The Garden Journal

February is when we at Laughing Goat Flower Farm get really  serious about seed starting. In December, I carefully go through our seed cabinet inventory, ordering what we need for the next season, updating our seed calendar and our tracking sheets for the greenhouse, as well as ordering any new and exciting things we want to try out for the first time. It’s a methodical job that I do every winter, when the weather outside is less than best for garden tasks, and  it helps our team hit the ground running when it’s time to start our seeds indoors. With our last frost date moving forward in the calendar every year (it seems), this year for Enumclaw we are predicted for last frost on/by April 5th, which means February is your 6-9 week time-frame to get seeds started before transplanting outside. 

We get asked all the time where we buy our seeds from. Here are some of my favorite companies to order seeds from. This is not an advertised post, we do not receive any free seeds at the farm, and these are all companies that we support and purchase directly from, and have for years, with great results. That being said, I’d like to give a quick plug for our own (growing) line of curated seeds that we hand collect right here on the farm. Our offerings change every year, depending on what we have available. While we aren’t certified organic growers, we consider our farm to be better than organic, as we do not use any chemicals on our crops. Safe for the bees, safe for the environment, safe for humans. 

In no order of importance, so will share alphabetically, here are the seed companies to check out. Most, if not all of these companies offer both certified organic, as well as heirloom variety seed for sale. We do not purchase GMO-seed ever, and these companies do not sell GMO crops.

Adaptive Seeds: adaptiveseeds.com

Annie’s Annuals & Perennials (plants): anniesannuals.com

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds: www.rareseeds.com

Digging Dog Nursery (unusual plants): diggingdog.com 

Eden Brothers: edenbrothers.com

High Mowing Organic Seeds: www.highmowingseeds.com

Johnny’s Selected Seeds: johnnysseeds.com

Seed Savers Exchange: seedsavers.org

Seeds of Change: seedsofchange.com

Select Seeds: selectseeds.com

Swallowtail Garden Seeds: swallowtailgardenseeds.com

Territorial Seed Co.: territorialseed.com

Victory Seeds: victoryseeds.com

We plant our seeds into a soilless organic potting mix, Black Gold Organic Seedling Mix. One bag will fill approximately 4 trays. Seedling mix is preferred to potting soil for starting seeds, as it is both fine enough for aeration and moisture, while also providing a medium free of additives that seeds don’t need to get started. Seeds have all the nutrition they need - they are a plant in a box. Potting soil typically is more dense, and has nutrient additives to help plants grow, which can promote bacterial growth around seedlings and cause a phenomenon known as ‘damping off’, which is death to your seedlings. 

Beyond good seeds and a quality seedling mix, all you need are trays, some heat and light, a toothpick, and patience. Good luck!