The City Girl's Guide to Country Gardening, Lesson 2: Don't Kill Your Seedlings.

Just a quick update, so everyone can see that one week later, my seedlings are still going strong! (If you missed Lesson 1, not to mention why the heck a garden-phobic person such as myself is growing a tray of seedlings in the first place, catch up here.)

As you can see from the photo, they've all sprouted little baby sprouts. This happened over the course of the past few days, which was unnerving because I guess I expected them all to shoot up at exactly the same time. This is probably because my only prior experience with plants growing is when you see them do it in stop-action photography on TV. So, newsflash to beginners: They will grow at all different times, even if they are the same kind of plant. For some reason the tomatoes on the left of the tray are slacking compared to the overachievers on the right. Make of that what you will.

Regardless, now that everything is sprouting, it's time to take off the dome and let them start getting some sun. So, after consulting Planet Green's resident gardening expert, Colleen Vanderlinden, I moved them back to the sunny window seat. I also gave them a little sprinkling of water. "Water them whenever the surface looks dry," says Colleen. "This is especially important if you use peat pellets, because those are a nightmare to get moist again once they dry out!"

And, I'm keeping a close eye on my cats, on the advice of my step-father (a prolific vegetable gardener). "Cats have no boundaries," he tells me. "They will poop in any kind of soil, whether you have plants growing in it or not."

Cat-owning gardeners everywhere, consider yourselves warned.

Next up: Fertilizing my seedlings once they grow their first true leaves. Stay tuned!