Originally published in Lake of the Woods Area News, Volume 55, Number 1, Early Spring 2025
Welcome to Rooted Reflections. In this new column, Jacob Boutwell is going to take us on a journey to see how each of us of every age can live and play more sustainably. In addition to growing up in the Lake of the Woods region, Jacob draws on years spent travelling and learning about agriculture, activism, and environmentalism. He eventually returned home to apply what he learned by co-founding the non-profit, Harvest Kenora, and the vegetable farm, Muriel Shores Farm.
Spring is starting to peek out from under its winter covers. I love the month of March. There is often a lot of sun by then, and the lengthening days help me to believe that summer will, in fact, come again.
Living life in the Lake of the Woods area is a seasonal lifestyle, and this feels especially true in my vocation as a farmer. March is the month that we begin to start our seedlings, and seeing the tender green shoots poke their way out of the soil is a balm for our souls. We start our seedlings on our farm for economical reasons of course, and because we enjoy it, but it also brings us into a deeper relationship with the plants we grow and the food we eat. If you’re a gardener (or even if you aren’t one yet) I encourage you to give seed starting a try.
When it comes to working with plants, a lot of people tell me that they don’t have a “green thumb”. I usually respond by saying, “All you have to do is care about the plants.” If you care about the plants and consider what they are needing in life, you’ll be alright. Plants aren’t all that different from humans when it comes to needs; we just get those needs met in different ways. Plants need food (nutrient rich soil, light), housing (soil with a loose structure that isn’t too wet or too dry, not too crowded with other plants), and water. Now, the jury’s out on whether plants need love to thrive. In my experience, it helps, so throw a little affection their way.
Plants have an immune system, just like us. When they are stressed, their immune system doesn’t function as well, leaving them susceptible to pests and disease. A healthy thriving seedling is key to a healthy thriving plant that can resist pests and disease and ultimately, yield a nutritious bounty. A seedling being transplanted is potentially one of the most stressful events of an annual plant’s life, so we want to be sure that they are robust and healthy to make that transition.
I want to share with you some general tips that we use in our system that give us the healthiest possible seedling.
Good soil mix
The soil mix for seedlings should have a high capacity to hold water and a rich and balanced nutrient profile. This is the recipe we use to achieve this:
- 50 parts high absorbent potting soil
- 30 parts quality screened compost
- 0.5 parts naturally derived all-purpose powdered fertilizer
Temperature and humidity
Different plants prefer different temperatures and humidities, depending on the environment they are native to. Ideally, you will have seedlings in an area that you can control the temperature and humidity. We choose 20°C and 60–70 per cent humidity for our seedling room. When germinating seeds, it’s best to keep them covered so they don’t dry out. You should aim to keep the soil about the consistency of a wrung-out sponge all throughout the seedlings.
Light
In most cases, even a south facing window will not provide enough natural light for a seedling in the months that seed starting takes place. A greenhouse that has sun exposure for most of the day will work, or you can use grow lights. We use grow lights in our seedling room (we leave them on for 16 hours a day, on a timer) and then transfer mature seedlings to our greenhouse.
Like most elements of growing food, starting plants from seed is an art form as well as a science, and there are many small details that go into nurturing a healthy seedling. My best advice is to experiment and find joy in the process. We are always trying new things and always failing (aka learning).
Starting from seed connects us more to the plants we cultivate and gives gardeners of any age or experience level the opportunity to grow in their gardening journey.
There is so much more to seed starting then what I’ve covered in this article. I encourage you to continue your learning and if you’d like to volunteer at Muriel Shores Farm to learn more about how we do it, please contact us.
