How to Jumpstart a Garden

As soon as spring arrives, you'll want to get a jump start on your vegetable garden. You can start your vegetables indoors and transplant them in about six weeks.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Planting soil
• Peat pots
• Planting tray or container
• Seeds
• Spray bottle
• Pencil

1. Fill peat pots with dampened soil to just below the rim of the pot. Water until moist. Press down on soil and see if you need to add a little bit more.

2. Use your pencil to make several holes in the soil. Check the seed packet to determine how deep the holes need to be. Put one seed in each hole and cover with soil. If you wish to, you can use Popsicle sticks to label the peat pots. This is necessary if you won't recognize the seedlings and be able to identify them. Water if needed with the spray bottle. Don't soak the seeds.

3. Put the planting tray in a bright place. A south-facing window is most desirable, but fluorescent lighting can also be used. Rotate the tray every few days so the seedlings grow tall and straight. Keep them moist but don't overwater. You do not want mold to appear.

4. Depending on how many seedlings are growing, you may want to remove some so as not choke the healthiest seedlings. Keep watering gently and rotating the container or planting tray.

5. After approximately six weeks, you are ready to move the seedlings outside. For the first week, put the seedlings outside during the day and bring them in at night. After a week of this, leave them out for 48 hours.

6. The seedlings are now adjusted to the outdoor temperature. Plant the peat pots directly into the soil in your garden. Cover the peat pot completely.

[vallain]

on 6/11/2008 For anyone not willing to tend the seedlings for weeks, they can just spend big bucks buying fairly mature plants at a nursery.