As the seedlings crowd each other, thin them out promptly, or move some of them to other containers . Seedlings can be transplanted to garden or nursery bed outdoors when they are about two inches high. Transplanting is accomplished by lifting each seedling and its surrounding soil with a small spoon or a spade and placing it in a hole made in the soil of the new bed being careful not to injure its tiny roots. Press the soil in place and water thoroughly. Seedlings are best transplanted on a cool.
Most annual plants require at least ten week from seed germination until bloom.
In climates where the soil warms up in midspring, annuals seed sown outdoors will not produce blooms until mid-summer. Hardening is accomplished by moving the container of seedlings to a sheltered outdoor location for one or two weeks before transplanting to exposed garden beds. Before hardening, the seedlings are usually light green in color. Afterwards they are bluish. Such a shelter is also usable as a means of starting seeds outdoors five or six weeks earlier than normal sowing time in exposed beds.