Sowing

Sow your seeds and grow your own seedlings in one step using Park's Bio Dome. Instead of sowing the seeds in a flat, then thinning them, then transplanting the young plants into pots to finish growing, then transplanting them into the garden, simply sprout and grow them in the Bio Dome! All you do is drop your seeds into pre-drilled holes in the bio-sponges, and set the Bio Dome wherever you have some spare space. The clear plastic humidity dome (with adjustable vents) raises the temperature inside a degree or two, and you can use it with a heat mat if you're starting seeds in a chilly part of the house.

If you'd prefer to start your seeds in flats or trays, we have a number of reliable favorites to recommend. Perma-Nest Plant Trays are endlessly re-usable, sturdy, lightweight, and easy to clean. You can use them indoors or out, and they come in 3 sizes (all 2½ inches high):

Park's Original Bio Dome Seed Starter
Perfect Seed Starting Combination

If you're starting LOTS of seeds, and you should, they cost a fraction of what plugs and plants do. Plus, you can pick exactly the varieties you want instead of relying on the two or three that the nursery carries! You might want to consider getting the Double Bio Dome, with 120 bio-sponges. And if late spring frosts often keep you from getting your seedlings transplanted as soon as you'd like, or if you just like to grow your plants BIG before you transplant them, as I do, you will love our new Whopper Dome, with 18 giant bio-sponges! (This one's also good for starting large seeds like Four O'Clocks, Sunflowers, Sweet Peas, and others that don't fit into smaller sponges.)

Park's Double 120-cell Bio Dome Seed Starter
Park's Original Bio Dome with 18 Whopper Cells

If you prefer to start your seeds in Jiffy pots, we have a One-Step compressed peat disk (also called a Jiffy-7) that both sows and grows! Just add water and the disk swells up to about 1¾ inches high. Sow the seeds, put the One-Step in a protected place with the proper temperature, heat, and light, and you have a permanent home for your seedling until it's time to transplant it into the garden! Jiffy-7's also come in a nifty little windowsill greenhouse with a humidity dome and bottom tray! The greenhouse is re-usable (refills are very inexpensive!) and is just the right size for the kitchen window or other small space.

Park's One-Step Seed Starter
Jiffy Regular Windowsill Greenhouse

For many years gardeners have relied on Park-Starts to begin their gardens indoors. These long, slender plugs are terrific for starting seeds and encouraging roots to grow down and out into the watering tray at the base. If you're an experienced seed starter, Park-Starts are the most economical way I know to begin a lot of plants fast. As the seedlings branch out, just transplant them into larger pots to grow on, and refill your Park-Starts with another "crop"!

Park-Starts Seed Starters with Watering Tray