The purpling is normal fro young seedlings. Lots of discussions here about it. The leggy appearance is not normal - too little light, over-crowding, and very likely overly warm ambient air temps where they are growing. All make seedlings leggy. Since you didn't separate them before transplanting then yes you will have to snip off the extras now. Dave

From what I understand lights are good but don't replace natural light, so keeping them cool slows growth, and produces stockier plants, it made sense to me, so I followed that advice. this made sense, as in this may sound odd but in 2001 and 2002, I got the opportunity to go to Kew Gardens in London, to do environmental survey's as part of my higher nursing degree, I went again because my dad had a stroke during the term and so I repeated, my tutor said, "oh you don't have to do Kew again, unless you want", and I wanted it was an amazing place, and I got to go behind the scenes, the hot houses work due to the heat pumped from below and the humidity, but! they are natural light, the Luminance, was way higher even in winter than shop light, we did Shops as well, I was exceptionally lucky with My tutor as her Husband is a famous Architect, and she has got lots of Brilliant contacts. with Basil, well er, the thing about growing is that until you plant, as see the growth, you have no idea, last year I did Basil, and realized, my idea of basil was shop brought, loads of plants in a tiny pot and even potting on they would die quickly, last year I grew it and was amazed how big one basil plant got, but then she bolted :-( so lesson learned is succession planting for basil and to be honest, I am rubbish at basil, they keep dieing on me? Digdirt, Loo's you have some insider info :-) even my 5 year old's get confused when I say "do you need the Loo?" as only Mummy and Daddy say that :-) where I am living, I am amazed by the amount of People, who have lived in the UK (okay near a US Navy and Army base) but even the guy who treats my lawn lived for 3 years in the UK, in the late 1970's. yes, interesting times ahead, I feel for Cleggy, the worse he was doing the more powerful he became :-) only in Britain can you do bad and become more powerful? hehe, we like the underdog :-)

Most seedlings can't handle winds. Their stems and root systems just aren't strong enough. The new leaves just can't transpire well enough yet to stabilize their temps and moisture level. Not only will they lay over but the soil quickly dries out and the leaves can get wind burned too. Outside for seedlings, even during the hardening off stage, means dappled shade/sun and out of the wind. Baby them inside for now and they will likely bounce back if not too damaged. Good luck. Dave

Carrots do best grown outside in the garden. I haven't heard of them grown indoors in buckets before. However, seeds grown indoors need light from both the warm and cool spectrum. That's what grow lights provide, although they're a bit expensive. Otherwise, pick up a florescent fixture that holds two tubes and buy a cool light tube and a warm light tube. (These fixtures are often available at second hand stores for next to nothing.) Suspend the light on adjustable chain about 4 inches from the top of your plants. Plants grown from seed indoors need to have light for 14 hours a day. If you put this on a timer it makes life a lot easier for you. Good luck! (Because carrots have long tap roots, they don't take to being transplanted into the garden. This is why you won't see them available for sale in nurseries in the spring.)