Hey Ryan, When I grow trees from seed I don't usually have problems like these. Long ago when I started seeds in regular garden soil I had all kinds of damping off problems. Once I realized that seeds germinate better in soil-less mixes and have less chance of soil pathogens I gave up on garden soil. Since then I've had very few problems germinating seed. OK, we KNOW that contamination is not coming from the plastic seed trays since you washed and disinfected them between planting cycles. Your trays should be fine. Occasionally some seeds might have some tiny, invisible fungi on them that can quickly grow in a wet environment. As a precaution, you might want to consider a brief (5 or 10 minute) soaking in 50/50 mixture of water and hydrogen peroxide just before planting. This should kill fungi on the outside of the seed coats, just in case there is any. That would eliminate the possibility that the seed coats are infected. I guess at this point Id be tempted to toss away the MG soil you have and try something else. I usually start my seeds in a loose mix of fine pine bark and perlite with good results but there are many different seed starting soils on the market, including one by Schultz that I've heard good things about. I'll add a link. Hope this helps. TYG Here is a link that might be useful: Seedling soil

To Ohiofem, That's crazy that you've been growing tomatoes for twenty years and yet just five years you've been doing seeds! And by "new to gardening" I mean NEW to gardening. lol I liked the idea of starting from seed because you get more plants for the money, TONS of varieties to choose from, and, being a stay at home mom of an eight month old, it's been fun to take care of. :) As for heirloom versus hybrid, you ain't kiddin'. My Sungolds are the rock stars. They look awesome and are bigger than the rest. Yeah, they are also cherry tomatoes, but as others have said, a lot of times hybrids are that way-super growers. As for not as easy to grow, it's funny because yeah, my pepper and broccoli plants haven't scared me yet like the tomatoes have a few times. haha That's also good to hear that the problem isn't likely bacterial canker. I was just heartbroken thinking it might have been last night. Looked up the Tomato Girl company as a back up plan should my plants not make it. My local nursery has mostly hybrids and a few heirlooms, but none that I was really interested in. As for hardening off, I got some advice from a guy at the local nursery that my plants seemed to be too large for this stage, so I should start hardening off now to slow down their progress some. That way, he said, I wouldn't have to transplant to bigger pots within the next week or two before I plant them outside. He said then they wouldn't have outgrown the pots they're in now. To Suncitylinda, I did notice that having the fan on them helped bulk out their stems. They used to have pathetic thin stems when I first came back from vacation. See, my first year gardening I planted the seeds, then, having to go to Washington to visit family for two weeks, told my husband all the knowledge I'd learned, and then left the next day. I learned almost everything from reading online and reading forums like this, but, since it's my first year gardening, I had never put any of it into practice. lol Bless my husband's heart though, he tried his darndest to keep them alive, and they did pretty well, except they got leggy. That's what I fixed once I got back. The people at the nursery told me they were leggy, put a fan on them, and gosh darnit! It worked! :D As for sitting them outside, hahaha! Being in Utah, in a NORMAL winter(this one has been uncommonly warm), when I started these seeds there'd be some snow still in patches! Lucky you to be able to put them outside once they pot up. I'm jealous. ;) Also, thanks for the reminder about gardening is to DE-stress, not increase it. lol I know I can't be the only one who stresses about these kinds of things-I see posts like mine every day on this forum. We want our babies to grow up right, and lead productive lives, just like our real kids! ;) So thanks for all the advice ya'll and reminders to just relax. I gotta keep in mind what you said about they grow like weeds. I think maybe we do tend to over worry. I know my seedlings seem to pop back real nice and quick after a problem may arise. :) To Bobby, About the planting more than you need-I know. I'm so glad I assumed for some not germinating, and some didn't. And even still, I have three of each that popped up, so even if one died or didn't look great, I should still be fine with my planting adventures. ^_^ So, after listening to everyone, I've decided to not freak that it's bacterial canker(thank you Ohiofem!), chill and take whatever happens, and just in case my problems arose out of wind burn(as a pic I saw does look a bit similar), am hardening off my plants in our 3 sided carport, so no serious breezes bother it yet(thanks both of those to Suncitylinda!). I want ya'll experts to know. Being a newbie to a field that one could never in a LIFETIME master, I'm so grateful ya'll take the time to help people like me. I know you must get tired of all us new to growing asking you so many questions about possible diseases, how to plant, what varieties are good, but I know, at least for me, knowing ya'll are willing to answer our questions definitely keeps me going. It's so easy to get discouraged, worry you don't know what you're doing, so it's nice to have ya'll telling us we're doing alright and keep it up. :) Hopefully that doesn't sound too cheesy, 'cause I mean it.

Yes, nobody grows vegetables like Silvia can. But Donna is right. Most of us pull out tomatoes and many other vegetables starting in May, then either take the summer off or switch to hot weather veg like okra, sweet potatoes, gandules, malabar spinach and so on, and start up again with tomatoes in the fall. The summers here are just too hard on plants, not only the heat, but the explosion of pests. And many of us stick with containers for tomatoes because of the nematode problem. If you aren't familiar with it, the University of FL publishes an excellent guide to vegetable gardening in Fl, including suggested planting dates for each region. Also, you might want to read around at justonebackyard.com. He's in West Palm, but his blog and videos will give you a good idea of what produces when. Here is a link that might be useful: IFAS Planting Guide

Hard to tell from a monitor, but aubergine is probably RAL4007. I love aubergine & wanted it for my dining room before I even knew it was color that was about to trend "hot". For a dining room, it is only paint & purple was always my Grammy's and my favorite color. But, unless y'all have loved purple from infancy, I would be careful with aubergine because it will look dated when pampelmousse is the new "hot" color (just making that up; I have no foreknowledge of color trends.) We will have cream cabinets & red oak floors. If we go with Bluestar, we're likely to do RAL5002 or slightly darker. This is because we want a black and cream granite which has a strong blue undertone so we want to bring that out. When we thought we were doing granite with garnets in it, we were going to do a deep red to pick up on the garnets. With soapstone, you probably have more flexibility. The designers on this board can chime in better than I, but what about a British Racing Green (close to RAL6005)to pull on the green that your soapstone might have? Good luck & enjoy it. I'm sure an autobody shop could repaint it if the red turns out to be a pure disaster.