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I don't know I am just so upset with myself right now. I started all my seeds and a little later than I normally do, but just by a week or so. My germination rate was OK for some things like tomatoes and peppers, but lettuce etc was terrible. I never have trouble with seeds! so, things start growing and for some reason I decided to top water instead of bottom water one day and I killed half the stuff. So then I replanted some stuff and its just not growing at all. the tomatoes that I replatned are still 1/2" tall. So, then I put them in my cold frame, and apparently I was supposed to do that slowly. which I've never done before, I've just always put them right out there but I made it with glass this year instead of plastic and I guess the sun was just too strong. off killed the rest of the smaller seedlings. so now, I have just a few tomato plants left. and my peppers are still ok. I'm down to like 1 brussel sprout too. I could CRY! I wanted certain varieties of tomatoes etc. I planned on all the different varities since last summer and I'm not going to get them all the carefully selecting and ordering the seeds etc. what a waste. I've done this for 5 years and never had issues like this! I don't know if I'll be able to get brussel spout seedlings? is it too late to plant more of those? or they'll be fall crop maybe if I plant now, right?

ugh. its nearly time to plant the melons and cucumbers and squash. I hope I have better success at that. but still. I am SOOOOOOOOOO bummed about my tomatoes. I wanted all those varieties. bad.

You have time. One year I didn't get a set of tomatoes into the garden until the second week of June (our last frost date is May 20), and I often don't get things in until June 1st.

You can always buy a couple of early variety seedlings at the nursery to give you something on time to eat while you are waiting.

My mother had her approach to gardening . One year, she had nothing but melons!

Fairly big family garden, too. Nothing wrong with that - she made me happy! There were weeks and weeks when I could swipe a cantaloupe and enjoy the whole thing by myself - out on the other side of the irrigation ditch!

I have started a few gardens quite late. One garden, I didn't get there until July 2nd. I planted green beans. Another garden, it was well into June, but I got a whole garden full of warm-season veggies .

Steve

LOL at the garden of melons


well, I planted more tomato seeds last week but only a few came up again! and they're teeny tiny of course. I just don't understand it. I really wanted those darn martinos! and the tigerella and the brandywine.. sigh.....

I wonder what the common factors are? Something in your water? Something in your soil?

My seedlings are struggling a bit this year (a bit leggy) but for the most part I have enough to plant in ground next week. I usually do 2 times the amount I need to go in the ground to make sure I have enough healthy seedlings grow to stand being outside.

An off brand potting mix once very nearly ruined my entire pepper/tomato/etc. season.

It has been about 20 years but I still remember the cartoon "daisy" on the bag !

Starting only about one-half of the important seed at first, seems a good idea. It is unlikely that 10 or 14 days will make much of a difference in the earliness or lateness of the crop but you can often get some idea if things are going okay in that amount of time.

digitS'

mmm... I DID use a different potting mix than I usually do. I wonder if that is it. guess I won't be doing that again! that is probably the issue I guess.

I've had "crop failures" too. It's frustrating, as all of us gardeners know.
How's the soil temperature? Try using some sort of "dome"over whatever you have sown them in. For some trays I use a plastic lid,others I use saran wrap. Both build up heat in the soil.
One batch of my tomatoes seemed to take forever to come up, dug up the soil, saw no signs of germination. Paniced, started more seeds; they popped up in a few days, the original ones came up about the same time. Had them in different locations, one must have been warmer more of the day.
There's still time if you're in Maine; and if all else fails, there are greenhouses to find something close to what you want.

So sorry to hear of tour troubles.

Having so many projects going, when something doesn't work out, I can generally let it roll off my back, but I know how disappointing and frustrating it can be when you have your heart set on something.

Hopefully, you'll be able to come up with a satisfactory solution or alternative and have your garden growing soon!

Trust me, I know how you feel. This is the 2nd year in a row that half my seed rotted just after germinating. Luckily I've learned to never plant ALL your seed, just twice as much as you expect to plant out. There's always direct sowing too. I have direct sowed tomatoes in a totally last ditch effort and I still got tomatoes to eat and can--just one or two months later than normal and obviously less than a respectable quantity. First frost is still a long ways off yet...

well... oddly enough, the ones in the basement that I've neglected are all doing fine... apparently the plants don't enjoy me watching them OR.... maybe they're happy that they don't hear my kids yelling all the time LOL!!!!