Garden Seedlings Update

My seedlings are doing well! In addition to my original batch of seedlings, I planted a whole flat of sugar snap pea seeds a week and a half ago. I had success with them last fall, but it got too cold before they could produce any peas. So, I am trying again this spring and wanted to give them a head start inside. They are doing great!

I started by soaking the seeds in filtered water for 48 hours, and changed the water twice a day. I have soaked all my seeds (beside the tiny lettuce seeds) in water and it really makes a difference in speeding up germination time! 

I put the lid on the tray while they were sprouting to trap in moisture and set it by the window. It only took three days for them to sprout! 

This photo was taken yesterday. They sprouted last weekend and have already grown so much. The plants seem really hardy and I can't wait to get them in the ground! 

I took this picture today and it seems they grew an inch overnight! Maybe with 32 sugar snap pea plants I will have a chance at having enough for a meal :). 

I also transplanted all my beet and swiss chard seedlings into newspaper pots. They got leggy sitting in the window without any direct light. 

They are definitely much happier now sitting under the direct light of the fluorescents :). 

With how quickly my snap pea plants are growing, the progress seems much slower with all my other seedlings that I started in the end of January. I am thinking about setting them outside for a few hours in the afternoons when I get home from school and see if some natural sun will help them grow a little quicker. 

These are my lettuce plants. These seem to be growing the most slowly and a lot of them are drooping and falling over. When they sprouted they developed some white fuzz on the roots and then it went away. I wonder if that weakened the plants. Next week I will plant another batch of lettuce seeds just in case these plants don't survive the transplant to outside. 

My little kale plants. I am so excited to see their 'true' leaves coming out!

So, that's an update on my little seedlings. I have been itching to start all my summer crop seeds. But before I do that, I need to plant what I have under the lights now to free up space. Hopefully setting them out in the sun for a little bit every day next week will help them grow faster. Then, once my first batch of seedlings is planted I can start all my tomatoes, peppers, herbs and everything else. I can't wait until this summer!!