As it turns out, it’s not rocket science. There are a few tips worth spreading, however, not that your pots are clean and ready for planting. For one, it helps to use sterile, finely sifted seed starting medium for the first days of your young plants’ lives. You don’t want to have to compete with weed seeds or force your little sprouts to find rooting surface around rocks, roots, or sticks. Fortunately for me, I still had a bag of starter mix lying around, but there are options if you do not. (See below.)

When you use potting soil, wear a dust mask or in times of shortage, a handkerchief over your nose and mouth. Dangerous bacteria and fungi can inhabit the soil and get into your lungs if you are not careful. Common potting soil additives like Perlite, (those white styrophoam-like dots), or Vermiculite (those brown, expandable flakes) are light and could be easily inhaled. Better to be safe than sorry. Also (does it really need reminding?) always wash your hands after handling soils.

For those of you that don’t have potting soil on hand, you might want to consider pasteurizing small batches of loam yourself. Simply collect loam (mix of sand,silt, and clay) from your garden or top layer of planted earth (0-4”). Be sure to choose ground that has not been treated with pesticides (e.g. Weed and Feed on lawns.) Hand sift the soil to remove any visible life forms (sorry micro-organisms) and bake in a preheated oven at 160 degrees (no hotter!) for 30 minutes. Sift using a wire mesh sieve (to remove rocks and debris).

Once the soil is ready, spread it gently into the containers. DO NOT COMPACT. The idea is for the little seedlings to have as little resistance as possible when they go to spread their roots. I like to moisten the soil before seeding, using a gentle sprinkling watering can, running water through a sieve, or gently using the spray nozzle on your sink. The objective it to moisten without pounding the soil into mush. Keep the air pockets in place.

Each seed has its own depth and required treatment. Some seeds, like lettuce, like to be pressed into the surface of the soil. Others, like pea seeds, like to soaked for 24 hours before planting. Most seeds want to be planted at a depth of two times the width of the diameter of the seed. A 1/4 “ seed, for instance, would like to be planted 1/2” deep.

Timing is another thing. Each seed has its own requirements for the sow time. Some are best when directly sowed into the ground at the right time. Others should be started indoors in our climate. This is why I started yesterday by sorting the seeds. Based on my projected planting time of 6-8 weeks from now, I will start my tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, celery, Brussels sprouts, some lettuce, some cabbage, basil, and a variety of flowers. Why flowers during this time of apocalypse? Well, for the joy of course.

I try to put like-sized plants in the same tray so that they all outgrow the warming hood at the same rate. Celery, for instance, can take 14-21 days to germinate in the soil It gets it own tray so that I don’t have to take the clear lid off prematurely. By the way, I plant a lot of celery because it is good in soups and lasts a long time in cold storage. Also, it tops the “Dirty Dozen',” a list of the food crops that maintain the highest pesticide residue. So I can’t bring myself to eat conventionally grown celery.

For more recommendations on precisely when to seed, check out this link.

Lastly, play some beautiful music to guide you through this process. I chose to take out the old turntable and play some tunes from my parents’ record collection. It does wonders for your mood.