Sue, this is only my fifth year, so I'm still a beginner, but nevertheless I will pass along some things I wish I had known in the first year. That year, I did cell trays, as you seem to be doing, and I started in November. That turned out to be way too early, as I have a similar climate to yours, and couldn't plant out until May (it might even have been early June that year). What I learned was that seedlings in cells get real tired of those cells after about three months. So you're right not to hurry. Early Feb is fine. Since that first year, I've started in very late January, taking until early March to get 3000 seeds planted, and the seedlings did just as well with that shorter time (although I switched to 12 oz Solo cups by then, and have stayed with that - 3 seeds per cup. 18 cups fit in a standard tray, so 54 plants per tray).
Secondly, get some Gnatrol from Amazon and use that from the get-go to avoid fungus gnats. I found this was wildly overpriced on other garden sites, and that Amazon is the best bet. $20 will buy enough for the season. Maybe if you're only doing 432 sdlgs overall, you could get away with less. It is only good for 2 years, so I buy new every year. I also recommend yellow plastic markers gooped up with Tanglefoot (also available on Amazon -- a $10 can will last a lifetime) and put some of those around. That will alert you to the presence of gnats and this is how I knew when I needed to do another Gnatrol treatment as the sdlgs were growing (although I usually did it every 2-3 wks anyway).
Glen - I would use Fred's method if I had the room, absolutely. Much better for the sdlgs to have enough room to stay in place for 2-3 yrs without moving. But I do NOT have enough room to do that. First year I planted seedlings a few inches apart in rows only 6" apart out of necessity. Second year, I planted the contents of the Solo cups in one piece (not separating them, so three sdlgs in the space of a cup, placed 8" apart from the next 3). These worked okay and saved a lot of room, but you need to dig out our selects as soon as you identify them. If you leave them this close for 3+ yrs, they start to grow together and then you have a real nightmare separating them and making sure you don't get a piece of a sib. So I dig the best ones out in year 2 (first year of bloom) and move them to roomy quarters. Doing this, though, you get some that resent moving and don't bloom the next year. You also need a short-handled spade, if you don't have one, to dig in those cramped quarters.
Some day I'll get a place with PLENTY of garden space where all seedlings can be planted with enough room to remain in place until they have bloomed for at least a couple years and have either been selected or tossed!
