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

My seeds came yesterday, but I have not had time to look at them. I'll post later with the high points. Thanks MIchelle, for another successful swap. Finally had a chance to open my envelope. Everyone sent great seeds and I will be sowing a lot of them this season. The most creative referenced the poultry and egg garden, including several plumes, Turkey Craw pole beans, a couple of feathers and one Cranesbill, not to mention a couple of foxes in the hen house (Foxgloves). I am always surprised and delighted by some of the associations people make in this swap. Other themes got nice seeds too and poor Miss Lottie could not help but be encouraged by all the different kinds of Marigold. Thanks again! Alana This post was edited by poisondartfrog on Tue, Feb 25, 14 at 19:09

This is what I did last year and it worked well: -Bought some 14inch tall and 4x8 ft raised beds in wood. Filled them with store bought soil mixed with some of the compact clay from the garden. -Sowed tomatoes, peppers, melons and cucumbers (heat-tolerant species) inside in January. -Sowed Basil, Zinnia, Amaranthus and Nicotiana in February. -Direct sowed beans, salad, peas. -Bought some herbs which I planted out directly. -Planted out most of it in the middle of March. -Vegetables, tomatoes, and cucumbers got harvested. Most of it died in July. (Except a tomato specie called "Matts wild cherry tomato" which was very heat tolerant (but also quite unstoppable,weedy, overwhelming plants and self seed wildly!). -The peppers did I actually harvest until Christmas (had to plant them in a flowerbed- ran out of space). -I will full heartedly recommend Zinnia for the Texas gardens. They was a blast ! Flowered along time. I haven't seen the SVBs, and they sounds like a really serious treat. Though I haven't actually Zucchini, but three types melon and cucumbers. Sounds like a terrible pest. -I bought some plants too. Find a good garden center and use some dollars on something exciting. Lots of fun with a small investment. I bought a Passionfruit Plant. Its a tad invasive, but I've got loads of Passion Fruits this fall and winter. Very healthy and very excotic for a Scandinavian like me. -Good Luck! I write about my garden in Houston here.

One of the things I'm doing this year is interplanting basil with melons and squash. The melon and squash vines just grow all around the basil, which grows well above them, but the roots don't really share any soil. So while the basil produces just a smidgen of shade on the vines below, it's otherwise wholly independent. I can load up N fertilizer on the basil without overloading the melons and squash. This is in a bed that gets 100% sun, so a bit of shade is no bother. I never bother planting new basil. I just continually harvest from individual plants, and they just keep churning out more. But I'd better stop talking about basil in a tomato thread.