Growing Garden Seedlings in the Flex Farm

Growing food in the Flex Farm year-round is exciting, especially when you can have a fresh salad while it’s snowing out. When the ground thaws, however, there are some of us who cannot resist digging in the dirt to plant tomatoes, squash, herbs, flowers, and beyond. Here’s the beautiful thing: you don’t have to turn off the Flex Farm; it can actually help you start growing your outdoor garden plants. 

The Flex Farm is versatile in growing 25+ pounds of leafy greens every month, but it can also provide further access to fresh foods you can grow in your garden or in containers outside. By planting seedlings for bigger vegetables like tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, and others, the Flex Farm will create a perfect environment for the young seedlings, further ensuring you an abundance of food within a few months! You can even grow seedlings in tandem with lettuce, if you don’t want to stop growing your normal greens. 

Now, we are going to tell you exactly how to do it. 

Tool List: 

• Clean Flex Farm
• Water
• Seeds you want to plant in your garden
• Rockwool
• Nursery Tray & Dome
• Notebook

Tools for transplanting: 

• Potting soil
• Individual pots for each seedling
• Water

Seedling Ideas: 

If you are concerned about what the Flex Farm can grow, you can keep your mind open! You’ll be transplanting everything out before they start getting too big or fruiting, so the Flex Farm will be able to help give them a great start under ideal conditions, no matter what you plant. 

Some successful plants we have had Flex Farm community members grow and transplant include: multiple varieties of tomatoes and peppers, eggplants, broccoli, cabbage, and flowers, including calendula, zinnias, marigolds, lavender, and violets. This is also a great way to experiment with plants you’re growing for the first time. 

Planning: 

Depending on your growing zone, you can use the Flex Farm any time of year to get garden seedlings started in the Flex Farm. If you live in the cooler climates and are planning to plant your seedlings shortly after your last frost to maximize your growing time, there are a few things you need to consider. 

1. Determine your growing zone. Visit: www.planthardiness.ars.usda.gov and review the USDA’s plant hardiness zone map. 
2. Calculate your zone’s last approximate spring frost. (This is important because you do not want to plant seedlings too soon and lose them to a frost.) You can do this by just searching your zone + last frost date on a search engine. Alternatively, you can go to www.almanac.com/gardening/frostdates/zipcode/ and search for this using your zip code. 
3. In your notebook, you can record your zone and the anticipated last frost date. That will give you an idea of when you can start moving your seedlings outside. 
4. Generally, if dealing with cooler zones, you want to plant your seeds according to the packaging, but you can also count backwards 10-6 weeks before your last frost to determine when to plant the seeds. 

Growing: 

1. Prep your Flex Farm and start working on balancing the water, nutrients, and pH in your system. 
2. Prep your seeds, and determine how many of each you’d like to plant. 
3. Prep your rockwool and get it saturated with cold water. Drain any excess water after allowing it to soak for a few minutes. 
4. Plant one seed per rockwool hole of each of your seedlings. Record in your notebook what you are planting where. Or you can use masking tape and label each row on the nursery tray. 
5. Spray your planted seeds. Do this daily. 
6. After they sprout, make sure they are exposed to sunlight, either near a window or by placing the tray on your Flex Farm tank, with the light timer on for a minimum of 16 hours per day. 
7. Make sure the Rockwool is continuously saturated. You can add nutrient water from your Flex Farm or from the tap. Add water to the base of the tray, not on top of the seeds or seedlings. 

Transplant to the Flex Farm:

1. Once the seedlings have grown above the rockwool, you can plant them in your Flex Farm. 
2. Make sure you label the seedling locations in your notebook or using masking tape on the farm panels. 
3. Allow the seedlings to grow for as long as indicated on the seed packets before starting a transition to the outdoors. Generally, seedlings meant for the garden should be planted 10-6 weeks before your last frost. 
4. You can just use your normal Flex Farm water nutrients and goals to balance the water, regardless if they are fruiting plants or not. 

Harden off the Seedlings:

1. When you’re about 2-3 weeks from your last frost date, you can carefully remove each seedling and plant them with potting soil of your choice in individual containers. 
   1. Before potting, you can carefully peel the Rockwool cube off the root ball. This will prevent it from drying out and choking the roots. 
   2. The roots will likely be long. You can plant all of them in the pots and in the ground.
2. Begin exposing your plants to outdoor conditions. 
   1. You can start by taking them outside for a few hours during the warmest part of the day. Ensure they receive enough sunlight each day by placing them near windows or glass doors. 
   2. After a week, and ensuring your frost is done, you can leave them out overnight. 

Plant in the Garden:

1. When your garden bed is ready, you can transition your seedlings to the dirt outside.
2. Dig holes with proper spacing and depth to accommodate the roots.  
3. If your plants have a “curve” from growing in the Flex Farm, you can dig a deep enough hole and plant the seedling so it grows straight up. We see this especially with tomatoes. 
4. Fertilize your plants and make sure they get enough water. 

Now you have successfully planted your garden with the help of your Flex Farm! You will enjoy some of the most delicious and hardy plants by the end of your growing season. Now you can clean up your farm and begin growing lettuce and herbs once again. You can even start planning to plant seedlings for your outdoor fall and winter gardens, of course, this is zone-dependent. 

Keep us posted in the Farmative community on what you plant and how they hold up in the garden.