How much light are they getting? The leaves don't look limp, but the stems do. Leggy stems from insufficient light will make the plant top heavy, and flop over, making them look limp.

Looks like they might need to be thinned?

Thanks for getting back -- I'd say they are getting about 6 hours of sunlight. If seedlings become "leggy" is there a way to fix the issue? Also, I wasn't sure if I needed to thin them until they became stronger?

The beets definitely need to be thinned - a lot - or you'll never get any root development. Of course if you are only growing them for tops, you don't need to thin as much. But the rest look like insufficient sun light as Dan mentioned.

The radish might be from too much nitrogen or just lack of sun as with the spinach. What is your sun exposure # of hours?

Dave

probably not enough light. 6 hrs, if it is coupled with cloudy weather, is not enough. But let me add that beets and radish do not transplant well. You should just direct seed those, outside.

What about the obvious......is the planting medium or soil moist several inches deep or dry just below the surface?

Might it be too moist for long periods of time?

I did plant the seeds directly outside. It's in a square foot garden. Some of the seedlings are leggy, some aren't. That's why I wasn't sure it was a light issue. We've grown beets in an area that had 4 hours of sun without this problem so I was confused. It's been really sunny and warm. The soil gets watered by the drip line if it's dry after two knuckles deep, but it has been lightly showering outside for the last few days. The radish picture I posted, only two of the radishes are doing that, the others are really strong. And the beets are only like that in one of the squares but the square directly next to it doesn't have the issue. It's the same sunlight for the entire bed.

Also, just for clarification about the 6 hours of sun -- I was reading that there are a number of vegetables that grow well in less sun, specifically crops you grow for leaves and roots. I read most of the crops we have planted would do fine in 6 hours of sun? Or maybe these charts I'm reading aren't correct?

http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/shade-tolerant-vegetables-zm0z11zsto.aspx

The 6 hours sun is a major oversimplification. That said, 6 hours of good intensity sun is plenty to grow anything, except maybe some varieties of peppers and eggplants. I have grown almost everything successfully with 4 hours afternoon sun, with plenty of sky exposure. The "6 hour" rule is something someone made up a long time ago and keeps getting repeated without much thought. Down South in the heat of summer less sun is more....

The beets always get floppy on me. They tend to recover. They do definitely need to be thinned and that is probably your main issue.

That's a good point. For me, beets rarely stay upright when they're small. They'll root just fine, but they'll start out laying down. The foliage will go vertical later. Never really understood that. You can prop the seedlings up with soil, but it's not clear you really need to do that. Your sunlight sounds fine. Of course, if you've grown beets before you'll know that every beet "seed" is really a cluster of seeds, which is why you have clusters of plants. You will need to thin those out. That's not the issue you're writing about, but I'm reminded of that looking at your picture.

I'll second the floppiness. Last year my beets looked that way, and I too was concerned. They ended up growing just fine after awhile.

Thinning is an understatement. If you want good 2 1/2-3" wide roots, you need to give at least that much spacing between seedlings.

This cool vid shows proper planting depth and note two seeds did not sprout hence germination rate...

Thanks everyone so much for the advice. I was beginning to feel awfully defeated about the whole thing. I went out his morning and they weren't laying down AS much. But I did remove the one square foot of beets and will maybe leave that area empty so I can get to the back easier. You've given me some hope!

No, your thinning problem isn't because you planted your seeds too closely. It's because EACH SEED you plant is actually a cluster of seeds, and so you'll get half a dozen sprous coming up in one place. That's not your fault. It's just the way it works. You need to thin those clusters to one plant.

Another thing I've noticed, and maybe this is normal as well, but in the midday sun the seedlings definitely fall over. Early in the morning around 7 they seem a bit stronger. Does this change with time or does it have to do with the depth the seeds were planted?

Also, the seeds spacing looks weird because a squirrel came in and stomped around putting the seeds random places.

Leggy plants seem to be ok for cabbage and squash. That's about it