Tips for Successful Seed-Starting
Plants have four basic needs — light, water, air, and nutrients — and it's helpful to keep these in mind whenever you're dealing with plants. Simple, right? However, the form, intensity, amount, and type of these matter, especially when starting seeds.

Each seed contains a rudimentary shoot and root, as well as the food the seed needs to germinate once it is exposed to the right conditions. Those conditions vary with the type of seed, but most seeds germinate with the simple addition of water.

Seeds contain just enough food to sprout and emerge from the soil. Then they need light, water, air, and nutrients in order to manufacture their own food through photosynthesis and perform other metabolic tasks. Seedlings without enough light will be pale and spindly as they try to reach upward toward the light. Seedlings whose roots are exposed to too much or too little water will die as roots either suffocate or shrivel. Seedlings also need the proper type and amount of nutrients. Most seed-starting mixes are "soilless" and provide a sterile, well-draining medium with few or no nutrients — perfect for germination.

Your role is to provide the seedlings with everything they need for sturdy growth. As soon as seedlings germinate, expose them to bright light. Indoors, use a purchased light garden, or rig up your own with fluorescent bulbs. However, you'll need to devise a system that allows you to keep the lights just an inch or two above the tips of the growing seedlings. Commercial light gardens are designed to make this easy.

Keep soil evenly moist. That means about the moisture of a wrung-out sponge. Water must always be available, but not at the expense of all the air pockets in the soil. This is where most seed starting ventures go awry: if the soil dries out completely just once, small seedlings will perish. Self-watering setups help.

Once the seeds have one set of "true" leaves (as opposed to the "seed" leaves, actually cotyledons, that are usually the first to appear), start fertilizing with a dilute (1/4 to 1/2 strength) soluble fertilizer. There are many choices out there; organic gardeners often use a fish emulsion/seaweed mixture (but be sure to choose one labeled as odorless if you're growing seedlings indoors).

Seed starting isn't difficult, but it does require some diligence. You'll be rewarded with the thrill of watching seemingly lifeless seeds spring to life and grow into plants you'll be proud to show off in your garden. Give it a try!