St. Mary’s Nutrition Center will host a program on starting seedlings from 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 14, at the center, 208 Bates St., Lewiston. To sign up, visit www.stmarysnutritioncenter.org.

For more information on growing seedlings and gardening, visit www.extension.umaine.edu/gardening/ or www.mofga.org/AgriculturalServices/tabid/130/Default.aspx.

Editor’s note: Updated to correct program date to April 14.

It’s not easy being green in Central and Western Maine this time of year, but home gardeners can give nature a boost and get ahead of the state’s short growing season by starting seedlings indoors.

Rocky Crockett, Norway’s Alan Day Community Garden coordinator, and Kim Finnerty, Auburn’s newly hired Whiting Farm Program coordinator, have begun seedlings for their home gardens.

Finnerty said Monday that those who haven’t started yet aren’t too far behind.

“Onions you usually start the earliest, then eggplants and tomatoes and peppers,” Crockett said last week from his South Paris home.

The community garden offers plots for people who can’t grow at their own homes, he said.

“Both kids and gardeners who start signing up for plots, they don’t start thinking about it before it’s time to plant,” Crockett said. “The whole point is we have such a short growing season in Maine, you need to start seedlings to have them grow.”

The University of Maine Cooperative Extension article “Starting Seeds at Home,” by Marjorie Peronto and Theresa Guethler, said growing seedlings inside and transplanting them outside is important for plants that take longer to mature or are sensitive to frost. They include tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and melons.

“You can start enjoying flowers and harvesting vegetables four to six weeks earlier than if you had waited for the ground to warm up enough for you to sow the seeds outside,” according to the article.

Finnerty said she started tomatoes, eggplants and peppers this past week.

Sherie Blumenthal, food access coordinator at St. Mary’s Health System in Lewiston, which runs the Lots to Gardens program, said she planted onion and leek seeds a couple of weeks ago.

Finnerty plans to start her onions and leeks soon. The smaller seeds are the ones that gardeners should start first — tomatoes and peppers — followed by larger seeds for cucumbers, pumpkins and squashes, Finnerty said.

The age of the seeds is important, Blumenthal said, with appropriate seed ages available online.

“Really pay attention to the instructions on your seed packet and know the climate zones in Maine,” Blumenthal said. “Nothing is more frustrating than starting a tomato plant and transplanting (it) and it’s root-bound.”

According to the Cooperative Extension article, seeds can be planted in any clean container measuring 2 to 3½ inches deep that has adequate drainage holes. Containers can be plastic, compressed peat, wood or recycled materials. Finnerty said egg cartons, newspapers and her personal favorite, toilet paper rolls, can be used to grow seedlings. She recommends cutting a roll in half, slicing up about half an inch from the bottom and folding it as if to close a cardboard box.

“Then you can just plant it in the ground because it biodegrades,” Finnerty said.

The Cooperative Extension article said the seeds should be covered with clear plastic and kept out of direct sunlight during this time because the soil could become too hot and kill the seeds.

Finnerty said once planted, seeds can be placed in Ziploc bags, which will keep them moist and show signs of photosynthesis.

“The bag will get kind of puffy because the plant is taking in carbon dioxide and producing oxygen,” she said.

Crockett advised that once the seedlings sprout, they should have at least 14 hours of sunlight a day. The plastic covering or bags should be removed at this time. For his home garden, he uses a reflective tent and a high-intensity discharge bulb. For those who don’t want to invest in such equipment, a sunny window that isn’t too drafty will work.

“The seedlings will get leggy and reach for the sun,” Blumenthal said, if they’re simply placed on sunny windowsills. “Fluorescent light behind it on the other side will balance it out.”

For those who don’t have a sunny window or porch or growing tent, they can use a gallon milk jug to create a miniature greenhouse. If it gets too warm during the day, open up the top or take the top off. According to the article, germination temperatures should be between 65 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit and growing temperatures range from 55 to 65 degrees.

Once the second set of true leaves emerge, the seedlings should be watered with a half-strength fertilizer, according to the Cooperative Extension article.

Blumenthal likes to use seaweed and fish emulsion, which can be found at almost any gardening store. Then seedlings should be thinned to 1 inch apart and transplanted into individual pots.

“When you’re transplanting seedlings, you don’t ever want to handle it by the stem too harshly. If you damage the stem, you damage the body of the seedling,” Blumenthal said. 

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