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Hint: To attend to the closed system of the farm, make at soil (soil used in ats or containers for seedling propagation) from equal amounts of compost and bed soil (saved from the double-dig). Once soil is available from used ats or containers, use equal parts of old at soil, compost, and bed soil. If seedlings were diseased, use that old at soil for compost where the microorganisms can transform it into healthy soil again. Your plants will be healthiest if you transplant the seedlings when their roots and leaves are thriving and in balance with one another. Roots are too big when they’ve hit the bottom of the at or container. Remember to harden o seedlings for a few days before transplanting by bringing them from a protected temperature into the ambient tem- perature. Transplanting is best done in the cool of the day, followed by immediate watering to settle the roots into the soil. Transplanting is preferable to directly sowing seeds in the bed because you can: 1. Avoid empty spaces in the bed caused by poor seed germination, ¦ establish living mulch faster because seedlings are already large; therefore they cover the soil sooner and the soil requires less water. 2. Use the healthiest seedlings to maximize yield. 3. Produce warm-loving seedlings earlier (with some protection) that will be ready to plant when the weather allows, and 4. Bring the crop already in the bed to fuller maturity (producing more compost material and higher yields), while the seedlings are growing. 20