PLANTING AND TRANSPLANTING Before planting seeds,  prepare or till the soil using a variety of methods. Some gardeners prefer to turn over the soil with a spade, while others loosen it with a garden fork. Then, they rake it smooth before planting. Some gardeners prefer not to turn or loosen the soil because the oxygen that enters the soil when it is tilled by these methods hastens the breakdown of needed organic matter in the soil. Instead, they just dig a small hole for each seed or plant. To keep the soil loose so that roots can develop easily keep it covered with grass clippings, compost, or other organic matter.
The presence of this organic matter encourages large populations of worms, whose tunneling breaks up the soil.
Gardeners plant seeds at different depths, depending on the seed’s size and its requirement for light. Seeds contain starch and oil, stored food that provides the energy needed for sprouting, or germination. Small seeds do not hold much food, so they are sown on or close to the soil surface, where they will not require a lot of energy to push through the soil. Larger seeds have enough food reserves to be planted deeper.
This gives the root system more time to develop as the seedling, or young plant, grows up through the soil. As a general rule, a seed can be planted three times as deep as the seed is wide. Some seeds, such as lettuce, require light to germinate; these seeds must be sown on or very near the soil surface. Once the seeds are sown, the gardener gently presses down the soil to ensure that the seed touches soil, not air pockets—this soil contact helps keep the seeds moist.
Seeds usually are sown close together in case some of them do not germinate successfully. Once the seedlings that emerge are several inches tall, the gardener removes extra ones so that the remaining seedlings are evenly spaced and not crowded.
The correct spacing between seedlings depends on how much room the mature plant needs. To prevent the seeds and seedlings from drying out, the gardener keeps the soil damp—not wet—until the seedlings are several inches tall and then gradually tapers off watering.
Rather than starting seeds directly in the garden, some gardeners opt to use transplants—young plants purchased from nurseries or grown by the gardener indoors. Transplants are a particularly popular option for gardeners who live in cooler climates with short growing seasons. In a short growing season, good weather does not last long enough for plants grown from seeds to mature. Transplants give the garden a head start. They can be placed in the garden in early spring, but must be protected from the cold.
One protective method is to cover each transplant with a transparent milk jug or plastic soda bottle with the bottom cut off, which acts like a small greenhouse to trap heat around the plant.
(Courtesy  of   EVERGREEN NATURE STUDY CLUB – a non-profit organization geared to educate and re-educate persons on environmental literacy, coupled with nature tours. The Club offers nature-based goods and services, including technical advice. See   www.evergreenstudy.org)