Planting and Transplanting

Before planting seeds, gardeners prepare, or till, the soil using a variety of methods. Some 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, they 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.