Southampton - It's been a long, cold winter. Aren't you just itching to get out in the garden and get your fingers into the dirt? Just plant some seeds in pots indoors to get a jump on the growing season. Starting now will let you raise your own seedlings and have them ready transplant out to the garden when the weather is warm enough.

A Universe Of Possibilities
If you like to grow your own vegetables, herbs, or flowers, you probably get tired of seeing the same things at the garden center every year. Commercial growers tend to concentrate on the plants that are the biggest sellers. But starting your own plants from seeds gives you a much broader range of choices. If you grow tomatoes, you can choose from 30 or 40 varieties instead of five or six. Looking for sunflowers? A good seed catalog can offer 20 different kinds, or more. There are loads of seed catalogs online (three of my favorites are Renee's Garden (reneesgarden.com), Johnny's Selected Seeds (johnnyseeds.com) and Select Seeds - Antique Flowers (selectseeds.com). Searching for "vegetable seeds" or "flower seeds" will produce loads of other possibilities.

You don't need a greenhouse to start your own plants from seed. All you need are some sunny windowsills or fluorescent lights, and a few supplies.



When To Start
When you've got your seeds, the first step is to figure out the best time to start them. Look on the seed packet to find out when the plants can safely go out into the garden. Tomatoes, for example, need warm weather, while lettuce grows best in cooler temperatures and can go outdoors earlier. Most outdoor planting is gauged by the last frost date. Hardier plants can tolerate some frost, while tender ones cannot. Here in the Hamptons, the average date of the last frost ranges from April 10 to April 30. But that is an average date. Some years we get frost right before Memorial Day. So it's wise to be conservative when moving your transplants outdoors in spring. Seed packets and gardening books contain information on seed planting times. Or, ask a gardening friend for advice.

Supplies You'll Need
You're going to need containers in which to plant, and a growing medium to fill them. You can plant in low, rectangular boxes called flats, or in flower pots or just about anything that will hold soil. Just be sure to poke some holes in the bottom to allow excess water to drain out. I like to use individual little pots made of compressed peat moss or composted cow manure (one brand is called CowPots). I just pop these pots right into the ground, plants and all. I tear the sides a bit to make it easier for roots to grow through, and I make sure the pots are completely buried - the exposed tops would wick moisture away from the plants.

I like to use individual little pots made of compressed peat moss or composted cow manure. (Halpin)

The only other tools you'll need to start seeds are something to make planting holes (a pencil works fine), a clean spray bottle to mist the newly planted seeds with water and a small watering can to gently water the young plants as they grow. It can be helpful to cover your containers with plastic wrap before the seeds sprout, to retain humidity. And you'll want some sort of trays underneath the pots to catch drainage when you water. Empty the trays after 15 minutes so the plants don't get waterlogged.

Soil
Seeds and tiny seedlings are easy targets for disease organisms, so you want to plant in a clean, lightweight medium that will hold some moisture but still drain readily. Garden soil isn't generally a good idea - it's too heavy, and can contain pathogens that can infect your seedlings. Instead, use a commercial seed-starting mix. These mixes contain fine peat moss and perlite (little white bits of expanded volcanic rock; they help lighten the texture of the mix). Organic mixes may contain some compost as well. Some gardeners like to use a blend of peat and sand (builder's sand, not beach sand).

Before planting, wet the mix so it's evenly moist to the bottom of the pot, but not soggy. If you use peat or manure pots, soak them in water first.

Planting
To sow very fine seeds, such as those of begonias or arugula, scatter a pinch of seed across the surface of the soil in the pot. Don't press the seeds down into the planting mix. Instead, lightly cover them with a thin layer of fine peat or sphagnum moss and mist well.

For larger seeds, make three or four holes in each pot, to the depth recommended on the seed packet. Place a seed in each hole, cover it up, and mist thoroughly.

Caring For The Plants
Keep the planting mix evenly moist until seeds germinate and as the seedlings grow. Don't let it become either soggy or dry.

On a windowsill, turn pots a quarter-turn every day so the plants develop with straight stems. If you are growing under fluorescent lights, position the pots so the tops of the plants are just a few inches below the lights. As the plants grow taller, you'll need to either lower the plants or raise the lights. Keep the lights on for 12 to 16 hours a day.

Your little plants will need feeding, too, since your lightweight planting mix contains little or no nutrition for them. A liquid fish/seaweed fertilizer diluted to half the strength recommended on the label is a good fertilizer for seedlings. Feed them once a week.

When the seedlings are a few inches high, you'll need to make sure they have enough room to grow. Thin bigger plants like tomatoes and peppers so there's just one plant in each small pot. Mesclun mixes and microgreens that you'll harvest while they're young need less thinning.

Out To The Garden
When the weather warms up in spring, your plants can go out to the garden. Planting-out time depends on the plant's cold hardiness. Tender plants like zucchini and impatiens don't go out until the danger of frost is past. Because our spring weather here can be unpredictable and often chilly, it's smart to wait until Memorial Day to set out tender plants.

After that, keep your plants watered, fed, and weeded, and just watch them grow!