Growing & Caring for Pansies Indoors

Combine one part peat moss, one part compost and one part sand or perlite. Place this soil mixture in a seed-starting flat.

Water the soil until the excess moisture drains from the bottom. Leave the soil to soak for 30 minutes so it absorbs the moisture evenly.

Sow the pansy seeds on the soil surface in the flat in rows spaced two inches apart. Sow approximately two seeds per inch of row. Cover the seeds with 1/8-inch of soil mix.

Slide the flat into a plastic bag and set it in a warm room to germinate. Germination takes approximately five to eight days. Remove the bag once the seedlings begin to emerge from the soil.

Move the flat to a warm, sunny windowsill. Water the flat when the soil surface begins to feel dry, or approximately every three to five days.

Transplant the seedlings to individual seedling pots once the pansies grow in their second set of leaves. Fill the pots with the same soil mixture as that in the flat. Lift the seedlings from the flat by their top leaves and plant them in the pots at the same depth they were growing at in the flat. Plant one seedling per pot.

Water the seedlings with a half-strength soluble fertilizer every two weeks, following label application instructions. Use a balanced fertilizer or one formulated for flowering annuals.