By Reggie Solomon

Just because you can sleep with your window up overnight, doesn’t mean it’s safe to begin planting outdoors.

It’s certainly tempting to scratch the itch of outdoor seeding and transplanting as soon as the first signs of spring emerge, however before doing so, relax — and find the frost free date for your area.

What is a “Frost Free Date?”

The “frost free date” is a date after which the chances of frost are significantly diminished. Early morning and overnight frost can significantly damage or kill young seedlings and delicate plants.

While planting after the frost free date is no guarantee against winter frost, it does make you sleep better night. Particularly in areas such as the northeast where May surprise snowstorms are not uncommon (May 15 is the frost free date for most of the northeast U.S.), planting outdoors after the frost free date is key.

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By Reggie Solomon

Even if it’s freezing outside, bundle up and transfer potting soil to seed trays outdoors.

I planted my second seed tray of the spring today with seeds bought earlier this week. I prepared three trays of tomatoes, basil and edible flowers. Because the weather outside was cold, I prepared the trays inside – meaning I transferred soil from the potting soil bag to the seed trays indoors.

I won’t transfer soil to seed trays indoors ever again – it leaves quite the mess, even if you try to do it carefully.

Save yourself the clean-up headache!

By Reggie Solomon

Get a headstart on the growing season can be starting your plants indoors in seed trays.

You can find seed trays at your local home and garden store or online.

How to Pick the Appropriate Seed Tray
Seed trays tend to come in one standard base tray size but with varying-sized cell spaces.

Generally speaking cell size should mirror the size of the seed and the size of the seedling to be transplanted.

The larger the seed, or the larger the seedling to be transplanted, the larger the cell space you’ll need. The smaller the seed, or the smaller the seedling to be planted, the smaller the cell space you’ll need.

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By Reggie Solomon

Trellising is an ideal way to utilize the often overlooked vertical space in your urban garden.

You can find pre-made trellis systems from gardening supply stores or you can build your own.

I’m building using Mel Bartholomew’s square-foot gardening trellising system that is constructed from half-inch steel electrical tubing. In addition to providing more vertical growing space than off-the-shelf trellis systems, this system is also more inexpensive.

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By Reggie Solomon

Twelve days after placing my online seed order with Burpee, my seeds finally arrived.

The print date on my receipt was April 13, so I really don’t understand why it took them so long to process an order made on April 4?

There was no indication that anything I ordered was out of stock so I’m really perplexed.

I won’t get an opportunity to assemble seed trays until the weekend so this is going to put me even further behind. An email or some notification from them to apprise me of the delay would have been nice. I took a look at my electronic receipt and it indicates I should have received the order within 7-10 days.

One would think a seed-provider company would know time is of the essence when it comes to growing seasons.

Oh well, here’s to planting.