Marquette’s Mike Riesterer looks over the Queen City Seed Library, located at the Peter White Public Library in Marquette. (Journal photo by Christie Mastric)

MARQUETTE — There are a plethora of options to choose from when it comes to planting seeds. Fruits, vegetables, flowers, trees — the possibilities are simply endless.

“There’s such diversity to seeds, but they’re all kind of these baby plants. I just think it’s so wild that a plant is going to come from that little tiny seed,” Michigan State University Extension Consumer Horticulture Educator Isabel Branstorm said.

Branstorm was the speaker for the online presentation “Starting Your Garden Indoors with Seeds,” put on by the American Association of Retired Persons, AARP, on April 8.

The presentation kicked off with a question: “Why should you start growing seeds?”

There are many reasons to grow plants from seeds. For one, there are a lot of seed options, meaning people can choose species that are adaptive to where they live. Plus, the final product can be shared with family and friends.

“It’s fun because you get to try new things, figure out what works for you, what you think tastes good, what is fun to share for you, there’s more options when you start from seed,” Branstorm said.

For those new to starting seeds, Branstorm recommends staring small and seeing what works for you.

Grow things that you like and will use, either to keep for yourself or to give to others. Plan, learn from your mistakes, and plan again. Unexpected things can happen to plants, like insects or animals munching on them, or unforeseen weather conditions.

Before starting the growing process, you must determine what type of plant you want to grow. Will you grow cool season or warm season crops? Cool season crops do well when the weather is cooler, and warm-season crops do well in warmer weather.

Cool-season crops that are best for planting outdoors include peas, lettuces, spinach, kale, and carrots. These root crops are easier to plant directly outdoors because they can get big and the roots can really form into the ground when planted outdoors. The best cool season crops for starting indoors include broccoli and cauliflower.

Warm season crops do well in the height of summer when it’s warm, 60 degrees or warmer. The best warm season crops to plant outdoors include beans, cucumbers, and squash. These are easier to plant outdoors because their roots are sensitive. The best warm season crops to start indoors include tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers; as they have a long growing season and you want to get a head start on planting them.

Consistant moisture, correct temperature, and light are all things seeds need to grow. All seeds are different when it comes to how deep you should plant them in the soil.

“You don’t want to plant a seed too far down where it’s going to have to work really hard to shoot up those true leaves, because it only has so much energy. Imagine a seed as a packet of energy, it only has so much to reach the top of that soil, gets its true leaves out, and start to grow,” Branstorm said.

You can refer to the packet seeds come in to indicate how far down to plant them.

To start seeds indoors, moisten a soilless mix, place the seed according to seed packet depth, water lightly, cover the top with plastic, and place in a location that has a temperature that is close to the recommendation on the seed packet. Once they start germinating and start popping up out of the soil, they need light.

To transplant your indoor seed to the outdoors, Branstorm recommends moving the plants outside for an hour, then the next day for two hours, and so on for ten days to acclimate them to the outdoor conditions.

Warm season crops can be transplanted outside once the risk of frost has passed, and cool season crops can be transplanted outside once the ground can be worked in the spring. Refer to the seed packet to determine how far apart to space the plants when planting them outside, as proper air flow between them is important.

“Make sure you’re giving the plant enough space to be amongst its neighbors,” Branstorm said. “You’re never expected to know it all, I certainly don’t know it all. It’s gardening, we are learning as best we can and making mistakes, learning from those mistakes, and sharing with the world.”

Seed libraries are a great resource to help find the seeds you’d like to work with. There are several seed libraries throughout the Upper Peninsula. In Marquette, The Queen City Seed Library, located in the Peter White Public Library, was started in 2016 and contains a wide variety of vegetable seeds which grow well in the U.P. A variety of flower seeds are also available.

“The Queen City Seed Library provides free seeds to the public so that gardens can be started and food security concerns can immediately be addressed,” said Mike Riesterer, a Queen City Seed Library volunteer. “Those who become ‘seed patrons’ are asked to harvest seeds at the end of the growing season from a few of the plants their seeds produced and return seeds to the seed library.

“If more people plant gardens, save seeds from their plants, and then return seeds to the seed library, our community would achieve a high level of food security and self-sufficiency.”

Riesterer said the seed library is operated by local volunteers, including Northern Michigan University students as well as local high school students.

The only requirement to contribute seeds to the library is that they are non-GMO and open-pollinated.

“Seeds which have been harvested from local gardens are ideal because they are better adapted to our short growing season,” Riesterer said.

The Gwinn Seed Library, located in the Forsyth Township Public Library, has just opened this week.

According to organizer Steve Finley, it is a collaborative effort by locals, Forsyth Township Public Library, Transition Marquette County, Queen City Seed Library, and Lets Grow KI. It contains over 70 seed varieties and accepts seed donations that are focused on U.P. and short season varieties. There will also be free workshops focused on gardening starting in May. For more information on the workshops, visit www.forsythtwplibrary.org /gwinn-seed-library/.

“Gwinn is a very nice, small town with some extraordinary people. Helping and investing in this community to grow great food is a goal of the Seed Library,” Finley said.

A map of seed libraries in Michigan can be found at www.miseedlibrary.org.