yesterday was one of those days where it seemed i had to do everything, at least three times, the wrong way before i got anything right.
i wanted to transplant some seedlings to larger pots, they were getting kind of leggy and out of control. it was silly of me to plant these flower seeds indoors in the first place, and i have made a note in my garden book to only start tomatoes indoors next year. in any case, i still had these plants to deal with, so i prepared some containers. the "potting soil" i had picked up turned out to be some crappy top soil, so i went to the nursery to get something more suitable for seedlings. the stuff i came home with was not much better, and it was very wet and impossible to work with. i pushed through though, and re-potted about 24 fragile flower starts. i really don't have room for them indoors, at my little seed station, but i thought i could make it work somehow. it was such a pretty day, with sunshine all day, i decided to let them bask in the sun for while before i brought them inside. after dinner we went back outside to play, and all of the seedlings looked shocked and nearly lifeless. i guess it got a bit too cold for them. i am pretty sure it was the temperature (or possibly the sun?), and not the transplanting that did them in, because i had some marigolds out there too, which i had not moved, and they looked the same. i rushed them all in under the warmth of the grow lamp. today, it looks like some will survive, but most of them will not.
i feel a mixture of regret and relief. i wish i'd done things differently, but then again, i know i can direct seed more flowers later this month, and now i have plenty of room indoors to nurture my tomatoe plants, which are very healthy and beautiful (they never went out yesterday). and i guess i've experienced an important lesson in gardening...sometimes, things die. sure, i could have prevented that from happening this time, but, as it turned out...it was just one of those days. my bad luck was not limited to gardening efforts either. it was everything.
lucky for me, today is another day.
2 comments:
I did the same thing - got so exciting to be starting a garden this year that I planted tons of things indoors only to have them turn all leggy and/or die. The only thing that really grew for me indoors well were my green pepper plants. The lettuce, morning glories, peas, rock soapwart, and everything else sprouted and dwindled. :(
that's a drag, suzyq. but i am happy to hear the peppers are doing good. from what i understand, tomatoes and peppers are the ones you most need to start early. i'm not doing any peppers this year, but my tomatoes, as i said, are doing great.
good luck waiting...
it won't be long now.
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