Planting Seeds Inside
Spring comes late in southwest Montana. Recent nighttime lows hovered around 17 degrees—way too cold for most of the veggies and herbs I want to grow. Our growing season averages only about 86 days. So to increase the possibility for a bountiful any harvest, I start germinating a few seeds (i.e., parsley, basil, bunching onions, chard and lettuces) indoors. 
Then after our last frost date of May 31st they can be transplanted outside. With seeds planted and beginning to germinate, our 2013 Montana gardening has officially begun.
Preparing the Garden Outside
On Saturday, with snow and rain in the forecast, we took advantage of that day’s gorgeous weather to work outside in the garden. You can see in the top photo the new “retaining board” we added to level the garden. I love that Paul knows how to do such things, and then makes it happen.
I helped by piling rocks on the other side of the boards. Then pruning, weeding and removing some of last fall’s leaves from under the dogwoods.
What a pleasure to be outside sitting on the newly green grass. Surely this must be spring. Soon it will be warm enough to reseal the fence along our patio garden. After that we’ll square off the garden and put up garden hoops for protective row covers. Beginning mid-May comes the planting of the next crop of carrot, lettuce and chard seeds directly in the ground. Very exciting times ahead. (Note: this is the only photo I have of our garden hoops. Taken mid-July a couple of years ago when the garden was quite bountiful.)
My favorite Heavenly Blue Morning Glories
After soaking morning glory seeds overnight, they were planted 4 seeds to each of six 4-inch peat pots. These prolific annuals blossom profusely and grow up and over our patio’s back fence. The blossoms are an incredibly beautiful blue. Their geometric perfection as they unfurl in the morning and turn in on themselves in the afternoon never fails to impress me. Though often inspired to photograph the blossoms, rarely have they let me capture their ephemeral and exquisite beauty.
A novice gardener
Having taken a class four years ago from local Master Gardener John Austin, we’ve had some very productive gardens.Though, I still consider myself a novice. What I’m sharing with you about seed starting is very basic. It’s worked for me and hopefully will for you as well.
How does your garden grow?
Would love to hear your tips for extending the growing season.
Montana Gardening Begins—Planting Seeds Indoors
First, of course, choose what you want to plant. Then create your garden plan. I recently found this kitchen garden planner online. No ruler, pencil or graph paper required. This planner creates your layout based on the size of your garden and where and what you want to plant. Pretty cool. Plus they include info on depth of planting, spacing, thinning and harvesting for each plant you choose.
Here’s a photo of some of the seed packets I used. I planted parsley, basil, arugula, gourmet salad mix, bunching onions and chard. An exciting day still to come when it’s finally warm enough to transplant my little plants into the garden and containers on the porch and patio.
My “seed starting greenhouse” comes with a plastic dome 
to aid germination and 24 peat pellets for starting the seeds.
When using all 24 pellets at once, pour 3¼ cups water in the bottom half. The pellets will float around for awhile. As they hydrate, they settle down enough to line the pellets up for seeding.
Once the pellets have hydrated, push back the top netting. A chopstick works well for this. Now the pellets are ready for seeds. I like to pour some of the seeds onto a plate. Then I can easily choose the largest seeds to plant.
Read your seed packets for planting depth. (Usually ¼ – ½ inch deep.) Plant 2-3 seeds per pellet.
When all the seeds are planted, cover the base with the clear plastic dome. For faster germination, place the entire “greenhouse” on a seedling heat mat in a dark room. In about two days, sprouting begins. Once the seeds have germinated, remove the dome and the heat mat. Place the seeds under a grow light or daylight fluorescent bulb and watch them green up and grow. Yay, our 2013 Montana gardening season has begun, even if only indoors for the moment.