Hi Everyone, I'm jumping into this conversation with another question. Feel free to send to a link as I'm sure this question has been asked a million times. I'm starting Alpine Strawberries and Tomatoes. I'm using a Sun Blaze light fixture with 4ct, T5, fluorescent lights per fixture. No reflectors. My seeds are on wire shelving and by a window. Outside temp is still below 32 at night and around 45 days. The room is 60 + degrees. With no heat mat and seedlings covered, my lights still give enough heat to create condensation. 1) One fixture literally raises the ambient temp in the room. Does that seem strangely hot for these types of lights? 2) Given the variables: by a window, hot lights, covered, should I use a mat? 3) How many hours of artificial light should I give them? 4) Any thoughts on mixing bulbs (Red & Blue) in the same fixture. Should I throw in a red spectrum bulb or two if I want my Alpines to bloom? Or best to keep move the Alpines to an all red fixture once they look ready? Thanks everyone..I bow to your expertise! Sharron

I use the powder type. I moisten the stick , dip it in powder and put it in perlite. and keep it moist. One can use a big cut soda bottle with vent holes cut in it, to keep it humid. I like to do this in the spring but try now. different plants like different time of the year, The perlite really does encourage root growth.

Bo, For most things that you planted, the 1-1.5" depth may be a problem. To tackle them one by one: Radishes--probably will come up but it may take a while. Lettuce--unlikely to come up from that depth, might want to reseed more. Lettuce is unusual in that it does not strictly need light to germinate, but does seem to germinate much more quickly if the seeds get some light exposure. Just sprinkle seeds on the surface of the soil, lightly press them into the soil but do not cover. Mist lightly. Keep soil moist, not wet, and they should germinate quickly in the weather we're having now. Peas--probably will come up just fine, but may take a few days longer than usual. Swiss Chard---it would have been better if the seeds had been sown about 1/2" below the soil surface, but they still may sprout even if 1.5" below soil surface. Swiss Chard seeds are actually small fruits with multiple seeds inside, so when you get sprouts, you'll likely get multiple sprouts in little clusters where each seed was sown. If you don't get sprouts in the next couple of weeks, just sow more seed in the soil right above where the previous seeds were sown. In the future, if you soak Swiss Chard seeds in water for a few hours before planting, they'll sprout more quickly. Broccoli should sprout just fine as long as you keep the soil moist, not soggy. Usually we start broccoli seed indoors 3-5 weeks before planting time, harden off the seedlings gradually over a week's time to help them adjust to outdoor sunlight and wind, and then put the plants in the ground when they are 3-5 weeks old and have 3 to 5 true leaves. We do this because the cool season is shockingly short in OK some years and starting from transplants helps ensure you'll get a crop before the weather gets too hot. Keep that in mind for future reference. With the soil being warm and air temperatures being really nice right now, I think your broccoli will come up pretty quickly and has a good shot at producing this year, but in a year with colder, wetter soil and cooler air temperatures, you'd want to start with transplants. Carrots are divas and can take their time sprouting. Kim gave you good advice on them. Keeping something (I use either cardboard weighed day with bricks or a sheet of plywood) on top of the area where carrot seed was sown helps ensure a good crop. You sow the seed, cover with just a little soil, pat down the soil gently to ensure good seed-to-soil contact, mist lightly and cover with something that will help hold in the moisture. What happens is the soil gets dry and crusts over and the tiny carrot seeds have trouble breaking through the soil crust. So, using a board, cardboard, fabric, etc. to hold in the moisture helps keep the soil from crusting over. Just lift the covering once or twice daily to check for sprouts and remove once you start seeing little green sprouts. Another way to help the carrot seeds germinate if you don't want to cover them with anything is to sow radishes right along with them. Sow a radish seed every few inches right there in the row of carrot seeds.. It will germinate more quickly than the carrots, breaking the soil crust for them and helping making it easier for them to germinate. Potatoes will sprout fine 2" below the soil. I planted mine 8-9" below the soil surface and some of them already are up above the soil surface. That's a lot of growth in a fairly compact time frame. Keep in mind that potatoes want to grow and have a need to grow, so they are going to sprout whether planted deeply or more shallowly. Research has shown that for maximum production, seed potatoes need to have at least 8" of soil above them. This is because the stolons that sprout from the eyes of the potatoes are where the potatoes form, and they all form above the seed potato. So, if you have 2-4" of soil above the seed potatoes, the only potatoes you get will be whatever forms in that 2-4" of soil. If you have 8-10" of soil above the seed potatoes, you'll get more potatoes because they will form along at least 8" of the stolon between the top of the seed potato and the soil line. Planting much deeper than 8" (or heaping much more than 8" of soil and mulch on top of the planted seed potatoes) doesn't really give you more potatoes no matter what some internet sources say, and there is research that backs up that info. Maybe somewhere in a much milder climate than ours where the soil and air temperatures stay mild, potatoes planted really deeply might produce more, but it doesn't happen here because we quickly reach the soil and air temperatures in late spring/early summer that cause the initiation of new potato tubers to stop. So, keeping heaping soil (hopefully loose, friable soil, not clay) on top of your potatoes as you grow, and pile mulch on top of the soil once you think it is heaped up high enough above your potato plants. Don't fret if seeds don't sprout. Just plant more after a couple of weeks if you aren't seeing any sprouts. There's a reason that so many seeds come in a packet---and it isn't because the average person wants to grow 1,000 carrots or 200 radishes all at one time or 100 lettuce plants. It is to allow for the fact that some seeds won't germinate, some may get washed away or whatever and a gardener may need to replant. Gardening basically is a learn-by-doing process. We've all been in your shoes at one point in our gardening lives. Every single person here has made mistakes and had seed failures. We've had seeds that never came up because they were planted too deeply, we've had seeds blown away in wind storms, eaten by soil-dwelling creatures, washed away in heavy downpours, etc. etc. etc. Life goes on. We just replant and hope for better results with the next go-round. Things will be fine. If the first batch of seeds y'all sowed don't come up, it is likely the next round will. That's part of the magic of growing. Even when you're alone in the garden with your child, the two of you are not alone. All of us are with you, hoping for good results for y'all, cheering you on from afar and ready to answer any questions that arise. We'll celebrate with you when your seeds sprout and grow and we'll celebrate with you when you when your get your harvest. In the meantime, we'll always be here to answer questions, offer advice and explain, to the best of our knowledge, why things happen the way they do. You know the old saying that it takes a village to raise a child? It is true, and our plants are children too, and it takes an entire village to share the knowledge and experience and help your and your child raise that garden. Please do not ever hesitate to talk with us about what is going on. There's nothing you'll encounter that someone here hasn't had happen to them too. It is the sharing of the knowledge gained that helps us all grow into more effective and more efficient gardeners. Dawn

Hi Bill, The best way for the leaves to break down into compost is first shred them, the smaller particles the quicker they will break down. You can do this by running them over several times with a lawn mower or using a weed wacker. Since leaves are carbon, make sure you add nitrogen (green) items to the pile after. Keep the pile moist, and the more you turn the pile to supply oxygen the faster the leaves will break down. Hope this helps! Tim ------- www.organicbackyardgardening.com subscribe!