My Petunia Seeds Arrived!!

One of my most exciting days is when my seed order from Harris Seeds arrives.  I order my Wave Petunia seeds from this company plus a few miscellaneous seeds.

Wednesday the 16th I put 494 pelleted petunia seeds into six-packs using tweezers.  It should be about 20 more, but I can't locate the rest of the Tidal Wave Silver.  Not sure if I'm over-looking them or if they were spilled when I was distracted with one of the kids.  I sure hope to have a good germination rate and growing success as these are expensive seeds.  This number comes to about 16 cents per seed.

The seeds were covered with fine vermiculite as they need light to germinate.

A few went under plastic covers.  I went to a local greenhouse to pick some up and they were $3 each!  I only got four.  I figure I'll just add a few each year until I have what I need.

The rest were covered with plastic wrap which is what I used last year.

Here's my little fan busy at work.  It is attached to a long extension cord and I move it around the grow room throughout the day.  I know it would make sense to have a bigger fan system, but this way I am forever checking the plants and know if a flat has dried out before it's too late. It can happen so quickly.  Yesterday I had to take my son to the doctor and didn't water before we left.  By the time I got home I had lost some seedlings. (This is where the plastic covers would come in handy, but I need 200 of them and that is just too much money).  Why the fan?  It provides a gentle breeze to make the little stems sturdy and strong for when they go outside.

An update on my progress (and boy, am I behind!).  Nine Pineapple Tomato plants from the seeds from Oregon.

35 six-packs or 210 Livingstone Daisies (I'll lose a few before they are mature and go outside....in a few weeks I'll be over-whelmed and not have the time to tend to things as they should be).

30 Starfire Signet Marigolds (I really cannot grow this plant.  By the time it is done I'll be lucky to have two or three.  I have no problem with other marigolds so I don't know what the deal is).

20 six-packs or 120 California Wonder Pepper.

10 six-packs or 60 Sweet 100's tomatoes.

Some Schizanthus...as you can see they are few and far between. 

There are 41 Geraniums that are doing good and all should make it.

(Middle) 53 six-packs or 318 Dahlia plants.  Sure wish I wouldn't have killed all my tubers.  Not fond of starting over from seed.

The Internet and I are not jiving today.  The entire neighborhood is full of kids on Spring Break and my speed is at a crawl so I'm not even going to attempt to add my other photos at this point.

There are a few Pansies sprouting.  That's another plant that I seem to kill more than I grow. I also have 27 Roma Tomato plants.  There is a flat that is supposed to be celery, but honestly, I think I'm watering dirt and the seeds didn't make it in there.  Oh, well. There are also 16 6-packs of Impatiens that are just beginning to show.

I am way behind in getting things started.  There is so much to do and it seems each day something takes me away from gardening (dread locks, broken hands, etc.  which you can read about here).  I'm thankful it is only the middle of March.   We still have 10-11 weeks before anything can go outside.