In article ,
sherwindu wrote:

Hi William,

Wonder why you are growing things like lettuce under lights? Why not just
plant

them directly into the ground, unless you want to gain a time advantage.
Lettuce
grows pretty fast. I would devote more of your seed starting space to things
like
tomatoes, which take longer to produce fruit.

Sherwin D.

Thanks for the response. I'm not trying to grow under lights so much as
trying to germinate under grow lights. When you plant, doesn't something
usually come along (slugs and snails for example) and eats it as soon as
it sticks it's little head up? For my plants to survive, they need some
biomass, serious biomass, before they go into the soil. Even that is no
guarantee.

I thought peas and lettuce because they will be the first planted
because they will do OK while the season is still cool.

The snails and slugs aren't as bad this year as they have been in past
years and I attribute that, in part, to the hay that I used for mulch in
my winter garden. But if it isn't the snails and slugs, then it's those
cute little rolly pollies. It seems it is always something. So instead
of buying starters at the local nursery, I'm trying to grow my own
starters. I'm just not sure of the triage sequence.

Tomatoes are at the top of my list but I am still waiting for my seeds
from Harvest Moon Seeds. Their computer has a mind of its' own.

I'm in a 9b zone. What are you growing and what's your zone?
- Bill

Coloribus gustibus non disputatum (mostly)