My in the groud garden has various sprouts now. However I've become
suspicious that soe of the sprouts that I thought were from my seed
may not be.

Other than long term experience--how the hell do you tell these little
guys apart? It would be great if a book showed you the seedling stage
as well as the full grown.

I've got these 2x2 leafers coming up in more places than I "intended"
to plant seed. The four leaves are closely clustered, with two tiny
leafs below and two bigger roundish leaves forming a bloated "t". They
look similar to my radishes did when they first came up. I had a
couple sprout where I sprinkled basil seeds--so I though that was
basil. But some are where I'm waitng for sweet alysum, carrots, basil,
petunias, and nigella(love in a mist). ANybody with experience with
these plants recall what the first seedlings look like? I'd rather not
wait until some weed is thickly root before yanking them but I don't
want to rip out what I meant to be there.

Do carrot seedlings have long thin spikey leaves, or a 2 little/2 big
leafs config (like radishes)? I've got both type coming up where I
planted carrots.



DiGiTAL_ViNYL (no email)

On Tue, 27 May 2003 11:06:05 -0400, DigitalVinyl
wrote:

My in the groud garden has various sprouts now. However I've become
suspicious that soe of the sprouts that I thought were from my seed
may not be.

Other than long term experience--how the hell do you tell these little
guys apart? It would be great if a book showed you the seedling stage
as well as the full grown.

There are books that show this. I have one. It's called
'Park's Success with Seeds', author: Ann Reilly.

This book is available online, used, for about $8.00. It's
well worth the money, IMHO, as she also gives you preferred
seed-starting methods for each of hundreds of plants - most
vegetables and many hundreds of flowers - and actual
photographs of the seed leaves of each plant.

http://www.addall.com.used/ - then you can find it by
putting in the title, and author's name.

However, this is one reason why I ALWAYS prefer to start my
seeds indoors, in 6-cell packs or the like. Even carrots.

Beans are about the only thing I start directly in the
ground nowadays. They sprout reliably and quickly, and I
know what they look like, so I can plant them directly
outside.

Pat

This is the best reason to put a twig in the ground at each end of a row,
run a string between the two, and follow that line when you sow seeds (at
least until you are able to recognize sprouts). Even if a hard rain scatters
some of the seeds, it's unlikely to scatter all of them. The ones near that
straight line are your guide.

For shallow seeds, like carrots, sprinkle the row with builder's sand (or
even kids' play sand) after sowing. It'll help keep the soil from crusting
over, and cushion heavy rainfall. For all seeds close to the surface, get a
misting attachment (Dramm makes a brass one that's perfect), and water with
that instead of other methods which may float the seed all over the place.

Pat Meadows wrote:

There are books that show this. I have one. It's called
'Park's Success with Seeds', author: Ann Reilly.
I'll check on that!

However, this is one reason why I ALWAYS prefer to start my
seeds indoors, in 6-cell packs or the like. Even carrots.
As a beginner I've been trying to stick to instructions for lack of
better ideas. Although I've screwed that up too..seeded viola's
outside and they never showed up. I guess as long as I know the ground
is ready I could start them inside next year. But I'd put them out
quickly when they were tiny. I mentioned in another thread that my
2week old corn seeds were 2 inches topgrowth and had 6-8" roots going
straight down. I'd be worried about hurting first growth like that
starting everything inside small cels.

Beans are about the only thing I start directly in the
ground nowadays. They sprout reliably and quickly, and I
know what they look like, so I can plant them directly
outside.


DiGiTAL_ViNYL (no email)

On Tue, 27 May 2003 15:18:00 -0400, DigitalVinyl
wrote:


As a beginner I've been trying to stick to instructions for lack of
better ideas. Although I've screwed that up too..seeded viola's
outside and they never showed up. I guess as long as I know the ground
is ready I could start them inside next year. But I'd put them out
quickly when they were tiny. I mentioned in another thread that my
2week old corn seeds were 2 inches topgrowth and had 6-8" roots going
straight down. I'd be worried about hurting first growth like that
starting everything inside small cels.

Unfortunately, we haven't room for corn - I've never grown
corn, so I don't know how I would grow it.

However, I just finished reading a library book entitled
'The New Victory Garden' by Bob Thomson (one of the former
'hosts' on the PBS TV show), and he recommended starting
corn inside.

I also know some people on a mailing list who start corn
indoors - so it can certainly be done. I don't know the
details.

Pat

"Pat Meadows" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 27 May 2003 15:18:00 -0400, DigitalVinyl
wrote:


As a beginner I've been trying to stick to instructions for lack of
better ideas. Although I've screwed that up too..seeded viola's
outside and they never showed up. I guess as long as I know the ground
is ready I could start them inside next year. But I'd put them out
quickly when they were tiny. I mentioned in another thread that my
2week old corn seeds were 2 inches topgrowth and had 6-8" roots going
straight down. I'd be worried about hurting first growth like that
starting everything inside small cels.

Unfortunately, we haven't room for corn - I've never grown
corn, so I don't know how I would grow it.

However, I just finished reading a library book entitled
'The New Victory Garden' by Bob Thomson (one of the former
'hosts' on the PBS TV show), and he recommended starting
corn inside.

I also know some people on a mailing list who start corn
indoors - so it can certainly be done. I don't know the
details.


It really depends on where you live. I'm in Rochester NY, which is zone 5 or
6, depending on the year, luck, and who you ask. I've planted corn in
mid-May and never had a failed crop, at least not in terms of germination.
One trick is to put down black plastic on each "hill" of corn seeds, or
along the row, depending on the method you use. That'll add enough heat to
the soil to help the seeds past any nasty, wet cold spells you might have in
late May. I'm not talking about the plants being killed by frost, but
rather, the chance of the seeds rotting in cold, wet soil, as beans
sometimes will.

DigitalVinyl writes:

My in the groud garden has various sprouts now. However I've become
suspicious that soe of the sprouts that I thought were from my seed
may not be.

Other than long term experience--how the hell do you tell these
little guys apart? It would be great if a book showed you the
seedling stage as well as the full grown.

Let them grow a few more leaves, and they'll start to look different.
The first 2-4 leaves of most plants look a lot alike. Let them grow
for a week or two, and they should gain definition and start to look
more like their full-sized counterparts in the seed catalog pictures.

Partly it's just experience, though. With a few years under your belt,
you'll be able to recognize your common weeds more quickly.

Do carrot seedlings have long thin spikey leaves, or a 2 little/2
big leafs config (like radishes)? I've got both type coming up where
I planted carrots.

Carrots stand out because they have thin, grassy leaves at first,
unlike the wide leaves most plants start with. A carrot's later
leaves will start to look 'carroty', so then you can distinguish them
from any grass that might be coming up.


--
Aaron

You must be patient, Grasshopper.

The first leaves (cotyledons) often look different from those that follow.

A website that shows seedling leaves is what you ask for and that would be a
wonderful thing to have access to. Try this one.

http://theseedsite.co.uk/seedlings.html




DigitalVinyl wrote in message
...
My in the groud garden has various sprouts now. However I've become
suspicious that soe of the sprouts that I thought were from my seed
may not be.

Other than long term experience--how the hell do you tell these little
guys apart? It would be great if a book showed you the seedling stage
as well as the full grown.

I've got these 2x2 leafers coming up in more places than I "intended"
to plant seed. The four leaves are closely clustered, with two tiny
leafs below and two bigger roundish leaves forming a bloated "t". They
look similar to my radishes did when they first came up. I had a
couple sprout where I sprinkled basil seeds--so I though that was
basil. But some are where I'm waitng for sweet alysum, carrots, basil,
petunias, and nigella(love in a mist). ANybody with experience with
these plants recall what the first seedlings look like? I'd rather not
wait until some weed is thickly root before yanking them but I don't
want to rip out what I meant to be there.

Do carrot seedlings have long thin spikey leaves, or a 2 little/2 big
leafs config (like radishes)? I've got both type coming up where I
planted carrots.



DiGiTAL_ViNYL (no email)

"DigitalVinyl" wrote in message
...

quickly when they were tiny. I mentioned in another thread that my
2week old corn seeds were 2 inches topgrowth and had 6-8" roots going
straight down. I'd be worried about hurting first growth like that
starting everything inside small cels.

Sweetcorn grows very well in modules. It's probably best to plant them below
the ground surface I think.

"DigitalVinyl" wrote in message
...
My in the groud garden has various sprouts now. However I've become
suspicious that soe of the sprouts that I thought were from my seed
may not be.

Other than long term experience--how the hell do you tell these little
guys apart? It would be great if a book showed you the seedling stage
as well as the full grown.

The seed packets I use usually have pictures of the seedling stage.

Carrots are very slow growers so it's important to be able to recognise the
seedlings for weeding.

"Cereoid-UR12yo" wrote:

You must be patient, Grasshopper.

The first leaves (cotyledons) often look different from those that follow.

A website that shows seedling leaves is what you ask for and that would be a
wonderful thing to have access to. Try this one.

http://theseedsite.co.uk/seedlings.html

That's a cool site. Actually there's a weed on that site that looks
spaciously like what i'm seeing.

thanks.
DiGiTAL_ViNYL (no email)

Here are some websites which may help:

http://www.weeds.iastate.edu/weed-id/weedid.htm

http://www.extension.umn.edu/distrib...ms/DC0776.html


On Tue, 27 May 2003 11:06:05 -0400, DigitalVinyl wrote:

My in the groud garden has various sprouts now. However I've become
suspicious that soe of the sprouts that I thought were from my seed
may not be.

Other than long term experience--how the hell do you tell these little
guys apart? It would be great if a book showed you the seedling stage
as well as the full grown.

I've got these 2x2 leafers coming up in more places than I "intended"
to plant seed. The four leaves are closely clustered, with two tiny
leafs below and two bigger roundish leaves forming a bloated "t". They
look similar to my radishes did when they first came up. I had a
couple sprout where I sprinkled basil seeds--so I though that was
basil. But some are where I'm waitng for sweet alysum, carrots, basil,
petunias, and nigella(love in a mist). ANybody with experience with
these plants recall what the first seedlings look like? I'd rather not
wait until some weed is thickly root before yanking them but I don't
want to rip out what I meant to be there.

Do carrot seedlings have long thin spikey leaves, or a 2 little/2 big
leafs config (like radishes)? I've got both type coming up where I
planted carrots.



DiGiTAL_ViNYL (no email)

On Tue, 27 May 2003 12:45:18 -0400, Pat Meadows
wrote:

On Tue, 27 May 2003 11:06:05 -0400, DigitalVinyl
wrote:

My in the groud garden has various sprouts now. However I've become
suspicious that soe of the sprouts that I thought were from my seed
may not be.

Other than long term experience--how the hell do you tell these little
guys apart? It would be great if a book showed you the seedling stage
as well as the full grown.

There are books that show this. I have one. It's called
'Park's Success with Seeds', author: Ann Reilly.

This book is available online, used, for about $8.00. It's
well worth the money, IMHO, as she also gives you preferred
seed-starting methods for each of hundreds of plants - most
vegetables and many hundreds of flowers - and actual
photographs of the seed leaves of each plant.

This is one of my 'bibles', too! I was very disappointed to find it
out of print, but e-mailed Park's (last year?) and they said a new
edition was in preparation. *Most* useful. Made me decide to let
camellia seeds fall where they might and dig up 'volunteers' rather
than try to cultivate them.

I, too, was going to suggest to Digital that he/she look up the
immature appearance of 'good' plants, so as to be able to reconize
them. As he mentioned, experience is the best teacher, but a tomato,
carrot, or pepper is recognizable fairly quickly. Within a few leaves,
that is. I'm not so sure about 2 tiny plantlets that *might* turn out
to be re-seeded basil, but I'm confident about pulling out the grass
and some common weed starts that I recognize from years past.

DigitalVinyl said:

My in the groud garden has various sprouts now. However I've become
suspicious that some of the sprouts that I thought were from my seed
may not be.

Other than long term experience--how the hell do you tell these little
guys apart? It would be great if a book showed you the seedling stage
as well as the full grown.

When I'm planting something that I've never planted before what I
normally do is to plant a few seeds in a pot or plant a largish clump of
seeds and mark them with a stick. This will give me a 'sample' to
recognize.

After a while, you learn to recognize your most common weeds as seedlings.
But if you bring material (leaves, manure) onto your property you can also
bring in new and unfamiliar weeds, so there would always be a chance that
unfamiliar seedings are weeds.

basil

Little sprouts where the first seed leaves seem to almost want to
be part of a single oval, but are snipped in the middle to make a pair.


nigella(love in a mist)

The two seed leaves resemble some other plants but the first true
leaf is disected/feathery. Usually a paler shade of green

Do carrot seedlings have long thin spikey leaves

Yes, thin spikey leaves.

--
Pat in Plymouth MI

Any technology distinguishable from magic is insufficiently advanced.
(attributed to Don Marti)

DigitalVinyl wrote:

spaciously
Wow... how did my brain come up with that spelling for "suspiciously"!


DiGiTAL_ViNYL (no email)