'One_sad_episode'! What an imagination! Where you think that name up? The plant: definately of the euphorbia family, and I agree, E. cyathopora. In fact I have that as a weed springing up in my neighbours' gardens, way down here in Australia. Just goes to show where plants end up, ay.

A big sunflower leaf fell, covering my six pack of grass and keeping it from being irrigated properly whilst the temperature went to 101° and the humidity dropped to about 6% and my tiny grasses have apparently succumb.

You will probably have better luck starting them indoors than out. I suggest using potting soil rather than seed starting mix. Avoid the use of the almost 100% peat mixes as they dry out and become difficult to re-wet. I tried pansies from seed indoors and wasn't successful, but the reason was they grew very slowly and I made the mistake of using terracotta pots which dried too fast with peat as the medium. Top watering killed a lot of the seedlings as the dry peat ponded water on top and drowed the little things. I wasn't too concerned about them so didn't give them much attention (the wife brought home one of those 'kits' well after I had already planted out everything I wanted from seed). I would recommend using a plastic flat like you see in nurseries, using regular potting soil as the medium and bottom watering. Keep the mix on the evenly moist side. I would probably move the flat outside without any cover as soon as they germinate and keep the tray with some water in it so the mix never dries. I would keep them as close to 70 degrees as possible, so in the shade if it is hotter out and back inside if the weather gets a really cold snap. I think the seedlings kind of need to be babied a bit until their growth rate 'takes off', but as I said, I only tried them once and I wasn't successful so prefer the advice of anyone who comes along and has had better results. As far as your zinnias, I am not sure how you killed those as they are fairly easy/hardy for me, but it is all good, every failure teaches us something, even if we don't immediately understand the lesson. Try to never get too discouraged, everyone has their failures, I personally have had enough for the both of us ;-) Good luck!

Thank you party_music. I do not think they are in want of water, I was actually afraid I was overwatering them. I've been watering them well at least once a week, sometimes more. The soil never really dries out. I planted them in "regular" potting mix (I do not recall any specifics, but I don't think it was anything fancy or special). I had the same thought about nitrogen which is why I fertilized them. At this point I think not allowing them to go dormant was my main mistake. Incase they live (or if I try this again) how do I "harden them off"? I live in Northern Nevada (at the base of the Sierra near Lake Tahoe) so it does get quite cold in the winter. That's the main reason I kept them indoors, but I now realize that may have been a mistake.