How to Start Your Garden From Papercraft Miracles Seed Bombs!

Six steps for growing indoors:

One: Fill your containers of choice with either soil or a soilless seed starting mix. At this stage drainage and nutrients are key for successfully starting your seeds. Fill your container to the top and moisten the medium in preparation for sowing your seed bomb.

Two: Moisten each bomb by soaking it in a modest amount of water, just enough to make each bomb soft. Our bombs contain between 5 and 20 seeds per bomb so breaking them apart and spreading them out in a container is recommended. Place the moistened seed bomb on top of the soil, then lightly cover with some more soil. Plant the seed bomb approx 1/8”- 1/4” under the soil. The advantage of using a seed bomb is that the seeds are trapped in the paper pulp and will not wash away with regular watering required at this early stage.

Three: Cover your containers with plastic wrap (or other transparent alternative) to trap in heat and moisture, which is what seeds require to germinate. Just be sure this cover doesn’t have direct contact with the soil surface. Label each container, noting the variety and date planted. A soil temperature of 70-75 degrees F is optimal for seeds to sprout. **If you keep a gardening journal (we make these too) you can note when you planted and how long it took for each variety to germinate so you can reference this information next year.

Four: Provide ample light! As soon as seeds sprout and have broken through the soil surface, remove the plastic cover and provide ample light. Move to a sunny south facing window or place under grow lights for at least 8 hours of sunlight per day. Water requirements are still high right now but placing in a tray of water and letting the containers soak it up is recommended. Remove from water tray once soil is moistened to the surface.

Five: Thin extra seedlings and lightly fertilize. Cutting the unwanted seedlings from the established plant you want should be done rather than pulling them out and disturbing the soil and main plant. When your plants are big enough and ready to be transferred to a larger pot, use potting soil as your planting medium. At this time add your soluble fertilizer to the water once or twice before your plants go into the garden.

Six: Introduce your plants to the outdoors. Begin the hardening off process by introducing your plants to the outdoors. Your seedlings may be indoors for 6-8 weeks. During weeks 8-10, start hardening them off by putting them outside for 2-3 hours a day in full sun and then bring them back in. Do this for a week, increasing an hour each day. By the second week you can leave them out all day and night provided there is no chance of frost.

**Consult www.garden.org to find your hardiness zone to help determine the optimal time to start your seeds.

Happy Growing!

PS: Post your progress pics on Facebook and Instagram and tag us @papercraftmiracles!

www.papercraftmiracles.com