Fun With Seeds

This year, for the first time in many years, I am trying to grow veggies from seed. This will also enable me to use a grow light I purchased several years ago when I intended to do this...my "round tuit" turns rather slowly. :) Anyway...for the record I want to proclaim that this is what all seed packets should look like, information-wise:

Sure, I like a color photo too, but on the front is a detailed description, the year it's packaged for, and even the price so you can keep it straight. On the back it gets even better:
Now it may seem basic, but I have been frustrated to distraction this year by packets that don't tell you days to germination, thinning...some barely admit what the heck is in the packet! Or they give you very generic "vegetable" growing tips, when the contents are an herb...*sigh*. Even referring back to the catalog description is no help sometimes....okay, I'm done whining. So here is my garden book with pics of some of my ordered seeds.......the 'Queen Red Lime' zinnia on the far right was out of stock, but look at that adorable pointy cabbage! I just couldn't resist, the heads are supposed to be small and yummy!I really enjoy vegetable spaghetti squash, and this is a "single serving size"-cool!Using my old plastic plant tags, I cut small slivers that will fit in my seed trays.......and used a jelly roll pan (to organize the envelopes) and ice cube tray to soak some very old seeds (as much as 11 years old!) I don't really expect any of the oldest to germinate, but you just never know and I can't bear throwing them away without trying. It's a sickness. :)My plan was to use these individual "jiffy-type" coir (and some peat) pots so that I could remove germinated stuff from under the cover as they emerged to prevent damping off. In hindsight, they dry out too fast and the roots don't always grow right through the sides as well as they should...next year it will be different. (Of course when using some old seeds alongside new seeds, I wanted to plan for my invariably variable results :) Well lookit here! Some sprouts already (this was actually several weeks ago). The bonsai tray is in there to lift some pots off the heat mat for seeds that don't want to be quite that warm...

....this is "Goliath", my grow light. He's very wide and reflective, with 4 long bulbs. His ballast and legs are aluminum, so he's very lightweight to handle...a "light light" (sorry, I couldn't help myself). I put the heat mat atop a coffee table covered with an old metal insulating mat that was under the propane heater that used to heat the house. Man, I'm glad I didn't throw that out!

My first potential victim of poor planning, this moonflower has since been transplanted to a larger container...twice! So it started out very simply, just one tray of seedlings in the plant/junk/computer room. Gizmo is making sure nobody (else!) gets to the seedlings...

...but as they sprouted and success was realized...

....I put a fan on them for awhile each day to strengthen the stems, and began to feel like a powerful, omnipotent vegetable-growing queen... ....but now I'm clearly out-numbered!
Somebody please stop me before I have to buy a greenhouse! ;-)