First, you decide how many plants of each kind you need, and then sow twice that many seed. You determine the number of plants by figuring the amount of space you want to plant in your garden and then how many plants it will take to fill it.

1. First, determine how much space you want to plant. If you have an area that is about 4 feet by 5 feet, you multiply the two to get 20 square feet, or 2880 square inches. (It is easier to work with inches if your plants’ spread is in inches.)

2. Second, determine how closely to plant. If you have a pansy that grows 10 inches across, and you want to cover the bed closely, plant the plants no more than 10 inches apart. For full coverage, be sure you space your plants no farther apart than the width of an individual plant.

3. Third, figure how many plants you need to fill the area. Divide your two sides (in our example, 4 feet, 48 inches and 5 feet, 60 inches) by the 10 inches you wish to space your plants apart. You get 4.8 and 6 for the two sides. Then, multiply the two (4.8 X 6 = 28.8). Rounding off, you will need about 30 plants to make a nice solid carpet for your 4 X 5-foot bed.

It is always a good idea to err on the side of starting too many seed, rather than too few. If you have phenomenal success and get them all to the planting-out stage, you can always share your bounty with friends or neighbors. Once you’ve figured how many plants you’ll need, you can determine how many seed trays to prepare. If you are using a 5 1/2 X 7 1/2- inch seedling tray, you may broadcast sow the following number of seed per tray:

40-50 large seed

80-100 medium seed

Up to 400 tiny seed.

You can plant two varieties in a tray – just be sure to label them carefully and not misplace your label! You should also make sure that you pick companions that have the same temperature requirements and germinate in approximately the same length of time.