I tend to jump fully into something, and THEN afterwards look up the instructions. Which has it’s pros and cons…  

Pro—I tend not to drag my feet on the things I want. Con—I learn a LOT of things the hard way 🤪

Here are 13 seed starting tips that I wish I had looked up before my first year starting seeds, so you can learn from my mistakes.

Our website is supported by our users. We sometimes earn a commission when you click through the affiliate links on our website. This post contains affiliate links.

1. The grow light needs to be very close to your seedlings or they’ll get leggy. 

You may have seen those complicated pulley systems for raising and lowering your grow lights… while they seem intense, they’re not wrong. Those little baby seedlings need the light to be just a few inches from the soil, otherwise they’ll get “leggy.”

A leggy plant looks stretched out, thin, and not very strong. That’s because the plant is reaching for the sunlight. Personally, almost every succulent I’ve ever had has gotten super leggy because they need SO MUCH direct light and apparently I never give it to them 😅

I’m going to make a wild guess and say that the whole reason you got grow lights was so you could grow a bunch of healthy seedlings… right? So let’s make sure your set up isn’t setting you up to fail.

When I got my first seed shelf (just a metal shelf on Amazon) and grow lights (here), I attached the lights to the shelf with zip ties. And then afterwards (naturally) I learned about this whole “leggy” business.

Honestly though, I was not interested in one of those crazy pulley systems so I wasn’t that upset about the zip ties. (Plus I don’t think my shelf would have handled it well. It gets the job done, but it’s not crazy sturdy.)

So how did I make sure the seed trays were close enough to the grow light?

I stacked books underneath the trays and as the seedlings grew, slowly removed a layer of books!

It worked great and was a FREE solution. #win

🌱 Take away: You don’t need fancy equipment for your seed starting set up. 

2. Don’t put different types of seeds all on the same tray. 

This might be the biggest lesson learned, because there was nothing I could do to fix it that first time around, it was just a “for next time” realization.

Since I have limited space and only one seed shelf, I did what any beginner would do and bought the biggest seed trays that would fit on my shelf (I got mine from Menards but it was something like this) so I could fit as many seedlings as possible.

The problem with this is that I had a seed tray with 100 holes, but I didn’t need 100 tomatoes. I wanted a variety. So, all in one tray, I sowed tomatoes, bell peppers, broccoli, and cauliflower. Then I put the tray cover on, sat back, and stared at them around the clock LOL.

The broccoli and cauliflower sprouted VERY fast, but the tomatoes and peppers took much longer to pop up. Especially the peppers (they took excruciatingly long).

When the broccoli and cauliflower came up, I had to take the tray cover off, otherwise those seedlings would have been kept too damp and would have died. BUT the tomatoes and peppers really needed the tray cover on still so that they could germinate. 

Because I took the lid off, not only did they take longer to germinate, but the ones that did kept their lil seed hats on (due to lack of moisture) and a lot of them died off.

🌱 Take away: Group like seeds together on the same seed tray.

3. Once the seeds germinate, you don’t need to keep the soil soaked—it will start to get fungus. 

Luckily this one didn’t hurt me too bad this year, but once the seeds germinate, the soil doesn’t have to be soaked 100% of the time.

I had heard this saying at some point that I took a little too literally: “A dry seed is a dead seed.”

Ok, fine. But a drowned seedling is a dead seedling too 😂

If you keep your soil too moist, it will start to get fungus on it. I’ve read lots of articles saying cinnamon can help if you do start to see fungus starting, but I haven’t tested that myself yet. Instead I just let the soil dry out a bit and was much more intentional with my watering going forward. 

🌱 Take away: Don’t let your soil dry out, but be careful not to drown your seedlings too.

4. The tomatoes and peppers need moisture to loosen the seed hat, otherwise they won’t make it. 

I mentioned this in #2, but your seeds need moisture. Depending on your set up, you probably have a clear tray lid/dome or maybe you’re using plastic wrap. Either way, make sure you leave this on until the seedlings are full germinated and the little “seed hats” have fallen off.

I had particular trouble with my tomatoes and peppers getting stuck in their seed hats (remember, I took the lid off too early because of my broccoli and cauliflower sprouts). When they got stuck, their first set of leaves couldn’t get out, and the whole thing would die off. #wompwomp

I had such a problem with this in my tomatoes that I ended up buying a new packet of seeds and starting over!

🌱 Take away: Make sure you have some sort of lid or plastic wrap over your tomato and pepper seedlings so the moisture can loosen the seed hat.

5. Stop comparing your seedlings to others. 

This one. This is so hard. I follow so many homesteading and gardening accounts on Instagram, so my feed was flooded with seed starting tips in the beginning of the year.

Which means I was constantly seeing how much farther along other people’s were than mine. I felt so behind and didn’t like that other newbies were having better luck than me (just a touch competitive 😅). 

I had to constantly remind myself that growing a garden isn’t a competition, and there’s no such thing as “behind” when you’re learning.

🌱 Take away: Sometimes it helps to unfollow certain accounts on IG and stick to YouTube for your gardening tips for a while (because at least on YouTube the videos aren’t in real time so you can’t compare apples to apples with your seedlings).

6. At the same time… compare everything, trade notes, ask questions. IN YOUR SAME ZONE. 

On the flip side… I have learned SO MUCH about seed starting and gardening from Instagram! I know it sounds crazy, but there are so many little tid bits that I retained and keep saying to my mom “Well this account on IG said THIS about hornworms…” etc. etc.

I also made sure to follow a bunch of accounts that are in the same growing zone as me (zone 6a) so that I was at least comparing myself to the right people.

It doesn’t make sense to compare my garden to someone in a southern state because they have a longer growing season and can plant things out in the ground sooner. AKA they start their seeds way earlier so their tomatoes would always be way bigger than mine.

If you don’t know your growing zone, look it up! It’s helpful for lots of stuff.

🌱 Take away: Look up gardening accounts in your own growing zone so you can get tips that work best for your climate and seasonal weather patterns.

7. Be patient. 

Don’t give up on your seedling too early. I did this with my first round of tomatoes. I was comparing *ahem* my tomato seedlings to everyone else’s and decided they were just bad seeds and would never get big enough in time because they were taking weeks to fully germinate.

So the next time I was at the grocery store I bought a pack of 50 seeds and planted a LOT of them in case they also didn’t germinate well.

But here’s the thing…

The ones I planted originally started doing better suddenly, and then so did ALL of my new seeds. Which means, I had a LOT of tomato seedlings, and no where to put even half of them.

Luckily, my mom works at school and some of her teachers were starting a community garden as a class project, so I donated ~20 tomato plants, a win-win.

🌱 Take away: Don’t make rash decisions while you’re learning. Let everything run it’s course and treat it as the fun experiment it really is. If you want to do some A/B testing with different methods, go for it. But don’t give up or throw everything out just because it’s not going exactly as planned.

8. Getting 25 seeds in a pack is kind of a bummer.

We always had a garden growing up, but my parents would buy their plants from local nurseries or farmers. So I had never grown anything from seed. I excitedly Googled “organic heirloom seeds” and was overwhelmed with online seed catalogs. 

I knew I would probably pay a bit more for the “organic” and “heirloom” part of that, but that was fine with me, already used to that. What I didn’t realize is that not only was I paying more per package ($4-5 instead of $2-3 from the local hardware store), but these more expensive packs also had WAY less seeds in them. 

For example, most packets of tomato seeds online are 20-25 seeds per packet. While the pack of cherry tomatoes I bought last year had 50.

I don’t mind getting less in a packet because I like supporting small businesses. But when you’re just learning or spending the extra money isn’t an option, you can get more bang for your buck at the big box stores.

🌱 Take away: Know your budget, and know your priorities. If you’re just starting out and need a low-cost barrier to entry, just grab a pack or two from your nearest big box hardware store or grocery store. If it’s important to you to support a small business and buy (most likely) higher quality seeds and unique varieties, then come to peace with the 25 seeds per packet—if this is an issue, just start saving your own seeds from the year before and you’ll never have to buy again 😉

9. Don’t forget about “potting up.”

Potting up is what you do with your seedlings as they outgrow their original seed tray or pod. Keep this in mind when you’re deciding how many seeds to start. 

If your seed starting shelves are 100% full with your giant seed trays with the 100 cute lil’ pods… what’s going to happen when those 100 seeds start growing into plants? Will you have room for 100 bigger pots? 

I learned the hard way… the answer is “No, you will not have room.” 

🌱 Take away: You’ll need 2-3x the space than your seed trays are taking up in the beginning. So either plant your seeds in the bigger pots to begin with, or keep your big trays and just plant less seeds.

10. On those cold days, a space heater can help your seedlings, even if they already have a heat mat. 

I was always shocked by the difference ONE day could make for my seedlings. One day they would be barely popping out of the ground, and the next day they’d have a full set of leaves and be an inch tall!

So on those cold winter days when they’re trying their sweet lil’ baby seedling hardest, a space heater can help tremendously. 

🌱 Take away: The space heater doesn’t need to be ON the seedlings, in fact maybe don’t do that at all, that sounds like a fire hazard. Just in the same room as the seedlings will do!

11. If you buy dry soil mix, wet it BEFORE you put it in the cells.

I had two of these big seed trays, and filled them all up with DRY seed starting mix. The first thing you’re supposed to do after planting the seeds is to “wet the soil.” But the seed starting mixes are so purposely dry, that they are difficult to fully wet.

Meaning I had to mix water into every. single. pod. One by one.

It took forever.

And hurt my back from hunching over them for so long.

🌱 Take away: Wet your seed starting potting mix in a big bowl FIRST, and then fill the pods with the pre-moistened mix. 

12. Be careful moving seeds around from row to row.

You might be tempted to move your seedlings around to different rows once spots open up as other seedlings die. But let me tell you… it is VERY easy to forget what you moved where and wind up mixing up a broccoli and a cauliflower (guilty) as well as not realizing until months later that you planted too many roma tomatoes because you mixed and matched and didn’t keep them labeled (also guilty).

🌱 Take away: Keep everything labeled, no matter what. You won’t remember it later.

13. A journal will be your best friend

As I’m finishing this blog I started last year (my first year starting seeds), I’m heading into February of my second year with seeds. Which means I’ve been browsing and ordering from the catalogs to get things ready here soon!

And let me tell you, a garden journal will be your best friend.

As I’m thinking back to last year wondering:

“Oh which variety was that tomato that did better than the others?”

“Oh which bell pepper was that that I said I never wanted to get again?”

“What brand of zinnias did I like better?”

I HAVE IT ALL WRITTEN DOWN!! Hahahha I don’t have to remember any of it, which is great, because I don’t!

As I went through the growing season last year, I had a couple pages for each variety I grew where I tracked the:

• Brand and variety name
• How many I started
• Seeds vs. seedlings
• Indoor vs. direct sow
• What date I planted
• What date they first bloomed/fruited
• If they did well or sucked
• And on and on

So this year when I’m making my selections, I can remind myself not to waste money on broccoli this year, and skip that brand of potatoes that didn’t turn out great. And on. And on.

🌱 Take away: Get a journal! I got mine from Etsy (the shop is here but looks like she’s taking a break). I’ll do another post soon on what all I like to track and how to make the most of your journal.

In the meantime, comment below and share your favorite seed starting tips you’ve ever received.