seed starting again

My seeds arrived from Territorial and I am back to seed starting again.  I am a bit surprised to be here so soon -- especially given my poor results this spring -- but the seed packet for the brussels sprouts demanded I give it another try.  "Erratic seed germination makes direct sowing difficult?!"**

This time I went with peet pots.  I enjoyed seeding with peat pellets in the spring but I didn't like what I saw at harvest time.

Poor little guy couldn't bust through the pellet (of course, it was probably a bad choice to put a beet in one of these in the first place.)

As for my brussels sprouts, I am going to put some seeds directly into the ground and cross my fingers.  And I am going to do my best to nurture the ones in my peet pots.  But my fingers are crossed for those ones too since I have never gotten a seed start to 4 inches before.  Here's to crossing the 2 inch mark!

**Update**  "A clue, a clue," -- anonymous child on Blues Clues. 
Over at digginfood Willi Galloway explains that warm temperatures during summer make direct seeding iffy because the seeds/sprouts might dry out in a warm spell.

seed starts, round two

As I mentioned before, my original seeds starts did okay -- but my guess is a 1/3 or more will never make it to ground.  Yet I remain undaunted.  Yesterday my kindergartner was home on a school holiday and we started our second round of seeds in Burpee Eco-Friendly starter kits.

Last time I planted what I should have sowed into the ground (but couldn't because my raised bed wasn't built yet.)  This time we are planning ahead for starts that will go into the ground in May (tigger melons, sweet basil, sugar baby watermelons, and moon & stars watermelon) and in June (fish and anaheim peppers.) 

Last time I put the pellets straight into the ground.  This time I am thinking that I will have to "pot-up" so the seedlings get some size before they go to ground.  But first we get to wait and see what sprouts first....

Seed sprouting station modified

So today I cobbled together a lighting system for my seed starter kits.  Not exactly good interior design -- but I figure it will get my seeds the start they need for the time being. 

When I checked in on the morning sprouts this afternoon, I noticed that some of the cabbage sprouts were looking a bit fuzzy.  I am pretty sure that fuzzy isn't good.  So I pulled them, a few marigolds, and a spinach out and set them on a cookie tray for further (less humid) growing.  The seed starter kit packaging said the sprouts would be ready to plant when their roots begin to bust through the pellets.  Let's hope I have dirt in my planter by then!  At the rate they are growing, I might not....