Growing plants from seed is the most economical way to garden. It also opens up a world of horticultural diversity, enabling gardeners to experiment with thousands of species, hybrids and varieties of flowers and vegetables.

It's also easier than many might assume: Nearly every first-grader has proudly taken home a Dixie Cup of sunflower or pumpkin plants that were sprouted on the classroom windowsill.

Bright packets of seeds greet us at garden centers, home improvement and hardware stores and even supermarkets. Even more variety is available from seed companies in their catalogs or online. It's getting a bit late in the season to order seed catalogs now, but you can order online and get prompt delivery.

It takes some planning to get started with seeds. It can be bewildering to figure what's the best method of sowing as well as judging when to plant.

Cool-season annual flowers and vegetables are customarily planted in late winter to early spring, before the danger of frost has passed. The average last frost is about mid-May for the Front Range and Western Slope and several weeks later in the foothills and mountains, depending on your elevation.

Though it's firmly ingrained in many people that it's a cardinal rule not to plant before Mother's Day, the cool-season plants require an earlier planting in order for them to sprout and develop. If you've made the mistake of planting spinach or lettuce when it's warm and toasty, you probably had poor germination, feeble growth and bitter plants.

Cool-season plants thrive when temperatures range between 35 and 70 degrees, although they can easily take several degrees of frost and even snow.

Some like it hot

• Warm-season vegetables: peppers, eggplant, tomatoes

• Warm-season flowers: marigolds, impatiens, ageratum, balsam, flowering tobacco, coleus, zinnias and salvias

• How to plant: Warm-season plants perform best if started early indoors. Seed-starting kits are available at nurseries and garden centers. A plastic tray with 12 six-packs is called a flat. You can also buy a clear plastic dome that fits snugly over a flat. This creates a warm, humid environment for seeds to germinate.

Fill the six-packs with a sterile potting soil , sow the seeds at the correct depth for each variety, water from the bottom to avoid washing the seeds away, cover with the dome and place in a sunny window or under lights.

Starting in May, you can begin to move your flats of plants outside. Put them in the shade to begin with, gradually exposing them to more sun each day. It takes about a week to complete the hardening-off process.

Take them indoors if night temperatures drop below 50 to 55 degrees.

When you transplant your seedlings, handle them gently by the leaves, avoiding touching the stem.

They're cool

• Cool temperature veggies: Beets, radishes, peas, carrots, onions, cabbage, broccoli and leafy greens such as lettuce and spinach.

• Cool-temperature flowers: sweet peas, larkspur, California poppy, love-in-a- mist, bachelor button and Shirley poppies.

• How to plant veggies: Create a shallow furrow (about 2 to 3 inches deep) with a hoe or sharp stick, and then space the seeds according to directions on the packet. Firm them into the soil with your thumb, checking the packet for planting depth.

• How to plant flowers: Scatter the seed as if you were feeding chickens. Pat the scattered seeds down with your palms so they make good contact with the soil.

• Planting tips:

Don't allow soil to dry out before the seeds germinate. Keep seedbeds moist with a very fine spray from a watering can or watering wand.

Once the seedlings have emerged, baby them for a few weeks, keeping them moist but not soggy. Gradually decrease watering as they grow, irrigating as the weather dictates.

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