Whether you've been starting seeds for decades, as I have, or are completely new to gardening "from scratch," you will love Park's Bio Dome Seed-Starter. It's the easiest, most efficient and successful seed starter I've ever used -- and I believe I've tried them all! Once you see that first crop of seedlings sprout in the Dome, you won't bother with any other method.

The best thing about the Bio Dome is that you control the climate your seeds receive. If your room is drafty, leave the dome cover on and close one or both of the vents in the top. If you need great air circulation among the seedlings, just open the vents, prop up one side of the dome, or remove the whole thing. If your plants need high heat and humidity, find a warm place, close up that dome, and you've created a mini-hothouse!

You can use the Bio Dome with grow lights, heat mats, or just the good old fridge top, the way most of us have been starting seeds for years! The individual Bio Sponges are a sterile soilless medium with just the right combination of aeration and density to encourage seeds to sprout, grow quickly, and develop big, healthy root systems. Forget about double-sowing your seeds, thinning, and all those other wasteful techniques -- with the Bio Dome, one seed per sponge is all you need! (If any fails to sprout, re-use the sponge!) In these days of 25, 10, or sometimes just 5 seeds to a packet, who can afford to throw away half the seeds?

As your seedlings take off, their roots will grow down the sides (and through the center) of the Bio Sponge, eventually coming out the other end if you wait long enough! And that's another advantage of the Dome -- if your transplanting is delayed, you don't have to re-pot all the little plants or worry about the roots spiraling around and around the rim of the pot. The Dome is so well-ventilated and the Bio Sponges so sturdy that you can delay planting for weeks without sacrificing a plant!

When your plants are ready to move into the garden or into their permanent containers, transplanting is a snap! Harden off the whole Bio Dome for a few days (using the dome cover to keep out chills at first, then gradually removing it), then just lift out the Styrofoam tray and remove the plants as you need them, pushing them up and out from the bottom. -- Only need to plant half the tray? The others will stay put, and you can replace the ones you transplanted with new Bio Sponges, ready to sow the next crop. Just pop the plant and its Bio Sponge into the soil of your garden, water it in, and you're good to go!

The Bio Dome is endlessly reusable. All you have to replace are the Bio Sponges (also available in bigger sizes for the 40-cell and 18-cell Domes), which are, as the saying goes, cheaper than dirt! And it's pretty nice to sow the garden indoors without dropping soil and water all over the floor. With the Bio Dome, you just fill the bottom of the green tray with water and Park's Seedling Fertilizer (included free with your Bio Dome) until the Styrofoam block floats. Done!

I recommend you use the Bio Dome for any seed that can be started indoors. And for certain types of seed, the Dome is just unbeatable: Hard-to-germinate seeds, such as the rare Blue Poppy, and "fussy" types such as Geranium and Aster Seeds that have to be refrigerated after sowing, such as Columbine. Just pop the whole thing in the fridge, or put plastic wrap over the green tray and leave off the dome, to save space Seeds with a long germination period, such as Cyclamen and Begonia. You need check the Dome only once every few weeks to make sure it's still got water in the base -- no need to worry about the soil drying out! Fine, dust-like seed that is just too hard to handle in soil flats, such as Iceplant, Monkey Flower, and Petunia, and Astilbe. (By the way, our Pro Hand-Seeder really helps with handling those tiny seeds!) Easy annuals that you need in large numbers for a big planting, such as Impatiens and Pansy. You can sow them in a flash, transplant them small, and begin the next wave in no time using the Dome!

The original Bio Dome, with 60 Bio Sponges, is ideal for big crops such as veggies, ornamental grasses, and annuals. It's the most economical of the Bio Domes, because you get more plants per block than any other.

The 40-cell Bio Dome fits into the original green tray, but gives you larger, stockier Bio Sponges. I've heard from Park gardeners up north who rely on this Bio Dome because they can delay their Tomatoes up to a month without having to transplant the seedlings -- there's plenty of room to grow in these bigger Sponges!

The new 18-cell Bio Dome, which also fits into the original green tray, was designed for rooting cuttings and works great for that, but it's also fantastic for sowing big seeds. The pre-drilled hole in the Bio Sponge is large enough for beans, peas, and other large seeds (yes, even Sunflowers!) that simply "outgrow" the smaller sponges too fast. It's also nice if you want to grow your plants larger and stockier before setting them in the garden -- something that can save a plant's life in a harsh climate.

We also offer a double size of our original 60-cell and larger 40-cell Domes, with two planting blocks per tray! This is ideal for starting the whole garden in one fell swoop, or growing crop after crop quickly and easily. Imagine trying to find space to set 120 peat pots or yogurt containers full of soil -- with the Bio Dome, your plants grow in less space than ever, yet they're never crowded!

If you need additional light or heat for your seedlings, the Bio Dome complements heat mats and light sets perfectly. We've even got economical collections that make great Christmas presents: our Heat Makes the Difference Collection contains a waterproof seedling heat mat and thermostat, so that you can make sure you're germinating and growing on seeds at exactly the right soil temperature. The Add the Perfect Soil Collection gives you the heat mat, thermostat, and an original Park's 60-Cell Bio Dome. And the Add the Right Light Collection contains the heat mat, thermostat, Bio Dome, and a 48-inch folding light set with the full spectrum of UV rays so critical to leaf growth.

Whether you need to plant out 20 acres or just get a few annuals into the sunny border, Park's Bio Dome is the most successful and easy-to-use way I've ever discovered to make every seed count!