Ambler Farm's second annual organic transplants sale is here and Ben Saunders certainly puts a lot of time and energy into the care of the fragile young sprouts. 

The day that I spoke to Saunders, the farm manager and transplants farmer, the mercury on my thermometer topped 91°F, a sudden rise in temperatures that isn't good for some seedlings. Saunders was hurriedly moving lettuce to the shade underneath the greenhouse. 

"It's a bit of a shuffle trying to move things around," said Saunders.  "Lettuce won't germinate in temperatures this hot."

Saunders grows all the transplants himself from seeds purchased from suppliers like Hi Mowing Organic Seeds of Vermont, Johnny's Selected Seeds out of Maine, and Fedco, which is located in Waterville, Maine. 

"I live a couple miles from the farm where I have a greenhouse and I start everything there."

The transplants are 100 percent organic and Saunders grows the seeds in a biologically-active compost-based potting soil, which contains beneficial bacteria and fungus that make nutrients available to the plant. 

"A lot of plants grow in a sterile mix and seed packets and conventional books advise starting with a sterile mix which has fertilizers in it," explained Saunders.  "But that means there is no life in the soil." 

Feeding with chemical fertilizers feeds just the plant and although this may sound like the right thing to do, Saunders said what you really want to happen is for the plant to get its food naturally through the bacteria that live on the roots of the plants.  "The compost is a complete nutrient profile."

Growing transplants in this specific compost soil minimizes the chance for shock when you bring them home and put them into your own garden. 

"Most conventional greenhouses have a weekly fertilizer program and when you plant them in your soil, the plants are not getting those nutrients anymore and it goes into shock." 

Last year Saunders received only positive reviews of the transplants that were sold and not a single report of shock. 

"The plants are extremely healthy and I think they'll do better than any conventionally raised transplants," he said. 

Last year, certain varieties sold out. So this year, Ambler Farm has an online pre-order form.  Cold hardy plants like cabbage and lettuces will be available for pick-up May 1.  Other vegetables and flowers will be ready May 29, when the sale will also be open to walk-in sales.  Visit www.amblerfarm.org/calendar/Winter2010/transplants.htm to get to the pre-order form.