Lesson 2 - Plant from Seed

This is my Great Seed Experiment 2010: 72 seed trays for cultivating 72 plants. Think about it, what greater pleasure to a beginning gardener than seeing 72 small sprouts growing under her nose? What could be more rewarding than raising 72 plants that were started from seed and raised to such health that you can literally enjoy the fruit of your labor? And who can argue the cost savings of starting 72 plants from seed instead of buying 72 transplants at the store?

Of course, 100% success is a bit optimistic, even for me. I decided to maximize my chances by putting several seeds in each tray with the intent on thinning down to only the strongest, most robust plant. I did some fancy math to convince myself my chances were good, "3 seeds per tray...72 trays...216 seeds planted. If even one quarter survive I'll have more than 50 plants..." So went the conversation in my head.

Then reality set in. Okay, some seeds were really big so I only planted one or two. And of the supposed 50 plants, how many would be in the same tray and would get thinned? Then there's the little detail about how the seeds that came in my handy dandy seed kit were mostly moldy. I decided I might need to see if I had anything better in my garden shed. I had, after all, bought many kinds of seeds in the past. Of course, I never got around to planting them. Until now. So I dug out those dusty seeds and ignored the fact that they had been in the shed for probably well over a year. They couldn't be worse than the moldy seeds, right?

I planted several types of seeds - vegetables, herbs, flowers, and yeah, probably mold. At first, it was like opening a present every day as a new sprout would grow. I'd check the tray it was in and then cross reference it to my handwritten table of what went where and when it was supposed to sprout. Within a few weeks I had 20 new sprouts. Okay, a bit lower than my original estimate, but they were 20 sprouts hand planted and cared for just by me. And, like a new mother who sees no flaws in her offspring, my 20 sprouts were like Mary Poppins. Practically perfect in every way.

Then came the hard part, keeping everyone alive. Apparently, seedlings need sunlight, and sometimes sunlight through a window isn't enough. But they're too delicate to go outside until they're strong enough. And they aren't strong enough until they have real sunlight (apparently a way around this circular path is to buy a special light, but that's waaaaay to much trouble for me). So I decided to toughen up the little guys and put them out for several hours a day. But the back and forth became too much trouble so I just left them outside for several days. And they died.

Even the tree guy, who came to check out a dead eucalyptus in our back yard (yes, even the trees come to our house to die), took a look at my experiment and just had one comment, "they need water." Which brings us back to lessen 1.

The silver lining? I've noticed some new sprouts in the trays...so I'm back up to 8!