Taking the leap

• Is your land packed down and tightly covered in grass? Think about your sun exposure, shade exposure and decide if containers might be better than ground-level beds.

Some plants are 6-8 hour sun-lovers. Others prefer 4-6 hours. Container gardening allows you to test the sun's potency on your plants. More sun is not always better, like all living things, balance is best.

• Are you ready to dig up a patch of dirt and get to work? 

Make sure you remove the roots of grasses, weeds and invasive plants before you seed in the ground! 

Unless you're one of my children.

 There is plenty of advice on testing soil for a balance of nutrients. 

1. Ignore most of it unless you're gardening on wasteland or beginning with a large-scale agricultural production. If you are working on the former this may not be the best place for advice. 
2. I use compost for my established garden, which is to say that I have been turning over soil for several years now, and adding compost from our yard pile has provided enough nutrient balance for starting our garden from purchased plants. Seeding is different! Seeds, like all children, have different demands.

Before you seed anything:

1. Read your seed packets.
2. Use seedling mix for starting your seeds indoors.
3. Do not pack down the dirt on top of your seeds.
4. Keep your seed babies wet, not soaked. Kids are aggressive waterers, you've been warned. 
5. Consult with the "seed for beginners" page.