new to gardening. now needing to fix mistakes

[catjac1975]

Arielle- You're going to have a lot of great plants. A lot will thrive and some will die. If you have a failure you cannot take that as a condition of your ability. The plants you see at the nursery have been scientifically grown to perfection with more chemicals and hormones than you can even fathom. I have planted out sad looking spindly seedlings that flourish better than anything I have bought. The truth about those greenhouse miracle plants is that they are often root bound and do not thrive when planted outdoors. I have had plants that do not thrive. It took a few years of experimenting with sowing time and location for me to figure it out. This is a challenge I enjoy. If you will count and sort a thousand seeds you will probably enjoy keeping records of your plant growth. In a few years you will be an expert. Celebrate you success and adjust for your failures.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Sort of an example of what Catjac just said. I bought some eggplant starts last year at the garden center, a 6-pak. One of them was so weak and spindly the lady didn't charge me for it. I set it it any way and it produced better than some of the better starts.

Generally the better your starts the better you will do. And you'll get better at it with practice. But sometimes Mother Nature can do some amazing things with very little help. Don't give up on her too easily.

 

[Jared77]

I never give up on anything till its totally dried up blowing across the yard dead. You'd be amazed what comes back with a little TLC.

 

[MontyJ]

I'm not a flower person either but I'll make a couple of comments.

They really need a lot of light. They will stretch and reach for light. I try to keep my grow light about 2" or maybe less away from the plants. Notice I said try. You can't do that when you have different sized seedlings. Just do the best you can.

Another thing is that you can provide additional light from the side or maybe put something in there to reflect light from the side. One thing I do is have mine in a window and keep the shades open. Mine is a east window and back under a porch overhang so they don't get a lot of light from this, but it helps.

Again, I'm not a flower person. I grow a few but don't start any inside. But with certain plants you can cut them back as Catjac mentioned and they will just sucker out and spread out. Before you do that on any specific flower ask and hopefully someone on here can give you a good answer if that should work for that specific plant. But if you trim them back, you need to trim them above the true leaves, otherwise they will just die.

When a seed sprouts, it generally sends up two leaves. I can't remember without going to look it up what they are called. I'm sure plenty of people here can tell you. Anyway these are not true leaves. The true leaves are the ones that come out above these first ones and have the shape of the leaf the plant is supposed to have. Those first two are generally sort of oval. If it is the type of plant that will sucker out you will soon see buds coming out that will develop into new stems.

Welcome to the adventure. You've made your introduction harder that it could have been by jumping the gun for your climate, but you can still manage. And you've gained experience so it will go better nest year.

+1 ^^^ Very good advice there.

 

[Arielle35]

just wanted to jump on and say hi real quick... ive been in the hospital for a few days.. I knew i was sick...but... oh well, life happens... I watered well and left lights on the whole time... just got home...a few of them are a little
"sad" looking but they are almost dried up, i think they are just wilted cuz of thirst.. im hoping that with some water they will perk back up.. also my cat knocked off one of the impaitens and bent the stem... its really sad but not totally dead
I just snapped it off and stuck it in a cup of water...im hoping it will grow some roots ill let u all know if they perk up by tomorrow.. have a good night..i gotta go get some sleep...in my own bed..yay! lol

 

[897tgigvib]

I sure hope you get well soon Arielle. I've been sick lately. Looks like day after tomorrow before i can do a day trip to the VA hospital in San Francisco. Tooth and checkup for this bubonic flu.

Might try a few light sprays of water on the impatiens cutting, which is too young for a good chance, but just maybe with your strong mama instincts. remember, it starts with no roots, so spraying the leaves is its only real water source.