I like to make a seedbed right in the open, though many people start them successfully in cold frames. Pansies don't have to be coddled; they'd rather have things rugged, with only moderate protection on the coldest days. If you do use a cold frame be sure that its ventilation is adequate.

For my seedbed I use good garden soil with a little sand added to encourage rooting. I dig it, rake it smooth, sow the seeds and wet them down with a fog spray. Then I cover the sowing with a board. This keeps it cool and moist and protects it from birds. Ants carry away the seeds so better be sure that there are no ant hills nearby.

When the first sprinkling of green appears I remove the board. A light, porous mulch applied now keeps the roots cool and the soil soft during these early days of growth. I like sawdust for this, or hay.

When they have 4 to 6 leaves and are thrifty little plants, it's time to set them out where they are to remain. Every time you transplant a pansy you cause its flowers to become smaller. The moral is: don't transplant it any oftener than you must. As soon as they are large enough to move, I put mine 9 inches apart where they are to bloom. I put a little scoop of pulverized phosphate rock or steamed bone meal into each hole with the plant. That encourages rooting, and the better developed the roots, the larger and more plentiful the flowers.

Pansies are gluttons. I doubt if it is possible to overfeed them. I spade lots of compost into their bed; lacking that, decayed manure spread over the bed is fine. One year I simply set the plants in the remains of a compost pile, to which a little sand had been added, and I had the most beautiful pansies in my, or any of my neighbors' experience. In addition to the rich soil they benefit by feedings of manure water every other week, diluted to the color of weak tea. As a substitute for this, organic fertilizer dissolved in water to half the strength in the directions, may be used.