. I put this system together myself and it’s not sold anywhere, so I finally figured I’d offer it to you guys to see if there’s some interest. I just cannot be the only person who is tired of disposable plastic in the garden!
Do you need seed pots? Technically no. One of the oldest ways to do winter sowing indoors is to plant seeds directly into wooden trays. Gardeners would sow in flats, just like they would in the garden and then simply transplant the seedlings when they grew old enough. If you’re short on pots or you’re doing microgreens, I definitely recommend giving this method a try.
That being said, I prefer separating my plants. They’re quicker to transplant and there’s less shock to the roots since you’re not disturbing the soil to dig them up.
There are a million and one ways to separate your seedlings. You can go DIY with disposable seed starter cups, yogurt cups or start seeds in egg cartons.
Plastic plug trays come in different sizes—128-cell, 72-cell, and 50-cell—and fit industry standard trays. Silicone seed starting trays like those from Sili-Seedlings or Back Porch Pots are food-grade and flexible and usually come in cool colors. There are biodegradable seed starter pots like newspaper plant pots, paper pots, peat pots, Jiffy pots and Jiffy strips, and you can even start seeds in toilet paper rolls.
If you’ve seen my hori hori and soil blocker video, you’ll know I love my soil blocker, probably the ultimate in eco-friendliness, because there is no container at all. The soil is the container. This tool is a one-time investment, and you don’t have seed starter pots to store or sanitize. Not only is there hardly any transplant shock since the roots are air-pruned, but the seedlings are still separated. So, the eco-friendly and low-cost upside of being container-less without the root shock drawbacks of sowing in flats.
So, on this supply item, I would say no, you do not actually need seed starting pots, but having some way to separate, like a soil blocker or individual pots is nice.
If you got your seed pots or soil blocks, you’ll notice one important thing about them—they leak. Now drainage holes are a good thing for the plant—you don’t want root rot. This is NOT so good for your living room.
Unless you’re starting seeds in a greenhouse or some other place where you don’t care where the water goes, you DO need some sort of tray to catch all the water that’s going to drain from the seedlings.
And in fact, I highly recommend bottom-watering seedlings, which is putting water in the bottom of the tray and allowing the plants to soak it up. This is where having a tray is indispensable.
Good news is that you can go with DIY seed trays here. You can use an old cookie sheet, baking pan, or bin.
A lot of farmers and gardeners use a plastic seed starter tray called a tray, which fits plug tray inserts. I’ve used these and I’m really not a fan. They’re hard to clean, they’re flimsy, they discolor, they crack, they can even melt or warp depending on how hot your climate or greenhouse is, and they add more plastic to the world.
If you want to stick around to my next post, I’m going to go super in-depth with the complete metal seed tray system I use which I LOVE.
It uses heavy-duty stainless steel restaurant trays that are zero-waste and recyclable.
So, seed starting mix. You DO need SOMETHING to put your seeds in. But this is one of those items that there is a lot of disagreement over between even experienced farmers and gardeners. Kind of like how you should make grilled cheese—with margarine, butter, oil, or mayonnaise.
Mayonnaise! Of course!
My advice would be to not overthink this. Seeds are not delicate beings here. A good seed starting soil has three features. It’s sterile, meaning no fungus, bacteria or weed seeds. It’s finely textured. And it holds water well. Because I try to keep my garden organic, I add a fourth one, that it’s organic. Almost anything out of a bag can qualify for these.
Myself, I have always had great luck with making soil blocks and seeding in an organic potting mix I get from my local home improvement store. A lot of us already have potting mix in the house, so bam, you’re done.
There are specialized soil mixes for seed starting if you’d like. Jiffy, Back to the Roots, and Espoma are popular brands.
High Mowing Seeds, where I buy most of my seeds, sells a compost they start all their seedlings in.
Two things I will tell you not to use is anything labeled “soil” or “topsoil”—it’s just too heavy, coarsely textured, and lacking in nutrients. And don’t use anything from your garden or compost pile, since it won’t be sterile.
Can you try to memorize what you planted? I guess… But I can tell you that I have tried to do this and I hated my life. Also it was very hard to track how my plants did when I didn’t know for sure what variety I was harvesting or eating. So don’t be like young Paduan April and PLEASE label your plants, someway, somehow.
Yes, you NEED some type of garden plant markers.
There’s a lot of cheap DIY plant marker options out there like popsicle stick garden labels and stone plant markers. For a couple years, I made plastic plant tags out of old cut up mini-blinds which I wrote on using a Sharpie. You can cut up big yogurt containers the same way, too. If you want to get fancy, you can buy wooden plant labels, metal plant tags, copper, or even ceramic. And if you’re using silicone seed starting pots, you can actually write on the side with a dry-erase marker.
I used to write the varieties on the side of my stainless steel seed trays with a washable crayon, but found that didn’t actually wash off too well when it sat for months and months.So, I finally settled on a two-part system. On my trays, I put a piece of masking tape on the side and write the varieties in each row.
When I transplant them, I make a clear label with my labelmaker, put the crop, variety and seeding date, and then put that on a galvanized steel marker that I can reuse again and again every year. Amazingly, I have labels for perennials that have been in my garden for years and still look like the day I made them.
Admittedly these are a little fancy, but hey, we work hard on our gardens! We deserve a little bling! And I really love that they’re not disposable and adding little plastic pieces to my compost.
If you guys what me to do a more in-depth post on how I make and clean my markers and use them garden planning, let me know in the comments.
Some seeds, like carrot and celery seeds, are so tiny, they come in a packet INSIDE the seed packet. And many can be the same color as your soil.
So here’s another item you won’t see mentioned in most seed starting supply lists—you need a very strong direct light to see your seeds while you’re planting them.
If you’re seeding outside on a sunny day that’s fine, but I found my dining room light was just not bright enough.
I use a headlamp now if I’m seeding indoors and this makes it SO much easier.
Germination mats are thin heating pads you put under your seed starting trays to help germinate your seeds. They can be on the pricier side, especially if you want to outfit a lot of trays.
Seed starter mats are one thing that many say you need, but you really don’t. Here’s why. Almost every popular crop has a germination temperature that’s in the range you would normally keep your indoor room temperature at. So if you’re keeping your seed trays in your living room, AND you don’t have a crazy spouse who likes to keep the house at subarctic temperatures, you’re fine.
Seed heater mats become a nice thing to have when you’re starting seeds in an unfinished area like me. My basement hovers between 60-65ºF which is too low for the summer crops like tomatoes, melons, and eggplants. So I have 6 heating mats to keep those seedlings happy.
If you have an older refrigerator, the tops of those are often warm, and they also make a good temporary spot to germinate heat-loving crops. Once they’ve sprouted you can put them with your other trays in a cooler area, though they won’t grow as fast as they would with a mat.
If you’d like a printable guide of all the popular crops and their germination temperatures, along with seeding and transplanting dates, you can download one for free.
A watering can for your plants is another thing that’s nice to have but you don’t need it.
I use my Haws watering can for this task, but chances are you have something around the house already, like a milk jug, pitcher, or large measuring cup, that can transport and pour decent quantities of water.
You don’t need a rose on your watering can if you’re bottom watering, but they are nice to have to settle the soil around the seed when you initially plant.
Another tip… bring the water to the trays, not the other way around. You do not want to transport half-full trays of muddy water with fragile plants around your house. That is just a disaster waiting to happen, ON SO MANY LEVELS.
Speaking of watering, let’s talk about the place where you’ll be putting the trays. Many people use a seed starting shelf. I do. But you don’t need one. As long as you have a way to position the grow light, you’re fine.
You could buy grow lights with their own stands or do a DIY seedling shelf using the underside of a table or an old bookcase.
It is a nice thing to have, though, especially if you have a lot of trays like me.
If you do want to buy one, I’d recommend getting an inexpensive 48” wide wire utility rack with feet that can level. The wires make it super easy to hang the lights on, and adjustable feet will help keep the water in the trays evenly dispersed.
If you’d like a more in-depth post on how I set up my seed starting shelf and all its components, let me know in the comments and any questions you have.
You guys are probably not gonna want to hear this, windowsills are just not enough light. Grow lights are something you absolutely need for starting healthy seedlings. Good news is that you don’t need fancy plant lights here.
On each level of my seed rack, I use two standard 48” wide LED shop lights that I got on Amazon.
If you spend a little more money, you can get the same style and size lights that have broader full spectrum light and are purpose-built as plant lights.
I do have some older fluorescent shop lights that I used as grow lights which didn’t work for me and I would not recommend them. They used more energy, the bulbs discolored and made the plants leggy, and I had to replace the bulbs more often. I plan on upgrading those to full-spectrum LED grow lights soon.
You can have too much light on your seed starts, so don’t be tempted to leave the grow light on permanently. Seedlings that get no sunlight need 16-18 hours of artificial light per day. BUT, that’s exactly why I classify a timer for your grow lights as something nice to have, not a must-have like everyone else.
If, like most people, you get between 6 and 8 hours of sleep a night, you can simply incorporate turning on and off the plant lights into your morning and evening routines. If you’re like me, you might already have habits like opening the blinds or adjusting a thermostat or brushing your teeth that you could habit stack the lights with.
That being said, I do use a timer.
My first timer I stole from my Christmas tree box. The second timer needs a rocket science degree to program. I am about to upgrade to a smart plug I’ve used in other places in my house, with the intention of integrating into a smart home system.
Ok, I’m gonna break the internet and say something outrageous—you do not need humidity domes! I rarely rarely use them.
Supposedly they increase seed germination rates, but my seeds germinate fine without them. My seeds are fresh and usually double-seed. For me, propagation domes seem to cause more problems than they’re worth. They leak condensation all over my lights. They’re not durable and break and discolor. They take up space. They’re plastic (you know I love plastic!). If you’re not careful they can cause mold growth and damping off.
They do do a good job of preserving heat, so I will use them sometimes for faster germination on my heat-loving seeds, but even then you have to be careful because you can quickly steam seedlings to death when domes are combined with a heat mat.
If I haven’t convinced you, don’t worry! Many gardeners use them and there’s a lot of options out there. A lot of seed starting kits already come with seedling domes. Plastic wrap is a good DIY humidity dome option. Just remove it when the sprouts get near the wrap. You can buy domes that fit standard trays.
Or, if you want to stick around to my next post, I’ll go over a more durable dome that fits my stainless steel seed starting trays.
Because seedlings live a fairly pampered life indoors, with no wind or rain, they can suffer shock when transplanted outside. (You can even kill your plants like this, so this is no joke. Been there!) Preparing plants for this transplant is called hardening off, basically making them ready for the cruel hard world.
There are other ways to get your plants ready, but blowing a fan on them ahead of time is an easy shortcut.
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Is this necessary? No.
Will your family think you’re a nut? Yes.
Is it nice? Yes.
I would say, if you’re a beginning gardener, don’t add this extra step and supply to the mix to stress yourself out. If you’re an intermediate gardener and you have a fan laying around your house, go for it. If you’re advanced, your family already knows you’re crazy.
Seeds are amazing little packages. Inside them, they have all the nutrients they need to create new life.
Experts do agree that after germination though, they could use some additional help from us in the form of fertilizer, preferably with an NPK value of 10-10-10 for synthetic or 4-3-3 for organic fertilizer. I’m a big fan of Down to Earth fertilizers, which are organic and OMRI-listed.
You can use a liquid fertilizer and mix it directly into your watering can for bottom watering. Or, you can also mix granular fertilizer into your soil mix before your make soil blocks or seed. My only recommendation is, if you’re shopping for fertilizer, just to make sure to get one that doesn’t smell too much since it will be indoors.
I’ll be real, I usually forget to fertilize and my plants are fine. Maybe a little yellow, as you’d expect. So you don’t NEED to do this. But, when I do remember to fertilize, the results are really great, so I’m really making an effort to remember this.
So that’s it! To summarize, I’d say you absolutely need only 7 things: seeds, a plan, trays, soil mix, labels, a strong seeding light, and grow lights.
Things that are nice to have are: seed starting kits, seed packet organizer, pots, heat mats, a watering can, a shelf, a timer, humidity domes, a fan, and fertilizer.
Did I miss anything? Let us know your favorite seed starting supplies and tips down in the comments.
I hope this post helped you out! Remember to sign up for my newsletter for more gardening resources. Keep gardening like a boss and I’ll see you guys soon.
I have a confession: I’m a dollar store junkie. I especially love going to the dollar store to get my car camping fix.
If you’ve ever wandered the aisles of your local Dollar Tree, you might be overwhelmed by all the cheap and practical car camping goods you can buy, especially for cooking in camp.
I always stock up on dish rags, scrubby sponges, plastic tablecloths, aluminum pans, aluminum foil, food containers, and zip-top bags on my dollar store sprees. I also replace utensils (especially grilling utensils) that get lost or left behind at campgrounds and cabins.
You know what else the dollar store is good for?
Cheap seed starting supplies.
While I always encourage repurposing and reusing containers you already have around the house, sometimes you need to buy a few things to round out your collection, and the dollar store is a great way to get started with minimal expense.
Anyone who says seed starting is an expensive endeavor should look beyond the traditional garden centers and nurseries, and even beyond the gardening aisle of their local dollar store.
Strange as it sounds, the best seed starting supplies are actually found in the non-gardening aisles, and they can save you a lot of money, especially if you just want to try things out.
But before I go into what you should buy, I’ll explain what you should never buy from the dollar store, no matter how tempting the deal may be.
Disclosure: If you shop from my article or make a purchase through one of my links, I may receive commissions on some of the products I recommend.
A lot of cheaper soil is either very dusty or full of bark, and if it’s at the dollar store, you’re likely to find other undesirable materials in it too: rocks, twigs, gnats, who knows?! I’ve also noticed that the bagged soil at my local dollar stores don’t say what’s actually in them—which raises red flags for me.
(I’ve been using these same gloves for years and love them. For lighter-duty tasks, I prefer these buttery soft leather gloves. If you want more options, check out my reviews of the best gardening gloves.)
In a pinch the cheapies will work, but think of them as disposables so you won’t be disappointed when you blow a hole through the fingers.
I also rarely wear gloves for everyday gardening tasks, and never when I’m seed starting. I like the feeling of soil between my hands—not to mention the smell of fresh earth—and my gloves only go on for heavy weeding, lifting, picking, or shoveling.
They’re not as sharp or durable as heftier tools from reliable brands, and you’ll end up replacing them sooner than you think. There is nothing more frustrating than a tool that doesn’t perform or breaks in the middle of a job—I’ve been there.
(Though to be fair, I do have a dollar-store trowel that’s been with me for a few years, but only because it’s a backup that gets used once a year to stir up soft, fluffy potting soil.)
That said, here are the things you should buy from the dollar store, and with proper care and storage, those cheap seed starting supplies can last several seasons.
This multipurpose tub works well for mixing soil and amendments (especially if you’re making your own potting mix), moving compost, bottom-watering small pots, and hauling supplies to and from your potting bench.
Together with a roll of plastic cling wrap (just cover the top and poke a few holes in the plastic), you can make a mini greenhouse for starting seeds in a warm environment without the need for heating mats.
These things are so versatile. They make great drip trays for starter plugs, seedling flats, planter boxes, or lots of little pots.
When you’re ready to harden off your seedlings, cookie sheets make it easy to transport all the containers in and out of the house.
Similar to the cookie sheet above, but not really sturdy enough if you plan to move your seedlings around.
On the upside, these aluminum pans are huge and work well as drip trays for lots of different pots.
If I need to repot seedlings, I usually have a row of these lined up on the table like so: two or three aluminum pans for holding all the seedlings, one filled with potting soil, and another for the actual potting task.
You can also poke some holes in the bottom of these pans (for drainage), fill them with seed starting mix, and use them to sprout your seeds.
To protect your indoor surfaces from drips and spills, a thin, rubber-backed mat that you can hose off is a practical solution.
You can also use them as a cheap landing pad for muddy shoes before or after you walk in the door.
I’m a fan of these paper pots when I don’t have the time to make newspaper pots at home. Because of their size, they’re great for starting seeds for plants that don’t handle root disturbance well (such as squash or spinach).
They last just long enough until my seedlings are ready to be transplanted, and I can plant them right in the ground with my seedlings or simply add the paper pots to the compost pile.
I usually keep a couple of packages around as back-up containers when I run out of reusable plastic pots.
Poke some holes in the bottoms of these plastic cups with a nail, and you’ve got instant seed starting pots you can reuse for a season or two.
They’re also a good choice for potting up excess seedlings, starter plants, cuttings, and divisions you want to gift to friends.
For seed starting, I always use a spray bottle to moisten the soil without unearthing the seeds.
They might seem flimsy at first, but I’ve had good luck with my dollar-store spray bottles. I think they’re able to last a few seasons because they’re only used for a short time and then stored away.
You can also use them for mixing up a small batch of DIY insecticidal soap.
When your seedlings have moved into larger pots, you can start watering them with a regular watering can.
I like to keep a few of these around the yard so I never have to go searching for one if I need to top off a container. Dollar stores are also good places to find smaller watering cans if you have kids that like to help in the garden.
A cheap and easy way to label a whole season’s worth of plants. I like to write on the blades of plastic knives (which typically have a wider surface) and then stick them in the soil.
(One thing I’ll mention, as I get a lot of questions about this, is you should avoid using plastic forks as a cat deterrent. There are many other ways to keep cats out of your garden that aren’t such an eyesore.)
If you can find them, wooden craft sticks are also handy for marking seedlings in the short term, but they’ll eventually mold or rot.
Write the name of your plant on a clothespin (plenty of permanent markers can be found in the school supplies aisle) and clip it to the edge of your pot. Instant plant marker!
These plastic ones will last the longest, but wooden clothespins will do in a pinch.
If you plan to start your seeds using the coffee filter (baggie) method, both of your supplies can be found in the same aisle.
Cheap zip-top bags are also handy for storing seeds that you’ve saved, among a hundred other uses around the house.
This is a great score from the dollar store. You can keep all your seed packets organized in this covered container, and store your plant markers, clips and ties, extra bags and coffee filters, and other supplies in a second one.
If you’re a seed hoarder like I am, you can take it one step further and categorize your seeds by bin.
For example, all your nightshades in the first bin, legumes in the second bin, squash and melons in the third, herbs and flowers in the fourth (and so on). Or if your seed collection is smaller, you can store all warm-season seeds in one bin and cool-season seeds in another bin.
When it’s time to start seeds, all you have to do is grab a bin and go. (I talk more about good seed storage techniques in this article.)
Label the bins with a Sharpie and stack them on a shelf for quick, convenient access to all your seeds when it’s planting time.
I’m a fan of this method because the transparent bins make it easy to check at a glance what you may be running low on at the beginning of the season.
I’ve found all kinds of caddies in the organization and kitchen aisles; these are the same baskets you might use to store toiletries.
But for seed starting, they’re an excellent way to keep all your supplies organized in the closet, shed, or potting bench.
Think: hand tools in one caddy, plant markers and spray bottles in the next caddy, and gloves and twine in another.
I stock up on dollar-store towels to use as cleaning rags to wipe down tools and mop up spills. You really can’t go wrong with them for the price.
Related: Make this simple tool cleaning station to clean your garden tools fast
I assume this tiny hamper is intended for tiny loads of laundry (a few of my jeans would fill it to the top!), but it’s perfect for keeping all your gardening supplies together and tidy.
When your plants start producing, it’ll make an excellent harvest basket. You can also gather all your root vegetables in the basket and hose them off before bringing them inside the house.
Store your soil, vermiculite, perlite, compost, and fertilizer in multiple buckets to mix and match as needed for your perfect potting mix.
You’ll find endless other uses for a bucket in the garden, like carrying bulbs, seed packets, small stakes, compost tea, mulch, and water from place to place.
In a pinch, you can also use buckets to cover seedlings and frost-sensitive plants if a cold snap is expected overnight. (Just remember to uncover them in the morning.)
I usually just shake out or hose off my pots between uses, but if you notice a lot of your seedlings dying from damping off or growing fungus on the soil, it’s a good idea to give your pots a more thorough cleaning with soap and hot water.
Read next: Why you don’t really need to disinfect your plant pots
Scrubbers and sponges are abundant at the dollar store, so you can keep a set especially for your garden to wipe off tools, clean your potting bench or utility sink, or scrub the soil clinging to your root vegetables before you bring them inside.
This post updated from an article that originally appeared on February 19, .
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