Starting plants indoors can save you money. Seeds are a lot cheaper than buying grown plants at the store.
When: March-April start your seeds
Seeds: Buy heirloom not hybrid so you can save your seeds in the fall.
Soil: Should be light so it drains well. I recommend buying seed starter from the store.
Containers: Metal and clay containers look nice, but dry out the soil. Plastic works great or you can make your own pots out of black and white newspaper. These are especially good for plants with sensitive roots like cucumbers because you don't have to transplant them, just peel away the paper when they're ready to go in the ground. Plus they're free. See how
here.
Light: Once seeds emerge move them to a sunny south-facing window or use florescent lights. We used 2 shop lights and they're working great.
Water: I've been pouring water in the bottom of the tray and letting the plants soak up the water from the bottom, so don't go from bone dry to soaking wet all at once. Don't overwater, let them dry out almost to the point of getting wilty, then water again.
Fertilizer: Start using fertilizer after the 3rd and 4th leaves appear. They should only need 1-3 applications of fertilizer before going outside. I bought an organic fertilizer from the garden store.
Hardening-Off: Once it starts to warm up bring your plants out for a few hours at a time to get them use to the outdoors before transplanting.
