1) Moisten your potting soil. Add a little bit of water and mix with your hand, and keep adding a little more water until it feels just barely moist (but not wet or soggy).
2) Fill your tray or pots with the moist soil to within 1/2″ of the rim, tamping down lightly as you go.
3) Sow your onion or leek seeds on the surface of the soil, being careful not to crowd them – there should ideally be 2-4 seeds per cell or square inch, and certainly no more than 10 if you’re really trying to stretch your space. The more densely you plant them, the thinner (and more vulnerable) they are likely to be at planting time. My goal is for them to be almost as big around as a pencil by transplanting day.
4) Cover the seeds by lightly sprinkling about 1/8” of potting soil, sand or vermiculite over them, then gently water in. If you have one, cover your tray with a propagation dome to hold in moisture, then place the tray on top of a seedling heat mat. Onions & leeks germinate best at 75-85°F.
5) Once the seeds have germinated, remove the dome, remove the tray from the heat mat and place it under lights. Water gently when the surface of the soil becomes dry to the touch.
6) As the plants grow, gradually raise the lights so they are 1-3” from the top of the plants (depending on the type of bulb you’re using). When the plants reach 5” tall, use scissors to trim them back to 2” as this will encourage them to grow thicker and stronger (and the onion trimmings are delicious in sandwiches & soups!) About two weeks before planting, you can begin hardening off your onion starts by moving them outside each day.
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