Seed Starting Secrets

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Beans are planted outdoors when all danger of frost is past, about six inches apart for most varieties. My particular favorite is the Royalty purple-podded bean. I like the ease with which it can be seen at harvest and the fact that it can be planted a few weeks earlier than most other types.

Peas, of course, like it cool, so they're grown in spring and fall in most climates or over the winter in such very southern locales as parts of Florida, Texas, and California. Typically planted around St. Patrick's Day in the North, or as soon as the ground can be worked in central states, peas are often the first seeds to be sown and are an important part of the ritual of spring. They can be planted fairly close together, leaving only two to three inches required between seeds.

PARSLEY FAMILY: This group includes carrots, parsnips, parsley, and celery.

Direct-sown and slow to germinate (requiring up to 30 days), the seeds of parsley and carrots can be hurried along a bit by soaking them overnight in warm water and then "towel drying" them for easier sowing. A friend of mine swears by mixing fine carrot seed with his dried, already used coffee grounds, claiming this provides better distribution of seeds as well as a nutritional boost for the young plants. Some gardeners suggest that using fresh grounds will help prevent visits from the carrot fly by confusing that pest's ability to home in on the carrot scent. You may also want to try a technique that's good for most root crops: Incorporate some of your accumulation of winter's wood ashes into the soil or use them as a sidedressing. The ash will add potassium, sweeten acidic earth, and deter wireworms.

Parsnips are a good choice for gardeners young in age or in experience, because they're difficult to oversow. It's not that they love overcrowding, but that the germination rate is usually low enough to allow everything to come out just right. (For this reason, careful planters should be sure to use only the freshest of seed.) In clay soils, radishes can be interplanted with parsnips to break up the surface and thus ease the slower seedlings' passage. Since parsnip germination takes three to four weeks and the vegetable requires a long growing season, get those seeds in as soon as the ground can be worked in spring!

Another lover of cool temperatures, celery may not even sprout if its environment is too warm. To encourage germination, you can try exposing the seeds to light for a day before planting. Celery can take up to three weeks to sprout, so you may try speeding things up with, again, the old warm water bath. The key to growing celery is in knowing that it has a very shallow root system, and for this reason, requires its food and water to be served up within easy reach.

MUSTARD FAMILY: These dicots make up a large family that includes kale, cabbage, brussels sprouts, cauliflower, broccoli, mustards, kohlrabi, rutabagas, turnips, and some of the Chinese greens.

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