The process of growing flowers from seeds is pretty straightforward. Plant them in a soft soil, add water, and keep them constantly moist until they sprout. The moisture triggers the germination process and softens the hard outer covering of the seed, called the seed coat, so that the sprout can emerge. How quickly this miracle occurs also depends on the temperature. For most seeds, the warm side of 70°F (21°C) is just dandy. From the moment the sprout breaks through the soil, seedlings need light.

Starting Seeds Indoors

If you plant your annuals too early in the spring, frost may damage them. On the other hand, annuals like to do most of their growing before the weather turns too hot. Starting seeds indoors is the perfect solution to the weather challenges facing annuals. Giving your plants a head start indoors also allows you to control the temperature and moisture, so that seeds have no excuses not to sprout. Plus, having little green things growing under lights is a reason to start celebrating spring while winter still rages.
Every seed catalog sells equipment, such as various trays, domes, and other paraphernalia for starting seeds. These set-ups help take some of the guesswork out of seed starting, but they aren’t required equipment. Click here for a list of equipment you need to start seeds indoors

To sow annual seeds in containers, follow these steps:

• Step 1: Fill containers to the top with seed-starting mix and then level the top by sweeping across it with your hand or a table knife.
  For seeds that are very tiny, use a tamper or piece of wood to down the starting mix until it’s just 1?4 inch below the rim. Water the soil and let it drain. Sprinkle the fine seed over the mix and then gently tamp again. That’s it — no need to cover with mix. When it’s time to water, don’t do it from above. Rather, set the container over a shallow tray of water and let the soil soak up from the bottom as in Step 4. Continue by going to Step 5.
• Step 2: Use your fingertip or a pencil to make small depressions for seeds.
  The depth of the holes doesn’t have to be exact, but try to plant the seeds about three times as deep as the seeds are wide.
• Step 3: Drop one or two seeds into each depression and cover them with pinches of seed-starting mixture.
  Seed-starting mixture is a lightweight soil mix, usually containing peat moss, vermiculite, and perlite. Compared to potting soils, the particles in a seed-starting mix are smaller, which make controlling sowing depth more precise. Garden centers carry seed-starting mixes.
• Step 4: Dampen the soil thoroughly.
  To keep from flooding out the planted seeds, use a pump spray bottle to mist the containers repeatedly, or place the containers in small pans or trays and fill the pans with 1 inch of water.  ....read more