marial1214 - There are lots of folks on this forum with far more experience than I have growing vegetables but I've been growing plants from seeds indoors the past few years. One of the most important things to keep in mind is air circulation. I keep a variable speed fan on its lowest setting blowing on my seed pots at all times to avoid damp off. My pots are in front of a south-facing window so they get as much light as there is this time of year. Sometimes I leave an energy-saver light bulb on in a nearby lamp for extra light. I buy my perennial flower seeds from one of the top 30 highest rated sellers, Diane Linsley in Ogden, Utah. I noticed a few days ago she also sells tomato seeds. Pinetree Garden Seeds in Maine gets mixed reviews on Dave's Garden. If you go to one of the vegetable growing forums, folks there might have other seed source names for you.
Plastic cups are fine as long as you poke holes in the bottoms for drainage. Forget peat pots and get some sterile, soil-less seed starting mix.
My notes from earlier this year show I started seeds indoors around the middle of March. You might need to wait until April to sow vegetable seeds.
Buying your seeds as soon as possible means you might actually get them before the seed suppliers run out. I've read on this website people trying to order seeds after January 1 sometimes wait weeks for them to be delivered. If you want the best selection, the sooner the better.
Hope this helps some. I'll email you directly if your email is on your member page if I think of anything else that might help.

Hi Marial,

Welcome to the Winter Sowing Forum, we generally start our seeds outside--during the winter. If you check our forum FAQs you'll find info on growing veggies, most of which can be started outside--which prevents dampoff.

Trudi

You should be selecting short DTM varieties.

Hi Maria,
Welcome to the WS forum.
We don't sow seeds and leave them indoors: we sow them then leave them outside in the cold, rain or snow.
So we don't use any grow lights: the sun gives that to our seed/seedlings.

And most people start sowing tomorrow: Dec 21 - the winter solstice.
I usually am not ready until February, but I am this year so I might sow something tomorrow.
We have no problem with damping off at all and have tremendous success with germination.

Read the Winter Sowing FAQ here as Trudi said, then come back here when you have any questions.
We'll be happy to give you all the fun facts.
:-D

I don't buy seeds much anymore. I have been trading/begging for seeds for years.
Check out the seed exchange or Winter Sowing exchange forums and watch the offers for SASBE.
You'll get seeds for the cost of postage and bubble envelopes. I don't have a lot of vegetable seeds, but if you would like flower seeds, send me some stamps and your address, I'll send you whatever I have.

I also gave up sowing seeds indoors a LONG time ago (with some lights, without some lights. I started WS when Trudi began this forum, and I would not go back "the other way" - I love the fact that wintersowing is generally fuss free. I don't have to worry about plants not getting enough light, overwatering, dampening off, getting fungus gnats, no hardening off. It's all done for you, naturally. I just sow, wait for the miracle of the seed to sprout and then plant! Voila. Sow simple!
Try it, I think that every seed sower will enjoy wintersowing at least once.

I grow most of my seeds using the winter sowing method but still start a few inside due to our late spring.

The Growing Under Lights forum would be a better forum to find information regarding starting seeds indoors.

To find out more about winter sowing read the FAQ by clicking on the FAQ link near the top of the forum page. You may find that winter sowing will meet your needs better than growing under lights.

Here is a link that might be useful: Growing Under Lights

All these enablers have probably scared off the original poster. LOL.

I still grow a few things under lights too. I never had any luck without them. The sun coming through the windows just wasn't strong enough to produce healthy plants. You might be better off moving the seedlings in and out every morning/evening if frost is expected. 4-6 weeks prior to the last frost in spring is a good time to start seedlings for the summer veggie garden. Peppers like heat, so I wouldn't start them until June 1st.

Marial: If you are growing inside under lights, most seed packs will tell you how long before last frost the seeds should be started. Or you can google "germinate tomato seeds" or "germinate pepper seeds" for that info.

For wintersowing outside, we don't pay too much attention to start dates :-)

Karen

I think I stumbled onto the wrong forum. I am trying to grow seeds indoors for my spring garden.

Wow! I cant beleive you actually put seeds outside during the winter today the first day of winter! Thats what it sounds like to me. And you get them to grow! Yikes!

Yep. Veggies will be started in spring, near the last frost date for your area. Perennials and hardy annuals can be sown now, but most stick to perennials. They germinate when ready and there's no hardening off, no damp, no problems. Little greenhouses from clear plastic containers hold the soil and seeds to protect them from birds and critters. It's real easy. :)

Oh no, not Yikes, but more like Hallelujah.

This really works and it works so good that the USDA and Extensions trained me to build a website to teach people the method. And it's also now in the USDA Thesaurus. And WinterSown.Org is a dot org because it's a registered non-profit--I share more than info on the method, I share seeds too ;-)

You really should check out the FAQs or just go to Google and just type in Winter Sowing, pull up a chair, or nice comfy sofa--you'll be reading for a while.

Did anyone tell you about the nekkid part yet?

LOL

Here is a link that might be useful: WinterSown.Org

Yeah, they grow all right.
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Karen

Oh, boy! I grow all my gardens this way Maria! Flowers, food, fruit...everything! Why not try some of each and see what you prefer?!