Seed Growing Guide

June and July still give plenty of time to grow zinnias, sunflowers, cucamelons, calendula, beans, cucumbers, basil, nasturtium, and dill to grow… from seed… no nursery required.

There is only one more plant in this guide… pumpkins and for us northern gardeners we are pushing timing, but it’s not impossible to start pumpkin seeds now and get a holiday harvest - it definitely depends on the weather. In this guide I’ll show you how water and soil matter for plant growth. 

This guide is for the gardener who keeps trying and wants to give up before the garden is even planted. Let me show you my garden notes. You might figure out that your garden needs compost, your August garden needs more water, and that the temperature at the airport doesn’t match your backyard thermometer - pointing to a realization that it’s not YOU, it’s just a detail you didn’t see yet. 

In this guide you’ll get:

• The Basics - Six things every garden needs: sun, soil, rain, wind, heat, and spacing, explained in plain English, with experience and research to back it up.
  • Not 50 random ideas or opinions or preferences - The top six things that impact how a plant will grow - you can look each of them up on agricultural research sites or you can get the simplified (and still detailed) notes from me in this guide.
• Seed Starting
  • How I start seeds - it’s how I start seeds as a busy mom who doesn’t have time for aesthetics… just get the sprouts going so I can plant them in the garden.
  • I walk you through my process with a take out container from my recycling container. I show you that it’s not rocket science… BUT… I explain what is important and I talk to you like the capable, competent gardener you are. 
• My Growing Notes
  • The 10 seeds I grow every year because they are the seeds I consider the easiest to grow (especially if you follow the basics - I’ve drown them, forgotten to water them and sometimes they are forgiving and sometimes they aren’t. These are the seeds I’ll keep growing whether conditions are perfect or not.)
  • I share why I love them, how to grow, how to harvest, my favorite varieties, and how I use them.
  • Basil, Beans, Calendula, Cucamelon, Cucumber, Dill, Nasturtium, Pumpkins, Sunflowers and Zinnias
• Bonus Pages:
  • Planting Calendars - why you’re not “too late planting” most of these seeds
  • Temperature Chart - so you know why plants are slow to grow at 50*F
  • Hand Drawn Garden Layouts - these show how much you can plant in a small space. 
• Printable: There are few photos in this guide so you can easily print and take it outside with you. Mine already has dirt streaks because I use it for reference while I plant. And I have notes on it too because I usually carry a pencil to jot down notes, observations, questions, and reminders to myself. Love notes if you will.

So who am I?

My name is Laura. If you found me online you’d see that I own a flower farm in Michigan and it would appear that I grow all the plants all the time… ah the magic of repurposing my best garden content for the internet… I share my fails too, but the tips and tricks are probably why you’re here. 

I gardened for 12 years in a city garden, never adding compost, hardly watering, and killing a whole lotta beautiful farmers market plants. I had an engineering career that kept me away during the week and I didn’t know what I didn’t know. 

When we moved to the country we started small my beans were great until our black lab ate them. Our basil was beautiful until a 43*F night took it out in mid September. Over the years I’ve learned how to grow plants from seeds, selling thousands of them to home gardners in the area. 

I learned as I grew. Books, farmer resources, classes, YouTube U, and following/asking homesteaders questions on Instagram for years.

This guide is my notebook for seed starting and for these 10 plants. 

It has everything I need without extra flare. 

Easy enough to read in one sitting or short enough chapters to read in between life and more life.

Gardening isn’t about getting everything right. 

It’s about nurturing nature - plants like it when you know their rules.

The best way I can show you what the garden needs is with the details in this guide and the stories I share from one gardener to another. 

*whispers* I’ll call you a gardener even if you’re not ready to call yourself one yet.

I wrote this guide so you don’t have to figure it all out on your own so grab your copy now and I’ll see you inside the guide.