Start Your Own SEEDS

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by Jill Jesiolowski Cebenko

Starting seeds indoors provides multiple benefits: You'll get earlier harvests of crops, such as tomatoes and peppers, and earlier blooms for many flowers.

• You can choose from hundreds of interesting varieties available through seed catalogs rather than being stuck with the selection (and condition) of transplants at the local discount store or garden center.
• You can be sure your seedlings are raised organically.
• If you plant a large garden, homegrown transplants can save you a bundle of money.
• And last but not least, you don't have to wait for the spring mud to dry out to start playing in the dirt again! There's nothing like watching tiny seedlings popping up in January and February to help chase away the winter blues.

If you haven't started seeds indoors before, trust us. It's easy. Using the basic equipment described here and following these six simple steps, you can have a whole bevy of plants ready for your vegetable garden and flower beds for pennies apiece. The map and chart below will help you keep track of when to sow each crop for your region.

SIX SIMPLE STEPS

1. Your seed-starting mix should be damp, like a wrung-out sponge. If it's dry, put it in a bucket and moisten it thoroughly. Fill your containers with this damp mix, gently tamp it down and place two seeds on top of the soil. Sprinkle a little more mix (or disease-preventing NoDampOff moss ) on top of the seeds and then cover the tray with plastic. Place it in a warm spot (70 degrees or so). Most seeds do not need light at this stage, but be sure to check the tray every day for sprouts.

2. As soon as you see the first sprouts, remove the plastic cover and place the tray under fluorescent lights, just an inch or two from the bulbs. (Regular incandescent light bulbs won't work for seed starting because they produce too much heat.) Keep the lights on for about 16 hours a day and water as needed, letting the surface dry out between waterings.

3. When your seedlings form their first true leaves (not the little round leaves they have when they first emerge, but the next set) snip off the weaker of the two seedlings in each cell.

4. As the plants grow, move the lights up - or the tray down - to keep the plants within 1 to 2 inches of the lights. Fertilize every other week or so.

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