Cynthia Kerson

I worked hard to grow veggies from seed for this year's spring and fall plantings. While I do a fine job of bringing starters to full production with little loss, I can only rarely get seeds to cooperate. I have an area in my garage set up with heat pads and grow lights. I buy good seeds and planting soil. I put the seeds into their little compartments. I water, turn the lights on and off as directed and monitor the soil temperature. And still failed miserably again this year.

My miserable failures are depressing. I don't like to kill anything – well maybe an obnoxious carnivorous wasp, even then with feelings of guilt for removing them from their place in the ecology of my garden. The two seasons I tried growing from seed, fall '19 and spring '20, I was able to grow only 10 plants from the about 100 seeds I tried to nurture. Those 10 plants took an elevated position in the garden as they were my “first born.” But, half of them died within a week of getting them into the ground. Of those that did survive, my favorite was the Cosmonaut Volkov heirloom tomato with its red and green striped skin and green tiger-mottled insides and a flavor to die for. I made salads, ate them raw with Maldon salt, made sauce and roasted them. I couldn't get enough.

And while I revel in that one success, I am saddled with the loss of all the rest. Last winter, I seeded cucumbers, tomatoes, summer squash, beets, and sunflowers for this spring and summer. In addition to the tomatoes, the sunflowers were the only other success!

Here's how I lost all those the ‘lil buggers:

• Seedlings grew out of the seedling mix – cutest little cotyledons. I transplanted them too soon. I learned after that I have to wait for the first real leaves to appear.
• Seedlings were spindly. Okay, so I forgot to turn the lights on a few days.
• Overwatering. Underwatering. Inconsistent watering. . .
• Heating mats heated the soil to almost 90*. Most seed instructions say 55*-75*.
• I planted outdoors too soon. I even tented the seedlings. But alas, they still perished.
• Planted outdoors so soon they had no recourse to whatever pests came their way.
• I used the heat mat and lights for fall seeds when I should have taken advantage of the natural light and heat of August and September.

So here I am at trial 3 of parenting seedlings and literally ending up with about four beet plants in one container, which I planted in the ground last week. They died within three days. I tried a few varieties each of beets, carrots, cauliflower, and broccoli. So, the summer's tomatoes while still my “first born,” are also my only children. Thank goodness for the resources we have here in Napa to buy starters or my veggie beds would be bare. I'm not giving up; any resources or advice is very welcomed here.

Information links

UCMG San Mateo/SF http://smsf-mastergardeners.ucanr.edu/Elkus/Cool-climate_tomato_trials/

UC IPM Tomato http://ipm.ucanr.edu/home-and-landscape/tomato/index.html

Sunflower http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/GARDEN/FLOWERS/sunflower.html

Cotyledons http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/C116/m116hscpestdamage.html

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Photo credits: Oledd, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons