Skill Level
Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced
Learner Outcomes
- Understand the difference between starting seeds indoors and direct sowing in the garden.
- Gain hands-on experience sowing seeds.
Life Skills
Keeping records, communications, sharing, marketable/useful skills, teamwork, healthy life-style choices, self-responsibility
Time
30-40 minutes depending on garden size
Materials
- Garden design and plan
- Transplants and seeds
- Planting materials and tools:
- Outside planting: soil preparation tools which could include digging fork, hoe, broad fork, shovel, trowels, etc.
- Inside planting materials: containers with drainage holes, tray to place under containers to catch excess water, potting soil mix
- Plant tags and pencils to label rows or pots once planted
- Sprayer/watering can
Space
In the garden, a table can be useful to lay out materials
Introduction
Prior to this activity, your group developed a garden plan and design. Now it is time to plant it! Whether the garden is indoors or outdoors, the process for planting seeds and transplants is similar. Key things to remember when planting and to share with your group:
- Different plants require different planting methods. Planting methods include “transplant” and “direct sow.” This type of information can usually be found on the seed packet. When you transplant in an outdoor garden, you are planting seedlings (young plants) into the ground. When you direct sow in an outdoor garden, you are planting seeds directly into the ground.
- Keep time of year in mind when deciding what to plant. Different plants can be planted outside at different times of the year, depending on whether they prefer cool or warm temperatures. For example, there are plants that can be sown in cool soil in spring and fall (e.g. lettuce and other salad greens, peas, spring onions) and there are those that need warm soil to germinate (e.g. carrots, corn, cucumbers, peppers, summer squash, tomatoes, zucchini). The seed packets usually have this information written on them.
- If you are growing your own transplants from seed, make sure to “harden off” seedlings before planting outside. To do this, slowly over a week or so, expose seedlings to outside environmental conditions—sunlight and temperature fluctuations. Gradually increase the time seedlings are exposed each day.
- Before planting seeds, focus on the seed packet. Different types of plants require different conditions for planting and growing. The seed packet can be considered the “recipe” for what the seed needs to sprout, and what the plant needs to thrive. It is important to sow seeds at the correct depth or they may not sprout. Planting depth information can be found on the seed packet, and a general rule of thumb is to plant a seed at a depth 2x-3x the diameter of the seed’s width.
- When planting seeds and transplants, remember to label them the with plant type and planting date. Labeling helps you remember what is planted in a given location, especially with seeds. It will take a week or two for most seeds to germinate, depending on the type of seed and soil temperature.
- For an indoor garden, plants may need supplemental light to grow well.
Note to facilitators: This activity contains new concepts for some. Remember you do not have to facilitate this all this alone. Guidance from a neighbor with a passion for gardening or a Master Gardener Volunteer with experience working with youth could be helpful and offer new perspective. The New York Seed to Supper garden guide is a helpful resource available to support Project S.O.W. facilitators.
Vocabulary
Sow: to plant a seed for growth
Germinate: to sprout or begin to grow
Before the Activity
It can be helpful to lay out seed packets, transplants, and planting materials on a table before planting.
Activity
Opening Questions
- Ask the group who has planted seeds or plants before. What do you need to know when planting a seed or transplanting? (This could include how deep to plant, plant spacing, when to plant, sunlight needs, time till germination and harvest, etc.)
Experience
- Review how to read a seed packet, sowing and transplanting basics, then it is time to get planting!
- Seed Sowing Basics:
•Demonstrate how to prepare the soil. Remove any large rocks and break up any large soil clumps. It can be a good idea to pre-moisten the soil, watering afterwards can move the seeds deeper or shallower than you intended.
•Demonstrate how to sow different size seeds at the appropriate depth. You can show how pea seeds get planted deeper than small seeds like carrots. Lettuce seeds need light to germinate so show how to scatter seeds on top of the soil and press in lightly.
•Once planted, label where you planted the seeds with the name of the plant and date. - Transplanting Basics:
•Demonstrate how to prepare the soil. Dig a small hole that you will put the transplant in. For most plants, plant them as deep as the roots currently are. The soil surface would be even with the soil surrounding the transplant, do not bury the stem. Tomatoes are an exception to this rule; they can be planted deeper—up to 2/3 of the plant being underground. Tomatoes have the ability to produce additional roots on the buried stem.
•After removing transplant from container, break up root bound transplants by agitating roots slightly.
•After a transplant is in the ground, remove air pockets in soil by tamping the soil down. Water the transplants in after planting.
•Once planted, label transplants with plant name and date. - Divide the group into smaller groups and get planting!
Reflection Questions (choose a few that work best for your group)
- What did you notice as you were planting seeds? This could include feelings, observations (e.g. what the air smelled like, what the soil felt like), reflections on when they think the seeds will germinate, etc.
- What do you imagine that the plants will look like when they sprout? What will they taste like when we eat them?
- Is there anything about planting seeds that surprised you?
Learn More
- Contact your local Cooperative Extension office for garden and plant related questions: Cornell Cooperative Extension Offices (NY State) and USDA Land-Grant University Website Directory
General Garden Basics:
- 6 Basic Steps to Start or Plant a Vegetable Garden University of Maryland Extension
- Food Gardening Cornell Garden-Based Learning
- Growing Vegetables in Containers University of Maryland Extension
- Planting the Vegetable Garden University of Minnesota Extension
- Transplants or Direct Seeding – What’s best? Horticulture Section, School of Integrative Plant Science, Cornell University
Reading Seed Packets:
- Information on Seed Packets Penn State Extension
- Understanding the Seed Packet University of Nebraska-Lincoln Extension
Supplemental Light for Indoor Growing:
- Optimizing Plant Growth with Indoor Lighting Q&A University of New Hampshire Extension
- Tips for Choosing Grow Lights University of Vermont Extension
Acknowledgements
This activity was adapted from the NYS Seed to Supper curriculum* and Cornell Garden-Based Learning activities “Starting Seeds Indoors” and “Direct Sowing Seeds Outdoors.”
References: Chapter 3 – Planting Your Garden
* NYS Seed to Supper curriculum was adapted with permission from Seed to Supper joint program of Oregon Food Bank and Oregon State University Extension Service. Any courses based upon these materials, are to be offered equitably and free of charge.