How to Start Seeds Indoors Without Purchasing Equipment

Seeds - Order seeds or pull out the seeds you collected from your garden last year. Decide the number of plantings you will need to meet your goals this year.

Containers - Start collecting containers that you can use as seed starting pots. This can be yogurt containers, or the bottom 4 inches of a 500 ml water bottle. Larger than this may bee too large. Gather as many as you will need. Wash well and cut drainage holes in the bottom by clipping the bottom edge with scissors in 4 places. You will need larger containers that will not leak to set these smaller containers within, margarine containers will work.

Soil - The one thing you may want to buy is potting soil. Commercial potting soil will be sterile, probably through a heating process. Soil from outside may have seeds from weeds which will compete with your sprouts for nutrients and water.

Sun - prepare a space in a sunny southern window. Protect any furniture or other surfaces from accidental water spills.

Put it all together - Place two to three seeds per container. Mark them well (sharpie marker on the plastic container works well). Keep the area warm. Keep the water consistently applied. While the seeds are just sprouting "Tent" the area with a clear plastic cover that you drape over the entire area. Keep it off of the seeds with uprights (full water bottles?). Recycle materials for this tent as well, use plastic from the dry-cleaners or a white kitchen garbage bag that you will use after the seeds go outside.

To harden off the seeds, which means to get them tough enough to deal with the harsh out-of-doors, begin to open the window on warm days. Close the window at night. Then leave the window open at night. Then move the seeds to a shady place outside after all risk of frost is past. Move them into the places where you want to plant them for a few hours a day, gradually increasing the number of hours until they are fully acclimated to their new environment. This may take as few as 3 - 5 days, depending on the weather.