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I am pretty new to gardening--I have had a couple gardens in my life but the last few years have really started to enjoy it and even got a few things to grow last year! I am starting seeds this year and it makes me nervous that I will kill them so I joined in hopes of getting answers to questions sothat I can keep the little babes alive!

I now have tomato, habenero, pumpkin, pickling cucumbers, lots of hot peppers, and a couple wave petunia seedlings filling my window sills. Right now they only have the "cotlydon" set of leaves on them, when do the "true leaves" show up and do I really snip them off? That scares me. Of course, I can hardly stand to thin my plants in the first place so snipping leaves is scary. Also, what is tip-pruning? I read someplace that you are supposed to tip-prune the petunias as they are growing but I cannot figure out what exactly that is.

Thanks! Sorry for the long post--I have lots of questions :)

Welcome to the forum! Congrats on all your sprouts. I don't snip off any leaves on my seedlings and mine have always done very well.

Thanks for the reply! How long does it take before the true leaves start appearing?

Thank you for your answer! :) They have only been sprouted and in the window sill for a week or so but I am anxious to see the real leaves. I only tried plants from seed once before and I over-watered them then they died so it is quite a little victory for me to have this army of seedlings in my sill now!

Thanks again...I had been "Googling" and hadn't found a site to even given me an estimate yet so I do appreciate it!

Are you in Western Wa? I am in Spokane. My peppers went gangbusters last year! I bought my plants then though so I hope my own do as well. We had so many peppers we ran out of ideas of what to do with them all, some of the habeneros went to waste :(.

I definately wont clip my seedlings leaves. I am happy to hear I don't have to do that!

I have never made ristras, what are they? Where did you move from? We dried a bunch of cayenne peppers and crushed them. The habeneros did not dry very well, the kind of molded. Maybe they need to be strung up and really spaced out well to dry, they seemed to have more moisture than the cayenne.

I am actually not too familiar with the climate in Centralia, is it dryer and warmer than in Seattle? Do you have anything planted in your garden yet? I have peas, lettuce (first time growing lettuce), carrots, and walla walla onions in the ground. I am thinking I should put potatoes in soon? I also have to move a row of strawberries as my husband needs to repair the fence they are planted along. Do you think it will hurt the strawberries to move them?

Nice to meet a fellow "Washingtonian."

What are the purple things on the ristra? It looks really neat! I think that is what we should have done with our poor habeneros before they got moldy, it would have been fun to look at. The last time we blended up our dried cayenne peppers my DH did it in the garage, we have made the mistake of doing it inside before and it definatley sends you into coughing spells!

Some of my seedlings are getting really tall, like six inches or so (tomatoes), but no true leaves yet. I hope they do not die, that is what happened to me before, they got really tall then fell over and died.

Hopefully I will be able to get into the garden this afternoon to move strawberries after work. The kids don't have anything going on until later on this evening so I should have a little time after I pick them up from school. (My son is 12 and daughter 10) I see you have six! Wow! My husband is from a family of 15...I have much respect for his mom!

The only light source they are close to is a window :), they are in the sill. It is darn cloudy today too, like living in Seattle! I was thinking I should have some other light especially when it is cloudy like this in the spring. There are a couple starts where the stem is getting all swirly and toppling over, those are probably a lost cause :(.

On the up side though I do see some true leaves emerging from some! I wanted to do a little dance when I saw those!

Have you ever grown garlic? I have been poking around a bit and it seems like that would be kind of time consuming.

I also got some Hollyhock seeds from my grandma's sister in Port Townsend that I want to plant. Do I just toss them into the dirt about now? Have you ever grown them?

I started some allysum too, it sprouted and is in the window now too. It is red! Isn't that cool? I didn't know they made red allysum...I am excited to see it.

Ristras would be a really great gift idea. We could have had them coming out our ears if I would have known to make them last year!

I just talked to my dad. He thinks he has a grow light he bought at a police auction once. He buys all sorts of stuff and local auctions and then re-sells on e-bay. He ends up with a lot of "inventory" (junk mostly IMO!). If he can find it I will get that set up ASAP. Thanks! I am going to go sew some Hollyhocks and plant some hostas my neighbor chunked off and gave to me a couple of days ago. I've got great neighbors!

I've got lots of daffodils up now--I love spring!

Me too! He is the busiest retired person I know :). I was at the grocery store tonight and couldn't help myself, I bought some lupine and Hollyhocks and got them planted today. Also planted the hostas from my neighbor. I hope it isn't too early.

If my starts get too big before it is warm enough to put them in the ground, is it possible to plant them and then cover them somehow to protect them on cold nights? (like my pumpkin and cucumbers for instance, since they can spread so big)

Hey, I just saw another post of yours. Do Wandering Jew plants grow in the shade? I want a ground cover for a shady spot underneath some trees behind the pool. I heard they have a habit of taking over areas but there is not much else back there except for some raspberry plants and the hostas I just planted so I would be fine with a nice green take-over :)!

I am not sure how cold it has been getting here at night, seems like we have had night temps hovering right around freezing. I live in the Spokane Valley and things tend to be warmer down here than in the surrounding Spokane area. My bulbs aways come up before my friends :)!

Would it be okay to put my flats of seedlings outside today and then take them back inside when the sun starts to go down? Most of them do not have their true leaves yet, though some are starting to sprout them. They seem like they are getting kind of leggy but I do not really know as I haven't done this before.

The only Wandering Jew I have seen pictures of is only green, I didn't know they had burgunday in it, that would be beautiful! I have absolutely no indoor plants! Maybe once I get the hang of the seasonal bit I can graduate to 365 day a year plant care :)

That IS gorgeous!! I would absolutely love it if you would start a cutting for me! How thoughtful and kind of you :) It certainly grows fast, doesn't it?! Sounds like the perfect first house plant!

I have never had anyone send me a plant before, let me know what you need from me. How exciting :)!!

Yes putting seedling flats outside is fine.Watch for wind I lost one off my back porch due to the wind.And make sure your temp. outside is suitable for them.Happy growing.

Thanks :) I put them outside and we started to get hail/snow yesterday. I brought them in right away but I some of them were looking a bit bleak. Hopefully I wont kill them all before I can put them in the ground! Some are also getting a bit leggy. I guess I can always start over.

I just looked out the window this morning and my neighbor has several of her plants covered with garbage sacks :). We have had a couple of chilly nights. I can't wait for summer!

Have you ever tried grow lights.I use them during winter for my house plant but it works great for seedlings also.

I wish I had some grow lights :)! I think I may start looking for some. My dad thinks he might have some but he has so much stuff it could take centuries for him to find them!

You can still get a shop light like the kind in the garage or work shop.Just put some grow lights in instead of regular light bulbs.You can get grow lights at wall mart.

Thanks--I just may have to pop by wally world this weekend and see what I can find! I never would have thought to look there for grow lights :)!

The grow lights should be marked as (plant grow)the box should be green.

I have a honeysuckle vine that is quite attached to a trellis that I'd like to remove. I'd like to let the honeysuckle trail over some Potentilla shrubs that are next to it. I am wondering how much of the vine I can cut back to remove from the trellis and still have the honeysuckle survive.

You can cut back a large amount of it and it will grow back ,but it's not going to look that great until next season.

Woo hoo!! I got the starts today--Thanks Triss, you are so thoughtful and generous