31 Best Seeds to Start in July | What to Grow in July

Colorful ferns can be an excellent addition to any garden or indoor plant collection. These plants are characterized by their beautiful, vibrant fronds ranging from shades of pink, red, yellow, and even purple.

Bromeliads are one of the most colorful plants you can adorn your rooms with. If you want the most stunning ones for your home, then check out these Best Bromeliads Anyone Can Grow Easily Indoors!

Since air plants don’t need soil to grow, they’ll be a clean addition to your coffee table. Mount them on creative holders like wood blocks, spring stands, toys, and terrariums, and they’ll look good. Don’t miss checking out these air plant maintenance tips.

YOU CAN BUY ONE IN A CATALOG, or you can make your own seed-starting rig as I did 20 years ago. It’s still growing strong. I promised the details in a comment the other day, and got reminded of my stray remark, so here they are:

If you said Heuchera, you’re right. Perhaps you’re going to reshuffle some shady beds this spring, and know that Heuchera, with their great foliage, can help make garden pictures work–but wonder which ones, and how best to use them. I invited George Coombs, trial garden manager at the must-visit Mt. Cuba Center in Delaware, with 50 acres of native-plant display gardens and 500 acres of natural land, back to the radio show to help make the best choices and grow them to perfection.George knows from Heuchera, having trialed 83 varieties side by side (the exhaustive results are in this pdf). “I say to people, ‘I’m doing Consumer Reports for plants,'” he explains. Though there are countless varieties on the market, many are duplicative in appearance or just not distinctive. “I can honestly say that when it

Q. I have leftover seeds from last year. How long do seeds last, or remain viable?Q. How do I do a germination test of leftover seeds?Q. When do I start which seeds in my Zone?Q. Can I grow my seedlings on the windowsill? Will I need grow lights?Q. How many hours a day do I run my lights?Q. What are heating mats or germination mats? Must I use one to get seeds to grow?Q. What kind of soil do I start my seed in? Can I use regular potting soil, compost, or garden soil?Q. I need a basic how-to on starting seeds.Q. What seeds do I start outdoors, right in the ground?Q. I am confused by claims of “organic” seed and other words like “sustainable” seed. Does it matter what I buy?Q. Who sells organic seed? Where can I find it?Q. What about the genetically modified or GMO seed that I hear so much about in the headlines?Q. Where can I shop for good-quality seed; what are your favorite catalogs?Q. How do you figure out what to buy in the seed catalogs?  So many beautiful choices!Q. How do I grow tomatoes from seed?Q. All my spinach and lettuce matured at once, then I had none. Why? What is succession sowing of seeds?Q. What are some of the seeds you order for yourself, Margaret?Q. Can I grow garlic from seed?Q. Can I grow potatoes from seed?Q. Can I grow asparagus from seed?Q. Can I grow clematis from seed?

Aha! Enter Andrew Beckman, then-garden editor at my former employer Martha Stewart Living, who was also my weekend neighbor and gardening buddy until he moved West to become editor of garden book publisher Timber Press.Normally, I don’t start tomatoes until April 15 here in Zone 5B, but the year we shot these photos, we were trying something new, which required a little headstart. The slides show Phase 1–starting the seeds–of our grafted-tomato experiment (aimed, as you may recall if you read my wintertime post about grafting, at giving heirloom types more vigor and better yields). But you can use the same ho

A. Sometimes when I’ve brought our seeds to a farmer’s market or event I hear people muttering as they pass our table, “I can’t start from seed.” At first it broke my heart a little. But then I started getting brave and asking people what they meant.In my mind I couldn’t fathom how someone might think they can’t grow a plant from seed. To me it’s natural, that’s how plants grow! Once I began talking to people I realized it was a fear based on previous attempts to grow from seed that did not work out–particularly seeds that need to be started early indoors in short-season areas, like tomatoes and peppers.But there are so many more seeds that can be direct sown–put in the ground at the right time and left to their own magical will to grow.Good examples of direct-sown seeds are peas, beans, corn, lettuce, arugula, calendula, nasturtium, and Asian greens. The only plants we Northerners and those in similar zones r

Eliot Coleman has written extensively about organic agriculture since 1975. He has more than 50 years’ experience in all aspects of the subject and has been a commercial market gardener, the director of research projects, a designer of tools for farmers and gardeners, and a teacher and lecturer. He and his wife, Barbara Damrosch, operate Four Season Farm, a commercial year-round market garden in Maine.Read along as you listen to the Oct. 8, 2018 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).Learn why he invokes us to “cultivate ease and order, not battle disease and disorder,” and more—plus enter to win the revised edition of “The New Organic Grower: A Master’s Manual

You’ll hear me say “wow” and “oh!” and “that’s crazy” and “amazing” a lot in the audio version of this interview—because it all is.I see a lot of birds in my garden, but my experience their offspring is limited, frankly. This year’s phoebe is incubating her clutch on the back porch, atop a stereo speaker as every spring, and when pruning a white pin

It’s seed-catalog season, when we gardeners in many regions may not be able to grow much outdoors, but can dream big. Ken, author of “Making More Plants: The Science, Art, and Joy of Propagation,” joined me on the radio show and podcast to help us all get ready for a successful season of growing from seed.This show and story is part of my annual Seed Series, and we’ll be giving away a copy of Ken’s book (see the comments box at the bottom of the page).Read along as you listen to the Jan. 21, 2019 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts h

You probably know Joe as host of the popular PBS series “Growing a Greener World” and the Joe of joegardener.com website and podcast. He’s also creator of OrganicGardeningAcademy.com, with a suite of online classes, including one about to debut on seeds. We talked about lights–he did 14 different lighting trials to try to determine which kinds are “best,” where to position them and how long to run them each day–about watering, about essential gear to make it all run smoother, and more.Read along as you listen to the February 3, 2020 edition of my public-radio show and podcast using the player below. You can subscribe to all future editions on iTunes or Spotify or Stitcher (and browse my archive of podcasts here).seed-starting ‘ahas,’ with joe lamp’lMargaret: How are you, Joe? … I’m surprised you have anything left in you after trialing all those damn seeds.[Laughter.] So, oh, he’s giddy boy.So you’ve been growing from seed confidently, or at least I thought so, for years