Unlike in the Philippines where the climate is almost stable in terms of temperature changes, and where sunlight and water is abundant, here in Maine we only have 2 to 3 months to enjoy such things. The rest of the year we have winter for five months, spring about 2 months (a time when plants and animals spring back to life), and fall about 2-3 months (some plants start shedding off leaves, and some animals prepare for hibernation.
This is now the time when I become anxious to get to some action, after long months of waiting in the cold days of winter. Yet, I can't hasten things...Summer is too near yet too far...
 | We bought dirt (soil) for the purpose), moistened it with warm water. |  | We poured the dirt into shallow plastic trays like this. |
 | Next we leveled off the soil, made it compact enough to hold up, yet loose enough to allow air and encourage root growth. |
 | Using a pencil, we indented the soil a bit... | 
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 | ... into which the row of seeds would be distributed straight from the packet. It is advised not to touch the seeds with bare hands, as skin oil can kill some seeds (then one would wonder why she did not have a good turn out of seedlings.) | 
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 | Then we covered the seeds just a little by enveloping the row with the soil at the sides. | 
| Then we covered it with plastic to keep it moist, |
 | then prepared the heating pad, |  | and place the tray on top of it, below a fluorescent lamp. The next thing we had to do was to wait for the seedlings, hoping near 100% viability. |