Accelerated seedlings?

[Scottoreay]

Hello,

First time gardener here. I have about 10 trays of 4 unit seedlings that I have planted about 10 days ago. Carrots, Beans, Watermelon, Cantalope, Pumkins, Broccoli. Just after planting the seeldings, I set them outside and they got a full day of sun for about 5 days, until the rain came. I decided to bring them inside and I put up a growing light. things seem to be going well, I have the Cantelope sprouted nicely, 2 of the 4 beans, 1 of the 4 watermelon have sprouted.

My question is the carrots and broccoli. (sorry about spelling). The seed packets say 14 to 21 day sprouting but it's been only about 10 days and I have 2 carrots, out of 12, (very small sprouts), and one of the broccoli has sprouted. I hope this is ok because I am afraid I am taking away from their strength since they are sprouting so early. I did have the light on full for 3 days. Should I limit this? Thank you for your time.

Scott

[rainbowgardener]

They are fine. Broccoli usually sprouts for me in just a few days.

Carrots I usually start outside directly in the ground, when the ground is still cold. They take a pretty long time to sprout that way. Carrots are usually started directly in the ground because they don't always respond well to transplanting. It is easy to mess up the root, and in the case of carrots, the root is what you want. Here's a thread where applestar talks about how to transplant a carrot:
http://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/v ... 867#111867

That's a very mixed group of seeds, which wouldn't usually be started all at the same time. ( Carrots, Beans, Watermelon, Cantalope, Pumkins, Broccoli) Carrots and broccoli are cool weather crops. I usually start my broccoli indoors in Jan and plant it in the garden in March, a month before my expected last frost date. It is very cold hardy, but does not do well once it gets hot and may not set any heads if planted to late.

Watermelon, cantelope, pumpkin are warm weather crops. They can be started indoors and transplanted or they can be planted directly in the ground, once the soil is warmed up so that it does not feel cool to the touch.