My seedlings die. I plant way more than I can handle. Most of the plants in my garden never produce. I water too heavily, interspersed with not watering at all for long stretches. I weed too infrequently.
One book that has really helped me to get things under better control is Square Foot Gardening
by Mel Bartholomew. He saw that too many gardeners start out with high ambition and give up before the end of the year. He worked out a way to have a smaller garden produce more with less work.When I ordered this book from Amazon, it recommended Cubed Foot Gardening
as a companion. I bought it, but I have not been impressed. It was only named that to steal some marketing from the Square Foot Gardening book. It is a stripped-down version of the square foot method.I’m still working on getting my garden to work. I’m getting everything ready to plant my seedlings now, even though I won’t actually start planting until April, and won’t move things outside until May. I think there are three things that have been killing my seedlings.
First is watering. I tend to either over water or under water. It’s hard to know the right amount to just keep things moist. I’m going to be using a spray bottle and taking a close look at things before watering.
Second is heat. Most of these seeds should be kept around 70 degrees during germination. My house sometimes gets down to 55 degrees at night. I’m looking for a small heating pad that I can safely use all night long.
Third is light. I have a broad spectrum bulb providing light to these plants, but it might not be the best kind of bulb. I’ll probably replace it with a bulb specifically for plants.
I’m also cutting back on how many different kinds of plants I’ll be working with. My goal is to have less work to do, so that I enjoy my time more when I go out to my garden.
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