What do you do now? Have patients, tend to the weeds, and watch for pests. In my opinion, you probably want to water two or three times per week for the first week, then down to twice a week for the next week or two then, as mudflapper says, once a week should be just fine unless it gets hot. I would increase the frequency of the watering for these first few weeks only because your seedlings need to develop their roots for a bit. However, you should be checking on your soil moisture several inches down. If it still quite moist don't water! When you do water, make sure you are watering deeply (ensure that the water is soaking the soil down to six or eight inches), then trust that the roots will get there. Have patients! Trust the slow release of your fertilizer, but watch for anything strange with your plants, especially off colors. If you get anything that is off color, check back here. If you start to see pests, take a picture and check back here. If other strange things begin to pop up, check back here. Have patients! You will, most likely, start to see some positive changes in many of your seedlings in a few days and most of them within a week. You will see some really dramatic changes at about two to three weeks. Steve Oh, did I mention that you should be patient? It's difficult, but try.

Have you read through the FAQ's here and some of the discussions on the first page? They discuss your questions in more detail. But the basics: once sprouted - no uncover. Remove the sprouts, put under fluorescent lights 1-2 inches above the plants. Leave the rest covered till they sprout. Dave Here is a link that might be useful: Growing from seed FAQ's

The biggest issue is fungus gnats. Tiny black flies that love to live indoors or out and infest every single plant even if its in a pot. They are smaller than fruit flies. Outdoors, I use a form of Bt and also benefical nematodes as I used to get a LOT of these fungus gnats, they even get inside the leaf layers of brussles sprouts, which are not good eating when you see tiny back flies in the cooking water. Indoors, when I start seeds, I use a mix of seed starting soils, like Natural Beginnings from Gardens Alive, as well as a Jiffy mix that is sold by the bag through sevral web sites, and even shreaded coconut husk fibers called coir. These are all quite 'clean' and have little to no real soil in them. They help hold just the right amount of moisture too. The fungus gnats usually come from outdoor soils, lay eggs in the soil that turn into tiny maggots and these feed off the tender roots of any plants. Thats one reason you see house plants suddenly dieing for no apparent reason. To check indoor plants, I use yellow sticky traps that rest horizontally on the edges of the pots. After just a couple of days, these traps can become loaded with tiny black gnats! Outside is where I use a form of Bt and also water in the beneficial nematodes that live in soil and go after the fungus maggots. My garden soil here isn't perfect, but if I can reduce harmful bugs from killing plants, its a big help. I use scent lures and sticky traps for my apples, peaches, and even cucumbers. Each sticky trap has a scent lure that attracts the pests common to these plants. Some plants and trees are highly resistant to diseases and bugs. Asian pears, asparagus, and blueberries to name a few. It may be better to head to a nursery/garden shop, as Home Depot and Lowes tend to offer a very limited amount of organic supplies. Here, we have only a very few products that are organic and most are for bugs (Neem) and disease control (Serende). The bags of soil offered by Miracle Grow tend to be a bit harsh as they simply use chemical equivilents to the real soil nutrients. I have a small leanto shed that stores corn gluten, fish meal, humate, kelp meal, and a few others. I use these as natural nitrogen additives, or in the case of humate, many minerals and micro nutrients. If you do plan to spray for any bugs that might be feeding on the leaves, try Neem. I wouldnt spray any herbs with anything unless the bugs are chewing holes in the leaves however. Bt, is a liquid mixed with water and has several different strains, of which one is for the gnat control. Ever hear of squash vine borers? These bugs bore into the base of squash vines and destroy the insides which cause the plants to quickly die. I have used another form of Bt and actually injected it into the main stems of squash plants, by using an insulin syringe. The Bt attacks the borers and kills them. Imagine a garden thats a living thing like us, it just can't survive all by itself if you want good yields and quality crops. I have only 2000 sq. feet of garden space, and there is also areas all around the edges of my garden that have fruit trees, or some permanent plants like asparagus and horse radish, which I harvest every spring. For your pot of cilantro, add some seeds every 2-3 weeks, so they can give you more than 1 or 2 harvests. Only thing is, if they are clumped together, they are hard to seperate if there are two stages of growth within each other. Indoors, I start about 60 petunia plants, 60 or so impatien plants, peppers, tomatos, basil, and a few others about mid April. This year, seedless watermelons with a necessary pollinator, as well as a few cantaloupe types. Brussels sprouts again too, but will be covered with a light weight white plastic fabric to block out the bugs, then my big batch of corn, which I plant every other year. I have a small tractor and a big rototiller to turn the soil over every spring, and work in any soil ammendments needed. Here is a link that might be useful: Natural Beginnings

My first topiary is a Teddy Bear sitting on top of a yellow round pottery container, with the word "Hunnee" written on it. (Still need to take a picture of it.) He (named him Fuzzie Wuzzie, to prove that hairless doesn't mean "fuzzless, LOL) is peat moss filled with just a little ivy on him so far. The problem is that I'm in zone 6 and obviously want to have him and the ivy survive during the winter, but just finally finished him two days ago. I know ivy is perennial this far north, but not so sure how well it will do outside in a container (covered by one heavy teddy bear.) I brought my ivy into the house last winter. I have an unheated porch, which will keep them a little warmer then keeping them outside. I'm hoping that someone can teach me how to care for the two of them through the winter. Any hints are appreciated. Also, I doubt this question has ever been asked before, but, as long as the ivy doesn't cover Fuzzie's head by Christmas, is it OK to crochet a Santa's cap for him?