With weather like we've had, if you planted outdoors in the last week or two, it's quite possible you don't have any sprouts coming up yet. If I could have stayed dormant this past week, I would have too.
The good news is that some warmer (if rainy) weather is in the forecast! That should warm up the soil again and get things growing.
The bad news is that if you planted peas, this was the worst possible weather for them. When peas get very cold, wet weather right after they are planted, they tend to rot rather than germinate. That is life and death in the garden. But there is nothing for us to do but wait until we've had a week of warmer weather. If they haven't come up after about 3 weeks, then we have to soak some more, and plant them. The risk is replanting too early, and killing the original ones if they just were about to break the surface. So it's best to try to insert the new ones individually in the same area as the old ones but disturbing the soil as little as possible, in case the old ones are actually starting to grow.
Anyway, for now, you just have to wait and see.
Starting Seeds Indoors
This is not really an easy topic, and actually I don't really recommend it for followers of this blog!
You should probably stop reading right here! (Unless you're just too curious, or determined to start your own seedlings.)
Tomato plants, in particular, are the one thing on our short list that definitely should be started indoors. But most people just buy seedlings that have been started in a greenhouse. Purchased plants they will almost certainly be larger and stronger and mature sooner than if you start the seedlings yourself.
Basil and nasturtiums are other good choices for starting early indoors.
So if you are sure you want to grow those from seed, instead of buying seedlings, I will describe how to do it.
I do start seedlings myself. I haven't had too many failures with starting, but once in a while things
don't sprout or die soon after they sprout. That's why I don't really recommend
this unless you just really want to. If you want to try, do! There's not really much to lose, and for me it is always more
satisfying to do it myself.
And now is the time to start them: it's now about 5 weeks or so until it will likely be a good time to plant warm-weather plants outside.
Note that greenhouse growers start their seedlings earlier than this, and so at planting time theirs will be bigger and stronger than home grown ones. However, new seedlings need a lot of light. So I plant later (now), when I will be able to put my little seedlings outside more of the time (because the weather generally will get better now - this past week notwithstanding).
Containers
If you have ever bought seedlings before, you know that they are usually grown in quite small plastic pots that are joined together. You can buy "flats" like that to grow in at garden centers. Those flats are very fragile, difficult to re-use because they tend to break when you take the seedlings out.
You can also grow in any small pots, in paper or styrofoam cups, or in other small containers that are not for this purpose, as long as they are a few inches deep and you put lots of holes in the bottom.
Lee Valley Tools has a careful selection of specialized reusable seed starting containers. Some of these are "self-watering", which means that the bottoms of the containers are open and rest on a fiber matting that wicks water into the pots from a reservoir below. I have one of these, given to me as a gift a long time ago, and it does work great, and has lasted very well. So if you want to get all fancy, they are a good place to look.
Generally speaking, whatever you use, you want lots of holes or large holes at the bottom, so you can "water from the bottom", which means you can have the containers sitting in a tray, and pour and inch or so of water in the tray, to soak up into the pots through the holes in the bottom. Soil, especially potting soil sucks water up from below quite effectively. That kind of bottom watering is much better for small seedlings. Watering from the top, it is hard to not crush the plants. Furthermore, dampening the plant foliage makes them more susceptible "damping off" (see below).
Self-watering systems, as I described, are definitely the easiest of all, because they constantly water from the bottom, as long as you keep enough water in the reservoir underneath that wets the fiber sheet.
Planting
Commercial growers, and very serious amateurs, start seeds in one container type, then transplant them into larger pots later, and then transplant outside, or possibly even into larger containers again. I don't do that, as you might have guessed, because that is too much work!
Fill your containers, whatever you are using, with potting soil. Potting soil is usually very light, so you need to fill the containers very full and compress.
Soak the material quite well, so that it will be wet enough to keep the seeds damp. Also, if you will be bottom-watering (which I recommend), the potting soil should start quite wet - it's hard to get it soaked through from the bottom if it starts dry.
Once your containers are filled and wetted, plant the tomato or basil seeds in them at the recommended depth - about a half centimetre deep for both.
Tomato seeds will sprout fastest and best if kept warm. My house is cold. They would probably sprout faster if we cranked the thermostat up. If you live in one of those apartments that is always boiling, you are lucky, at least for sprouting seeds.
While waiting for the seedlings to sprout, it also helps to keep them covered, so the surface doesn't try out. However, as soon as they sprout, uncover them, to help prevent damping off.
Damping Off
"Damping off" is plant jargon for very small seedlings dying of fungal infections. There are many recommendations to prevent damping off, including sterilizing potting soil and container, fungicides (both chemical and natural).
I haven't done those, but I don't usually have problems with damping off.
Bottom watering keeps the soil surface and foliage not too damp.
Keeping new seedlings uncovered and well aerated helps too.
Lots of sun is supposed to help, as well. That probably both strengthens the plants, and sterilizes the exposed areas (UV kills fungus).
Light
Seedlings need lots of bright light, as mentioned above. If they don't
get it, they desperately try to grow unnaturally tall, hoping to get
through whatever is between them and the sun. If they get enough, they will stay very short while they work on their root systems instead, which is what you want. Sunlight also is said to help prevent damping off, as mentioned above.
In general, you should try to get your seedlings in bright sunlight or
bright outdoor light as much as possible without exposing them to killer
low temperatures (say, below 5 degrees celsius).
The only caveat is if they have been indoors for many days to start with (not great, they will be spindly), too much sun all at once can shock them quite badly as well. This is also often a problem with commercial seedlings, actually, since they were grown in greenhouses or under lights, where the intensity was well below that of full sunlight.
In my attached house, I have only east and west window, nothing
south, so whenever possible I ferry my plants back and forth, east in the morning, west in
the afternoon, and put them right outside whenever it's not too cold.
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