And if you really want to take the work out of the seedling issue: buy starts from one of our local nurseries, all of which grow strong, healthy, sturdy seedlings that are just ready and waiting to be popped into your garden. You will be contributing to the local economy and will be almost guaranteed a successful growing season.

Plus you really need to understand that to successfully start seeds you need supplemental lights and/or very clean windows. The last thing in the whole world that you want on your hands are spindly, yellowy seedlings. These will be doomed to failure from the get go. Not worth your effort.

The lights can be as simple as a shop fixture from the hardware store with one cool and one warm fluorescent bulb in it. You can go whole hog and buy an actual plant light. I must admit that I have gone over to the "grow lights" and am happy with my decision.

You do not need to turn the lights on and off. Just leave them on and let the seedlings go for it. Plants that are in bloom or setting fruit need a rest period each day, thus necessitating a timer on your lights. But for seedlings you are home free on this issue.

Think about your commitment to keeping the tiny plants evenly moist. If they are allowed to dry out, you can either lose the whole operation or have plants that have been stressed and will not perform as well as anticipated.

Storing the seeds is something else to be addressed. I have yet to really take care of my seeds. They go out to the garden with me and get wet and dirty and stuffed back into an empty flower pot and left in the greenhouse all season, making a reappearance when I successively plant spinach, radish, lettuce this is not an optimum condition.

They need to be placed, carefully, into a Ziploc bag and kept in the refrigerator between plantings. Even until next year. Think of that. Do you want a baggie of seeds batting around in your fridge for, possibly, years? I have seeds from 1983. Goodness.

You're in this game to win. You want to eat real food out of your own garden and have overflowing containers of flowers on your deck. How you get there is up to you.

That said, let's move on. Pinetree Garden Seeds, Box 300, New Gloucester, Maine, 04260; 207-926-3400; www. superseeds.com; e-mail: pinetree@ superseeds .com.

These folks have been in the business for 24 years. They have small packets of seeds, just the right size for the home gardener, and a very nice selection.

This year, they have an annual artichoke, Imperial Star, that I have every intention of trying. The Green Globe that we have been having good luck with is a tender perennial, and I don't know of anyone who is wildly successful with having it hold over at our latitude.

So why not try an annual? At 10 seeds for $1.50, I'm all for it. I really like Small Sugar pumpkins, and the Pinetree packet has 12 seeds in it for 60 cents. I plant two plants a year that yield about 20 pumpkins. The seeds last, stored in a cool dry place (there goes your fridge space) forever. For 60 cents you can hardly go wrong.

Vesey's Seeds Ltd., P.O. Box 9000, Calais, Maine, 04619-6102; 1-800-363-7333; www.veseys.com. I love this catalog. It must be the layout or the pictures or the clean, clear text that describes the products. Whatever it is, it's a winner. They have expanded their offerings to include fruit and berry plants; roses and flowering shrubs along with all of the gardening gear.

Seeds of Change, One Sunset Way, Henderson, Nev., 89014; 1-888-762-7333; www.seedsofchange.com (receive a 5 percent discount). These folks offer 100 percent certified organic seeds. This is a beautiful catalog filled with the sort of chemical-free vegetables and fruits that many of us are striving to grow. The selection is outstanding but expect to pay dearly for these organic seeds. You will need to call for the shipping cost to the Far North.

Territorial Seed Company, P.O. Box 158, Cottage Grove, Ore., 97424-0061; 541-942-9547; www.territorialseed.com. This one gives such excellent growing details that you should keep it handy in the garden all season. They also offer a wide selection of organic seeds.

These will get you started. The Internet has a wealth of seed companies online, so check on that whole other dimension.

Note: I saw an interesting design idea in a magazine: take photos of your garden right now and, using a marker, draw on the photo where you want trees and shrubs or whatever. This gives you an actual idea of what they will look like before you buy them, plant them, and then need to move them. This will eliminate the "move them" part.