Chapter 13: On Your Mark, Get Set . . . Grow!

In This Chapter

Choosing a vegetable planting method: seeds or transplants

Determining whether to start seeds indoors or direct seed

Growing seedlings indoors

Moving your seedlings or starter plants to your garden

Planting seeds in your garden

Are you ready to plant some vegetables? Now the fun really starts. You can plant vegetables two different ways — from seed or by transplant:

When planting seeds, you either sow the seeds indoors and then transplant the young seedlings in your garden (when the time is right, of course), or you sow the seeds directly in your garden.

To skip the whole seed process altogether, you purchase young transplants (seedlings ready to be transplanted) at your local nursery or through the mail and then plant them directly into your garden.

Both methods have their advantages, and timing is critical to success. You can plant seeds quickly and without much thought. But working deliberately and carefully — whether planting indoors or out — pays off in sturdier, more vigorous plants. In this chapter, I guide you through the planting process, giving you information about correct seed spacing, planting depth, soil and germinating conditions, and fertilizing so you produce strong-growing, vigorous plants. I also show you how to plant transplants, whether you grow them yourself or buy them.

As I say throughout this book (maybe because my dad used to say it in all situations): Timing is everything when you plant vegetables. If you really want to be successful, you need to find out the planting dates for your area. Each vegetable has its own optimum growing conditions — a right soil temperature, daytime temperature, length of day, and so on — but all these factors vary greatly, depending on where you live. So make sure you check out Chapter 3 for important climate-specific information. Okay, I've made my point — on to the planting.

Choosing Seeds or Transplants

Whether you choose to grow vegetables from seeds or transplants, each planting method has its own advantages. Here are some advantages to starting from seed:

A wider choice of varieties: Your local garden store or nursery may carry only three or four varieties of tomato transplants but offer a great selection of seeds. And mail-order seed catalogs (see the appendix for addresses) offer hundreds of varieties of seeds and specialty types, such as organically grown seed.

Healthy plants: You don't have to settle for plants that are leggy (tall, weak, spindly stems) or root-bound (roots crammed into a small pot) and that may have been hanging out at the nursery too long. Such plants usually don't get off to a fast start when you plant them in the ground. Also, when you start from seed, you don't have to worry about introducing any insects or diseases into your garden that may be lurking on nursery-grown transplants.

Reduced cost: Especially if you have a large garden, starting from seed can save you some dough. A six-pack of seedlings may cost you $3.00, whereas for the same price you can buy a seed packet with 100 seeds.

A lot of fun: The excitement of seeing those first seedlings push through the soil is something special. Two feet of snow may be on the ground outside, but by sowing seeds indoors, you can enjoy a little spring.

The advantages to growing seeds stack up pretty impressively. But planting nursery-grown transplants has a major benefit as well — convenience and immediate gratification. Growing plants from seeds takes time and diligence, but going with nursery transplants gives you an instant garden. And if you have problems with transplants, you can always buy more. If you have problems with the special seed varieties you started, it's usually too late to start them again indoors, so you're out of luck growing that variety that year.

Growing seeds is like taking care of a new pet. You have to check on seeds everyday, maybe several times a day, to make sure they're happy. Unless a reliable neighbor or friend can care for your seedlings, say goodbye to your winter trip to the Caribbean. Also, you have to think in advance of what you'll be growing and need to start indoors. In this harried world, it's often easier to decide a week or so before planting what vegetable varieties you need and to buy transplants than to plan months in advance to start seeds. Plus, you have to store unused seeds somewhere where you won't forget them next winter. A metal tin in a cool, dark part of the house is best.

After you consider the advantages of each planting method, you need to make sure that you time your planting for the most productive results. Keep reading for full details on starting veggies from seeds and growing veggies from transplants.

Deciding on Your Seeding Method and Decoding a Seed Packet

Suppose you decide to grow your veggies from seeds. Now what? You have another choice to make: Will you start your seeds indoors or outdoors? If you plant seeds indoors, you have to transplant them into your garden later. With direct seeding, you skip the indoor step and sow the seeds directly into your garden. Which option should you choose? Probably both, if you're serious about growing vegetables. But consider these points when making your choice:

Starting indoors gives you a jump on the growing season. If you start at the right time (remember, timing is everything), you can have vigorous seedlings that are ready to go into the ground at the ideal time. In areas with short growing seasons, starting seedlings indoors really gives you a head start.

The best candidates for an early start are plants that tolerate root disturbance and benefit from a jump on the season. These veggies include broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, eggplant, leeks, lettuce, onions, peppers, and tomatoes. Another group of vegetables that have to be transplanted carefully but do benefit from an early start include cucumbers, melons, and squash.

Seeds are easier to start indoors. You have more control indoors, enabling you to more easily provide the perfect conditions for hard-to-germinate or very small seeds. You can provide the ideal temperature, moisture, and fertility so your seedlings grow strong and sturdy.

Some vegetables don't like to be transplanted and are better sown directly in the ground. These vegetables include many of the root crops, such as carrots, beets, turnips, and parsnips. They're cold-hardy vegetables, so you can direct seed them pretty early anyway. Crops such as corn, beans, and peas also are pretty finicky about transplanting and grow better when you sow them directly in the ground. (I discuss sowing seeds outdoors in detail later in this chapter.)

No matter your decision, the seed packet you buy to start your vegetables indoors or to plant directly in the ground is loaded with useful information. You still want to use a good book (like this one!) to get all the nitty-gritty details, but much of the information you need to plant your seeds is right on the packet. Consider some things your seed packet can tell you:

The name or description should indicate whether it's a hybrid or open-pollinated variety (see Chapter 3) and whether the seed is treated with a fungicide.

The description tells you the high points about the variety, including yields, disease resistance, and suggestions for use. Remember to read with a critical eye, because companies can make all varieties sound fabulous.

Cultural information tells you information such as when to plant, days to germination, mature plant size, days to maturity, and plant spacing.

The packing date tells you the year in which the seeds were packed. Always buy this year's seeds for best germination. Even though 1- to 2-year-old seeds will still grow well, you shouldn't be paying full price for them.

Starting Seeds Indoors

To start seeds indoors, all you need is a container, soil, seeds, moisture, warmth, and light. Oh, if only everything in life were this simple. Check out Part II to find out when to start specific vegetables indoors — remember, timing is everything. Here are the basic steps for planting seeds indoors:

1. Sow the seeds in containers filled with sterile soil (which garden centers call a germinating mix).

Keep the seeds in a warm place until germination (when the first shoots start to push through the soil).

2. After the seeds germinate, move the seedlings to a well-lit location (preferably under lights).

While your seedlings are growing in their well-lit location, be sure to keep them moist.

3. Thin crowded seedlings.

When the seedlings' heights are three times the diameter of your pot, transplant the seedlings to a larger container.

4. Acclimate the seedlings to outdoor conditions.

Adapting your seedlings to the weather conditions in the great outdoors is called hardening off.

5. Plant the seedlings in your garden.

Piece of cake; go have a drink. Now on to the details, which I cover in the following sections. (Be sure to check out the later section "Transplanting Indoor Seedlings and Starter Plants" as well.)

Picking a pot to plant in

Any container that holds several inches of soil and that you can punch drainage holes in is suitable for growing seedlings. Several low-cost possibilities include milk cartons, paper or Styrofoam cups, cottage-cheese containers, and homemade wooden flats, which are shallow, wide, seedling trays. Flats enable you to start many seedlings in a small space, which is helpful when you water or move the plants. After you plant the seeds in the flats, the seedlings stay there until planting time.

Garden stores and most mail-order garden catalogs sell a wide variety of plastic, fiber, peat, and Styrofoam flats and containers that satisfy just about any budget. You can even purchase pots made out of cow manure. Yum. Figure 13-1 shows you some flats that you can buy, along with the appropriate lights (which I discuss later in this chapter).

You can use individual peat pots for plants like cucumbers, which don't like to have their roots disturbed during transplanting. Similarly, for gardeners who put a premium on convenience, premade growing cubes are a good idea. But I have to be honest; I'm not a huge fan of peat pots or peat cubes (compressed peat pots that expand when soaked in water). The idea behind a peat pot is that once planted (pot and all) in the garden, the plants' roots grow through the sides of the wet pot, and as the season progresses, the peat naturally breaks down and disappears. But sometimes when I've used them, the peat didn't break down. In the fall when I pulled up my plants, the peat pots were still intact and some roots were constricted in the pots. If you still want to give peat pots and cubes a try, follow the guidelines in the later section "Making the big move to the ground."

Before you sow any seeds, sterilize your flats and pots (especially ones that you've used before) to prevent the fungus called damping off from killing your seedlings. (See the later sidebar "Dealing with damping off" for more on this soil-borne disease.) Dip the containers in a solution of 9 parts water to 1 part household bleach and then rinse them in clear running water.

Using a mix that doesn't include soil

The most practical seed-starting mediums for gardeners are the commercially prepared soilless or peatlite mixes that are sold in most garden stores as potting soil or germinating mix. As the name implies, the mix doesn't contain any true soil. Instead, it's usually a combination of peat moss, vermiculite or perlite, ground limestone (which brings the pH to proper levels, as I discuss in Chapter 14), fertilizer, and sometimes compost, which is good for plant growth. Potting soil is lightweight, is free of disease organisms that may be present in true garden soil, and holds moisture well but at the same time offers good aeration and drainage.

Don't use garden soil to start seeds indoors. Garden soil isn't light enough (that is, it doesn't have enough air spaces) and may contain insects or diseases that can kill your tender seedlings.

Sowing your seeds

After you've chosen the proper container and soilless soil (or growing medium), follow these steps to sow your seeds:

1. Fill a container with moistened growing medium to within 1/2 inch of the top of the container.

Soilless mixes are dusty and difficult to wet initially. Pour the mix into a plastic bag, and then add enough warm water to moisten the mix but not turn it into a drippy mud pie. Mix the water and growing medium with your hands or a strong wooden spoon, closing off the opening of the bag as much as possible to keep the dust in. Remove the soil from the bag and place it in the container. Gently firm down the medium with a flat piece of wood, such as a ruler.

2a. If you're planting seeds in a flat, follow these directions to sow your seeds:

Make shallow furrows (rowlike impressions) with a blunt stick or by pressing the narrow edge of a ruler into the medium. Then sow the seeds according to these guidelines:

• Sow small seeds, such as lettuce, at about five to eight seeds per inch if you intend to transplant them into different containers soon after they come up. Sow larger seeds, such as melons, at three to four seeds per inch.

• Sow seeds more sparingly, at three to four seeds per inch, if you intend to thin and leave them in the same container (rather than transplant into a larger container).

Either method — transplanting the seeds into a new container or leaving them in the same container — works fine; it's just a matter of what pots and room you have. Transplanting into individual pots takes up more room but allows larger plants such as tomatoes more room for their roots to grow. Smaller plants, such as lettuce, grow fine when thinned and left in their original containers.

You can broadcast (randomly spread) seeds rather than plant them in rowlike trenches, but row planting and thinning are easier.

2b. If you're planting seeds in individual containers, here's how you sow:

• Put two to four seeds in each container.

• Later, thin the seedlings, leaving the strongest one.

3. After sowing the seeds at the correct depth (see the appendix), cover them with fine potting soil or vermiculite.

Label each row or container because many seedlings look alike. You can purchase labels from a nursery or through a mail-order catalog, or you can use old ones from previously purchased nursery transplants. Using a waterproof pen, record the type of vegetable, the variety, and the date that the seed was planted.

4. Water the seeds gently with a mister or spray bottle.

A stronger stream of water can wash seeds into one section of the container or move them too deeply into the soil.

5. Cover the container with a sheet of clear plastic or a plastic bag to hold in the moisture.

If necessary, use small stakes to prop up the plastic so it doesn't rest on top of the soil.

6. Place the planted containers in a warm spot.

The cooler the temperature, the longer it takes for the plants to emerge, so keep 'em warm and toasty! Some warm spots include the top of your refrigerator or near your furnace. But be careful how you water around electrical appliances. You also can buy heating cables or mats that keep the soil warm from below. Follow the package instructions carefully.

Never put containers in direct sun; the plastic cover holds in the heat, cooking your seeds to death.

7. Check the containers daily to make sure they're still moist but not so wet that they mold.

If you see signs of mold, loosen the cover and let air in; the mold should disappear. You also can hook up a small fan to gently blow across the seedlings (without the plastic cover on), keeping the soil on the dry side. However, be careful not to dry out the seedlings.

8. As soon as you see the first green shoots emerge, remove the plastic cover and move your seedlings to a spot that provides plenty of light and the proper growing conditions for that vegetable.

Refer to the chapter covering that vegetable for information about the proper growing conditions. Until seedlings emerge from the soil, light is unnecessary, with the exception of lettuce and celery seeds. Sow these seeds by lightly pressing them into the soil or covering them very lightly with 1/8 inch of fine potting soil, and then place the containers in a bright spot or position them under a 40-watt incandescent light.

Providing the right amount of light and heat

The light that your young seedlings receive is one of the most important factors in good growth. Placing the seedlings in a south-facing window is one option but not always the best one. Even in a sunny window, plants get only a fraction of the light that they would get outside. Windowsill plants often get tall and spindly because they get too warm in relation to the light they receive.

Try to keep your seedlings on the cool side — 60 to 65 degrees Fahrenheit (75 degrees maximum) — to encourage slower growth; cooler temperatures give you sturdy, stocky plants that transplant well. Although a 10- to 15-degree drop in temperature at night is beneficial, a windowsill can get pretty chilly at night when it's wintry outside. Place a blanket between the plants and the glass to keep windowsill seedlings warm on frosty nights, or move plants away from the window at night.

Growing seedlings under fluorescent lights is a good way to keep light-hungry plants happy. Ordinary cool-white, 40-watt fluorescent bulbs are fine for starting seedlings. If possible, set up your lights near a window so the plants can receive both natural and artificial light. The more expensive grow lights that you can purchase at a nursery or through a mail-order seed catalog produce the broader spectrum light that plants need for flowering and fruiting (although your seedlings will be in the garden before they're ready to flower).

No matter what kind of light you have, use one set of lights (usually 2 bulbs to a set) for every 1-foot-width of seedling-growing area and keep the bulbs 2 to 4 inches from the tops of the seedlings at all times. Keep the lights on for no more than 16 hours per day so the plants can get their natural rest period. Inexpensive timers that turn the lights on and off automatically are available at nurseries and hardware stores.

Watering your seedlings

Water fragile seedlings carefully, or you risk uprooting them. Mist them with a gentle spray, or water them from the bottom by setting your container in a pan of water just long enough for the soil surface to wet (keeping them in water longer than this can damage the plants' roots). After the surface is wet, remove the container from the water and let it drain. Keep the soil surface lightly moist but not soggy. Always water with lukewarm water, and try to do so early in the morning, if possible. This way the foliage can dry off quickly during the day to avoid disease problems.

As your plants get sturdier, you can water with a sprinkling can that has a rose, a nozzle that breaks the water into many fine streams. After the plants grow their first set of true leaves (the first leaves to open as the seed germinates are called seedling leaves, and the next set are true leaves) and have a bigger root system, let the soil dry out slightly between waterings.

Give the plants enough water at one time so that some of it runs out the drainage holes in the bottom of the container, but never leave the container sitting in water. Overwatering promotes damping-off disease (see the sidebar "Dealing with damping off") and decreases the amount of air in the soil, resulting in a weaker root system.

With soilless mixes, you may have a difficult time deciding when to water, because the soil looks dry on the surface even though plenty of moisture is still present. To check whether the soil has moisture, take a small amount of soil off the top 1/2 inch of mix and squeeze it between your fingers. If you can squeeze out any water, hold off watering. The difference in a container's weight when the soil is moist compared to when it's dry can also indicate when to water. Dry soil is very light. Finally, wilted seedlings also are a sure sign that you've waited too long to water (unless, of course, your plants have damping off).

Certain types of containers require more frequent watering. For example, soil in clay pots dries out faster than soil in plastic pots. Peat pots dry out fast and are difficult to rewet. Try putting your peat pots or growing-cubes in a tray and packing moist peat moss between them to keep them from drying out too quickly.

Self-watering seed starting kits that reduce the need for checking your seedlings daily for dryness are now available. These kits have a reservoir of water in the bottom of the tray that wicks into the pots when the soil is dry. See the appendix for companies carrying seed starting supplies.

Thinning and transplanting indoors

After seedlings develop their first set of true leaves (or when onions or leeks, which send up a single blade, are 2 inches tall), you need to thin them or move them from shallow flats to larger quarters. Thinning is an important step, and timing is crucial. If you let your seedlings grow too large in a small container, their growth is stunted. And if you don't space them out at all, you end up with weak plants.

To thin plants that will continue growing in the same container, snip out extra seedlings at the soil line with a pair of scissors, as shown in Figure 13-2. If you try to pull these seedlings out, you may disturb the roots of the plants that are staying. Also be sure to snip out any weak or misshapen plants. The appendix explains how much space to leave between different types of vegetable seedlings.

To move seedlings to a new container, first fill a larger container (plastic six-packs, 4-inch pots, or peat pots) with moist potting soil. Poke holes in the soil large enough to put the seedling roots in — the eraser end of a pencil is a good tool for this. Dig around the plants carefully by using the blade of a table knife or a small stick, such as a plant label, and then lift the seedlings out of the soil. Always hold the seedlings by the tips of their leaves; otherwise, you can easily crush their delicate stems or injure their growing tips. Set the plants in the new container, slightly deeper than they were growing before. Firm the soil gently around the roots, water well, and keep the plants out of direct sun for a day or two until they adjust to their new pots.

Feeding your seedlings

Regular fertilizing helps produce strong, healthy plants. Some potting soils already have fertilizer mixed in, and in that case you don't have to add more. For other types, use a diluted water-soluble fertilizer to one-third strength (usually 1 teaspoon of fertilizer per gallon of water) to water your seedlings. Water with the solution once a week. For more on fertilizers, see Chapter 15.

Transplanting Indoor Seedlings and Starter Plants

After you nurture your seedlings indoors for a good 4 to 8 weeks, and when the weather's right for planting (see Chapter 3 to find out when to plant in your area), you're ready to transplant the seedlings outdoors. Or maybe you haven't grown seedlings at all, but you want to buy some starter plants at a nursery and get them in the ground. I discuss both scenarios in the following sections.

Buying starter plants

If you don't start your transplants from seeds at home, you can buy them at a nursery or garden center. You can find seedlings of almost every type and size around planting time. However, the range of varieties available will be greater if you start your own transplants from seed.

Follow these tips when buying starter plants:

Choose healthy-looking plants. Tomatoes, for example, should have a stocky stem, be about 4- to 6-inches tall, and sport dark-green foliage. Read the Part II chapters that discuss the vegetable you want to find out what makes a healthy-looking plant.

Avoid large, crowded, spindly plants in small containers. The roots of these types of plants are often bound up and have no room to grow. You can check the roots for yourself by gently removing the transplants from their containers (if you aren't sure how to do this, see "Making the big move to the ground," later in this chapter). If you see a dense mat of roots around the outside of the root ball (the soil with roots growing in it), the plants probably have been in the pot too long.

Buy plants at the optimum size. Plants with four to six leaves and short, stocky stems are usually best. In general, younger plants are better than tall, older plants that most likely were stressed at one point or another.

Avoid plants that are already flowering and have fruit on them. Plants with flowers and fruits never produce well.

You can sometimes buy large tomato plants in 1-gallon or larger pots — sometimes they even have tomatoes on them. In my experience, these large plants rarely grow well after you get them home. I prefer smaller transplants that can get off to a running start.

You can buy vegetable transplants locally, but many mail-order seed companies now also offer a wide range of vegetable varieties as small plants or plugs. The plants usually are in good shape. They offer a wider selection than you can find in garden centers, you don't have to drive around to find the best transplants, and they ship plants to you at the appropriate planting time for your region. See the appendix for the addresses of various mail-order companies.

Toughening up all types of transplants

Vegetable seedlings that are grown indoors at home or purchased from a greenhouse or nursery in spring need to acclimate gradually to the brighter light and cooler temperatures of the outside world. This process, called hardening off, slows plant growth, causing the plants to store more food internally and increase the thickness of their outer leaf layers. Basically, hardening off toughens up transplants for the cold, cruel, outside world.

To harden off your transplants, follow these steps:

1. A week or two before you intend to set plants out in your garden, stop fertilizing and reduce the amount of water you give them.

Give plants just enough water so they don't wilt.

2. Take your plants outside for a short time.

Give the plants a half hour of filtered sunlight — setting them under an arbor or open-branched tree — during the warmest part of the day. If the weather is windy, put the plants in a spot where they're sheltered, or construct a windbreak out of pieces of wood.

3. Gradually increase the amount of time that the plants spend outside and the intensity of the light that they're exposed to.

You want to increase the amount of time your plants are outside so that by day seven, they're out all day. Move them into progressively sunnier locations during the week so they get used to their future condition in the ground. However, make sure that you bring the plants in every night.

Another option is to move your plants to a cold frame (see Chapter 21), and then you can open the cold frame more each day and close it at night. Plants that are raised in a cold frame from the time that they're young seedlings will need much less hardening off.

Don't overharden your plants. Certain crops, such as cabbage and broccoli, can quickly bolt (flower before they're supposed to) if seedlings older than 3 weeks are repeatedly exposed to temperatures lower than 40 degrees for a couple of weeks.

Making the big move to the ground

Before transplanting your homegrown seedlings or nursery-bought transplants, you need to prepare your soil and sculpt beds or rows (as described in Chapter 14), and your garden must be ready to plant. If you're worried about keeping the rows straight, use string and stakes as described in the later section "Row planting."

Choose a calm, cloudy day to transplant, if possible. Late afternoon is a good time because plants can recover from the shock of transplanting without sitting in the midday heat and sun. Your garden soil should be moist, but not soggy. If the weather has been dry, water the planting area the day before you plant. Moisten the soil in your flats or pots so it holds together around the plants' roots when you remove the plants from their containers.

When setting out plants in biodegradable peat pots, make slits down the sides of the pots or gently tear the sides to enable the roots to push through. Also, tear off the lip (top) of the pot so it doesn't stick up above the soil surface and pull moisture out of the soil. If you're using premade growing blocks encased in netting, cut off the netting before planting.

To transplant seedlings, follow these steps:

1. Use a hoe, spade, or trowel to make a small hole in your garden for each seedling.

The hole should be deep enough so the transplant is at the same depth in the ground as it was in the pot (except for tomatoes). Make the hole twice as wide as the root ball.

2. Unpot a seedling (unless it's in a peat pot) by turning its pot upside down and cupping the seedling with your hand.

Be sure to keep the root mass and soil intact. If the seedling doesn't come out easily, gently tap on the edge of the pot or gently press on the bottom of each cell of the flat with your fingers. Whatever you do, don't yank out a plant by its stem.

3. Check the root ball's condition.

If the roots are wound around the outside of the pot, work them loose with your fingers so they can grow out into the soil. Unwind larger roots and break smaller ones (this won't hurt them) so they all point outward. Try to keep as much of the original soil intact as possible.

4. Mix a diluted liquid fertilizer into the soil of the planting hole to help the plants get off to a fast start.

Reduce the recommended strength on the fertilizer container by half. For example, if it says apply 1 tablespoon per gallon of water, use only 1/2 tablespoon. (See Chapter 15 for more on fertilizers.)

5. Put each prepared seedling into the holes that you made.

Most young vegetables should be planted at the same soil level as they were in the pot, as shown in Figure 13-3. For some vegetables, such as tomatoes, you can sink the seedling a little deeper. They grow extra roots along the lower portion of their stems and thrive with this treatment.

6. After firming the soil around the roots with your hands, form a shallow soil basin around the base of the transplant.

The soil basin serves as a moat around the seedling to hold water. When you water or it rains, the moisture stays in the moat and drains to where the roots are located. Chapter 15 provides more information on soil basins.

7. Depending on the conditions, water the bed that day or the next.

If the weather has been dry or if the soil is sandy, you may want to water the entire bed; if it's rainy or the soil is already very wet, wait until tomorrow to water.

8. Keep the bed moist while the seedlings get established and begin to grow strongly.

In extreme hot, dry weather, provide temporary shade for transplants with paper tents or wooden shingles pushed into the ground on the south or west side of the plants.

If you don't get an ideal transplanting day and the weather is hot and sunny, shade the plants until the sun goes down. And don't be alarmed if your plants look a little droopy after you set them out; they'll soon recover. Cabbage seedlings can droop and look almost dead, for example, and be up and growing in a day or two.

Sowing Seeds Directly in Your Garden

Unless you live in an area where summers are really short, some vegetables are better off sown directly in a garden rather than as transplants. Large-seeded, fast-growing vegetables — such as corn, melons, squash, beans, and peas — usually languish if they're grown in containers for even a day or two too long. Plants sown directly in the ground usually surpass these seedlings if both are planted at the same time. (Even if you live in a short-season area, you can help speed new plants along. See Chapter 21 for information on extending your growing season.)

In the following sections, I describe different methods for planting seeds right into your garden and show you how to thin seedlings carefully.

Deciding on a seed-planting method

You can plant seeds in a variety of patterns: single rows, wide rows, beds, raised beds, or hills. The method you choose depends on your climate, your tools, and your taste. You can find out more about these planting methods in Chapter 3. Whichever method you choose, here are a few basic principles to keep in mind when planting seeds:

Make sure that the soil has dried out sufficiently before you work it, and be sure that the soil is warm enough for the seeds that you want to plant. Pea seeds, for example, germinate in soil as cool as 40 degrees, and you can plant them as soon as you can work the soil in spring. Squash seeds, on the other hand, need warmth. If your soil temperature is much below 65 degrees, the seeds are likely to rot in the ground before they sprout. (See the appendix for a list of appropriate soil temperatures for different kinds of seeds.) The best way to determine the temperature of your soil is to use a soil thermometer, which you can buy at a garden store. Chapter 14 provides more information on preparing your soil for sowing.

Immediately before planting seeds, loosen your garden soil with a hoe or shovel to a depth of 6 inches. Rake over the area to create a smooth planting surface. Don't walk over areas where you'll be sowing seeds; stay in the pathways. Compacting the soil makes it difficult for seedlings to emerge and send down their roots.

Sow seeds at the proper planting depth. A seed planted too deeply uses up its supply of stored nutrients before the seedling can push its way to the surface; a seed planted too shallow may dry out. A general rule is to plant seeds to depths that are two to three times their diameters, but the appendix gives recommended planting depths for different kinds of seeds. Also try to sow at a uniform depth because seedlings are more likely to emerge at the same time, enabling you to see where your plants are when you do your first weeding.

Water newly planted seeds carefully. Use a watering can with a rose (nozzle with multiple holes) or a hose with a breaker attachment (a nozzle that breaks the stream into a gentle spray). A strong stream of water can wash seeds out of a bed or too deeply into the ground. Keep the seeds moist but not soggy until the seeds germinate. Heavy soils often form a crust as they dry out, making it difficult for the seedlings to break through. A moist surface helps prevent crusting, as does covering seeds with vermiculite or sand, instead of soil alone. If the weather is dry after you sow the seeds, gently water the seeded area every 2 days or so.

The following sections explain the basic methods for planting your seeds.

Row planting

The first step when row planting is to mark the placement of a row within your garden. A planting line consisting of a simple string and stakes enables you to easily lay out rows. Make a furrow, or trench, at the correct depth along the row. To make a shallow furrow, lay a rake or hoe underneath your string marker, and press the handle into the soil. You can make deeper furrows (ones that can be used for watering, too) by dragging the corner of your hoe across the soil surface, using the string as your guideline.

Sow seeds more thickly than you want the final spacing of the crops to be to ensure an adequate number of plants; some seeds may fail to sprout. Thinning rows is less of a chore if you space seeds as evenly as possible. Large seeds like peas and beans are easy to space at precise intervals, but evenly spacing small seeds can be a real challenge.

Cover the seeds with fine soil and then firm them in with the back of a hoe to make sure that all the seeds are in contact with the soil. Water gently.

If you're planting long rows of corn, beans, or peas that will be furrow-irrigated (see Chapter 15), fill the furrows with water first and then push the large seeds into the top of raised beds.

Wide row planting

You can plant more seeds in less space and get higher yields by using the wide row planting method. (Figure 13-4 compares wide rows and straight single rows.) This method not only saves space but also allows you to concentrate watering, weeding, and fertilizing in a smaller area. Follow these steps for wide row planting:

1. Choose the location and width of your row, usually 10 to 16 inches wide, and then smooth the soil until it's level.

You may want to run strings along the outside edges of the row to clearly designate the planting area.

2. Sprinkle seeds over the entire row — with most crops, try to land the seeds about 1/2 to 1 inch apart (for peas and beans, 1 1/2 to 2 inches).

Pat the seeds down with the back of a hoe.

3. Use a rake to lift soil from the side of the row to cover the seeds, and gently smooth the soil covering the seeds to the same depth throughout the row.

With small seeds like carrots and lettuce, cover the seeds with a thin layer of potting soil. Then pat the potting soil down again to bring the added soil into firm contact with the seeds.

4. Water the seeds gently.

Keep the soil moist by gently watering a few times a week or when you see that the top layer of soil is drying out.

Raised bed planting

Planting raised beds is essentially the same as planting wide rows. To prepare your beds, see Chapter 14. If you don't have permanent beds, mark the dimensions and smooth out the soil. You can broadcast sow (sprinkle by hand) in single rows with a few inches between rows, as shown in Figure 13-5, or you can plant individual seeds at the proper distance apart.

Hill planting

Plant seeds for vining crops that spread out — such as squash, melons, or cucumbers — in hills or circular groups, as shown in Figure 13-6. Loosen and level the soil in a 1-foot-diameter area, and then plant five to six seeds close together. After the second set of true leaves form, keep the two strongest seedlings (the ones that are the biggest and sport the most leaves) and thin out the remaining seedlings by cutting them with scissors (see the next section for details).

If your soil is heavy, you may want to plant in a raised hill (also called a mound). The raised soil warms up more quickly than the surrounding soil and drains better. But be careful in midsummer not to let the mound dry out. You can easily construct a soil basin around the mound for watering (see Chapter 15).

Thinning seedlings in your garden

Soon after seedlings grow their second set of true leaves, you need to thin them out. Don't neglect this important step; crowded seedlings turn into weak, spindly plants that don't produce well. Separate the plants by hand or with a narrow hoe according to the distances in Chapter 3.

When you thin plants, either discard the extra seedlings or move them to another part of your garden. Newly transplanted seedlings need extra attention until they get established. Shade them from the hot sun for a day or two and be sure to keep them well watered. Lettuce is one of the easiest vegetables to move when it's small. Root crops such as beets and carrots transplant poorly, as do beans and peas.

You can thin some crops in stages, with delicious results. Carrots, lettuce, and beets are all good candidates for gradual thinning. If you've ever tasted beet greens cooked up with tender, marble-sized beets still attached, you know what a real treat they are. Start thinning carrot, lettuce, and beet seedlings when they're 1 to 2 inches apart. After the plants grow to 6 to 8 inches tall, pull up every other one and enjoy them. Leave a final 4- to 6-inch spacing for larger plants to develop.