You are a worry wort. But next year you will be a lesser one. Being able to recognize seedlings helps a lot, and knowing what to expect helps a lot too

http://tomclothier.hort.net/page11.html

I became an expert at timing and seedling recognition because my labels disappear mysteriously all the time. Really, I don't know where they go.

One thing you can do to satisfy your curiosity is to plant some extra seeds separately that you can dig up and inspect their progress. Sometimes seeds will rot or die and it helps to know when it happens.

This is my first real garden in a long time as well, and I am doing the same thing. I don't think it is being a worry wort as much as lack of experience on our part. Like glib said, next year will be better! One thing that has helped me is research each plant group for information on growing them (germination times, weather they need heat to germinate, etc).

The more you know, the less you will "worry"!

My biggest worries were....

The quality of the soil I purchased.

A cold night after planting.

90 degree day time temps with only 10% humidity on seeds planted .25" deep.

The viability of the seeds I purchased on eBay.

I guess I just didn't realize I had nothing to worry about.

I get this way too a little, and I've been doing it for three years now. But it has gotten easier. So, too, does thinning out seedlings. At first, it was SO HARD to kill of the plant "babies". But the ones I do keep do so much better given the room.

Tcstoehr, great idea on planting extra seeds to check on their development. Had never thought to do this...

Kim

Yup, I get the anxiety. I even get anxious when I'm starting them indoors. It just seems so unbelievable that after sitting there as a dry little speck for months or years it's going to make a plant. It always seems a little like a miracle.

I get anxious when the seeds are a few days past their expected germination date and nothing happens. :)

Lots of factors though.. best to get onto something else gardening related and don't worry about it until there's obviously something wrong.

Here is a link that might be useful: My Homesteading Adventures

I feel your pain. I just became joyful because I noticed my Cherokee Purple tomatoes were starting to germinate...I had checked them a dozen times...lol

"..out in the fields they were turning the soil
I'm sitting here hoping this water will boil.."

Words - Neil Young

I had a thread going about if my seeds for my classroom garden were going to make it while I was on vacation. Almost everyone said theirs had died.
I stopped worrying, came home to some beautiful plants!
If you're not a farmer that has to get the crops going, don't sweat it! You can always start again (good idea, in fact) or buy some nice organic starts at a farmers market or somewhere.
Nancy

Its in the 90's here already and will be 100-110 every day soon. If these seeds don't germinate how easy is it to start seeds in the sun when its 110 degrees in the shade at 10% humidity that just sucks the life out of plants?

Its been two weeks and so far....

1 seed has germinated out of 50 melons.

0 seeds have germinated out of 30 squash.

0 seeds have germinated out 12 cucumbers.

I'm not worried about the beans yet because they have only been planted 4 days.

Everything I planted indoors is doing fine but the seeds that were planted in the ground are doing nothing.

I know glib says I have nothing to worry about but I'm still a little worried. I'm not a farmer but my wife and I live on a fixed income and we need this garden to work.

I've never had such poor germination on squash, cukes and melons. I haven't planted mine yet as I'm still filling my gardens with dirt, might miss out on my cuke and squash window.
It sounds like you need to do a germination test in a baggie with your seeds. They're either no good or something stole them. I did have a failure on cukes earlier but I think it may have had to do with that cold snap we had.
Those seeds are usually the easiest things to germinate.

tracydr I don't think its the seeds. All the root crop seeds I started indoors from the same vendors did fine. I think its how deep I planted the squash and melons. In The Joy of Gardening the author recommended planting deeper in hotter climate zones. This morning I awoke to 4 squash and two more melons. My guess is they are just going to take a lot longer to get through the soil when planted deeper. Still a little worried though and considering planting some backup plants indoors just in case.

I was worried about that brief cold snap too. I mean where did that 54 degree high with a nighttime low in the upper 20's come from. When I check the National weather service they say it was 79 degrees that day even when the highest temp they showed the whole day was 54. Thats why I don't trust these global worming temps. They consider global warming to be a .1 degree change over the the course of a year. That one false reporting alone is enough to confirm global warming for the hole year. Until they start using real numbers I will never trust them no matter what their credentials or supposed accomplishments.

I get nervous too, when things are late coming up. I usually start poking around and invariably break one off that was just ready to break the surface!!

BTW, how are the potato onions doing?

Steve

Hi Steve, Thank you so much for the potato onions. My health is not the best so it took me awhile to plant them. I only got them in the ground about 10 days ago. The most authoritative planting instructions I could find called for planting the top of the bulbs even with the surface. Today I can see that a few of them are just starting to wake up.

As far as onions go I also planted 240 onion plants and 60 leek plants and 880 Japanese bunching onion seeds. Yup, I do like onions quite a bit. They can be used in so many ways both cooked and raw I figure no matter how many I plant I will end up using them all.

I know what you mean. There is nothing I enjoy more than a pile of whole green onions tossed with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and then grilled until lightly charred. Mmmmmmm.

Do you grow the Egyptian Walking Onion? They are one of my favorites for fresh eating.

Steve

Steve I thought about growing Egyptian Walking Onions but my perception was that they were not of high quality. I respect your opinion though. If they are your favorite I guess I will be taking a second look at them and may plant a few in the Fall planting season.

The Japanese Nabechan bunching onions I purchased from Johnny's are supposed to be good grilled. I guess in another couple months I will know for myself whether or not they live up to the hype.

I find that they take a little more "managing" than some perennial green onions. I lift and divide the clumps every few years and replant. But the nice thing is that I can pull a cluster off the side whenever I want to use them. People have said they form a more typical onion underground, but mine have never gotten bigger than a good sized green onion. The "nodding" or "walking" aspect really is more of a nuisance than anything. I just find it a very reliable, hardy and tasty onion that I can pull all summer.

I just divided last year so I'll see how they do this summer and if they do well I can send you some if you're interested. Let me know. Sorry, I didn't mean to hijack this tread and turn it into and onion thread!

Steve

Having onions you can count on sounds like a good thing to me Steve.

Two more melons and two more squash came up today. Still a long ways away from filling my raised beds and several varieties are still no shows. I purchased three plants at the nursery that had three plants in each just in case. I separated them so I now have nine plants. If everything comes up I will still have room for them. I have not planted a section that will remain shaded for a few more weeks.

Here are the stats so far at roughly three weeks in.

Germinated so far....

6 seeds have germinated out of 50 melons.

8 seeds have germinated out of 30 squash.

0 seeds have germinated out 12 cucumbers.

I'm not worried about the beans yet because they have only been planted 8 days.

At this point I'm going to plant the nine melons and squash I purchased. I'll also start melons and squash and cucumbers in trays. It looks like this worry wort is going to need them.

You must have a big space for that many squash and melons?
Did you plant your beans yet? I'm thinking of doing them today even though my one garden isn't filled, I have a couple other places I can put them. And a few okra.
Did you check the crazy weather this week?lows in the forties and a high of sixty nine on Saturday!

thisisme,

Are those all ebay purchased seeds? I've had some pretty crappy germination with a few ebay purchases. I don't necessarily plant any deeper here in AZ. I just make sure to keep the ground moist most of the time. It sounds like you're doing this so it seems like the seeds aren't all that viable or you did indeed plant too deep.

The window for starting cuke's and squash from seed is closing up fast. For me those two don't do well when the heat kicks in. I had bad germination with some old cuke seeds, so I opted to reseed with Armenian cucumber instead. Not really a cucumber but takes our heat. I don't know what squash you have but Early Prolific Straightneck has been a good one for me. Grows pretty fast. You still have some time to seed/plant watermelons & melons.

Good luck....

tracydr most of the melons I planted are short vine melons like Yellow Doll, Minnesota Midget, Emerald Gem and so forth. When the vines are only 3-5ft long you don't need as much space. My bush beans were planted 8 days ago. I soaked some pole beans last night and will be planting today. And yes I have seen the crazy weather coming. If the beans fail I do have plenty more to replant in two weeks.

mister_gin They are not all from eBay but the melon seeds are all from small melons and the seeds are smaller than standard melon seeds. My guess is being much smaller they did not have enough energy to get to the surface planted as deep as I did. I paid $ 7.00 for the Yellow Doll seeds. Ouch!!! The cucumber seeds were Armenian cucumber seeds from an eBay vendor. I have Early Prolific Straightneck seeds but did not plant any. Most of my seeds were from major suppliers Like Johnny's, Baker Creek, Seed Savers, Southern Exposure, The Sample Seed Shop, Territorial Seed and so forth. I know the window to plant is closing. I can't imagine planting seeds when its hot enough to cook an egg on the ground. Time to get to it.

My guess is the problem I'm having with germination has mostly to do with the one unseasonably cold day and night about four days after planting. The cooler weather thats coming is still about 13 degrees warmer than what my failed seeds experienced.

There is a saying I did not pay attention to that I will next year. "I would rather plant two weeks after my neighbor than have to re-plant with him."