Hello, my fellow gardeners and welcome (back) to another installment of the highs and lows of my ongoing adventure into organic gardening. Today’s post is more about the lows as I am struggling with my seedlings. As you may know this year I decided to start my garden from seed. I had this brilliant idea after having issues with the quality of the plants sold in my nurseries last year. However, it is proving to be much harder than I expected.

In mid-march, when the moon was full (according to gardening folklore – I wasn’t leaving anything to chance) I lovingly planted my seedlings. I obsessed over these plants and used only the highest quality organic soil, plant food and seeds. I labeled all of my planters and read extensively from both online and printed resources about the process. I even had my local library order books for me (yes, they still have those) and then put all that knowledge into practice. I placed my five hundred plus seeds in two hundred containers (some were small biodegradable cups for only two to three seeds) in my basement. I kept them in an area that was very warm and comfortable and even though the basement is below ground, they were placed in an area that receives a good bit of light.

The number one rule to seedlings is to keep them hydrated but not overly so. Everyday I tested the soil, using my knuckle as per the gardening guide I read. If the soil was damp and pliable I left it for the day. If the earth was dry and hard, it received a gentle watering. Weeks passed and I soon saw signs of life as little green pinpricks were beginning to sprout. I was overjoyed that my experiment worked. My mind raced with all that I could do with the bushels of tomatoes that my plants would yield – I was mentally bequeathing extra seedlings to various people in my life because I wouldn’t possibly be able to manage so many on my own. Unfortunately, as more days passed, the joy became short lived.

When a few plants had showed signs of life, I assumed the others were sure to follow. As the days progressed, I soon realized that was not necessarily going to be the case although I still was holding out hope for “late bloomers”. Then I noticed that even the few that were growing were thin and more spindly than they should. These little sprouts began falling over the sides of the planters and on top of each other. I thought it might have been due to my watering can that was a stream rather than a showerhead so I started using a clean spray bottle but that was not giving them enough water. I went back to my gardening books as my plants were not improving. To my utter chagrin I found a picture of what looked exactly like my plants on a page about fungus. I read all about brown fungus and how it would be visible at the base where the stem connects to the soil. I closely inspected each plant but (luckily) there were not any visible brown spots.

I happened to stumble onto Martha Stewart hosting an Ask Martha hour on her SIRIUS radio channel by chance. I thought who better to help me with my seedling issues than the granddame of gardening?  My heart was all a flutter while my call was held in queue to speak to her. When my time came, I told her my concerns with my plants and she told me it sounded like it could be a lighting issue and advised me to buy a grow light. Even though there is a lot of light in my basement, she said the plants could not be sprouting properly because of a lack of intense direct light. I don’t remember reading anything about intense direct light needed but, in hindsight, this made sense to me. Perhaps the light in my basement just wasn’t enough regardless of how much I coddled them.

So, now I’m on my way to the local big box hardware store to get my grow lights with the hope that this will save my plants. I have invested about fifty dollars in my garden so far. I’m not sure what the grow light will add to that total but in for a penny in for a pound at this point. Wish me luck….I need it.

Have any of you experienced similar issues starting your seedlings? Please let me know if you have any tips, tricks or other stories to share. I’d love to hear about them.

It’s too early in the season to give up hope on both my seedlings and my beloved Toronto Blue Jays.

Happy organic gardening everyone and Mr Anthopoulos, please bring back Travis Snider.