My Sad Spinach Seedling
It is Spring! I feel like Gene Kelly as he dances in Singing in the Rain. You know. I love to garden. Whose else has 21 beds, 9 heirloom apple trees, 2 peach trees, raspberry and blueberry bushes, and tons of herbs if they aren’t obsessed? (Check out a glimpse of my garden with garden video 1 and video 2.)
However, this year, planting season has been a whee bit of a planting fiasco. For some reason, my seedlings aren’t faring that well. I lost 7 seedlings when I transplanted them to bigger pots
Possible Reasons?
Here some the reasons that I came up with and you can add your own thoughts:
- certain seedlings don’t like to be re-potted such as lettuce, spinach, and leeks? I re-potted them using my Mechanic Soil which is peat-less potting soil made with compost and other ingredients. In the past, the seedling loved this potting soil.
- seeds are getting old despite their home is a dedicated refrigerator drawer. (Yes, seeds have priority in my house.)
- I briefly sent them to my neighbor for babysitting while I basked in the Caribbean sun for spring break. Subsequently, they got homesick? The blast of cold air from car to door?
- When I sent them to my neighbor, they didn’t get the same amount of sun like they were use to? I have a three tier lighting system from Gardener Supply. The lights are left on for about 12 hours.
- Bad luck?
One of the plants I lost was a heirloom tomato seedling. This is a first for me in five years of growing seedlings. I never lose a tomato seedling. They are just so darn hardy.
You might ask why do I grow spinach or lettuce inside? I just don’t have luck with germinating the seeds in my raised beds. (Quick tutorial on how to make your own raised beds.) I have no idea why. Again, a little help.
Herbs and I don’t get along
Every year, I try and grow herbs. One out of four make it. Rosemary. Pathetic. Horsehound. Forget about it. Coriander. Don’t go there. Do I need a heat mat? I am thinking of using my heating pad. Will this work?
This year, my hollyhocks aren’t germinating. And for the life of me, how do you get hibiscus to germinate. Even my stevia won’t cooperate! I saved my seeds from my plant last year and nada. Zippo. What’s with the gardening gods this year?
White Fly Problem Last Year
Maybe Mother Nature is trying to tell me something? Last year my indoor plants were infested with white flies. It was horrible. Even the ladybugs outside couldn’t keep up. I just prayed for an extremely cold winter (zone 5) to kill those buggers. So, if your winter was bad, blame me.
After a fiasco with white flies last year, I am not bringing any new plants into the garden that I haven’t grown. (I think my pineapple or tangerine sage had white flies.) So, I need these herbs to take, readers.
Join in the Conversation:
- Am I the only one struggling with my seedlings?
- What am I doing wrong?
- What gardening issues are you having this year?
- Have many of you have decided to take the gardening year off?
Jan Dirk says
April 14, 2011 at 5:18 pmI like to plant fruit, fruit trees can grow forever 🙂
Anna@Green Talk says
April 15, 2011 at 3:27 pmMe too! I have 9 apple and 2 peach trees. What do yo have? How do you protect the baby apples from the bugs?
Brian says
April 19, 2011 at 4:54 pmAnna,
Don’t repot your spinach and lettuce, and don’t let them go too long indoors. I think the idea here is just to keep them inside long enough for them to germinate and get a set of true leaves and then move them outside. I started my spinach too early this year (snow melt was too slow) but was aiming for transplanting two weeks after putting seeds into flats. At three weeks they were still ok, but the roots had bottomed out in the flats which I like to try to avoid.
On the herbs, I think they generally have a low germination rate. You can make up for this by putting two or three seeds per spot and then thinning as needed.
Anna@Green Talk says
April 19, 2011 at 7:44 pmBrian, I replanted my artichokes too and they died. Which seedlings do you not replant? I lost my leeks too. Anna
PS what zone are you that your spinach overwintered? Anna