Oh the mistakes I have made!
It will be easy, fun and addicting they said! This also seemed like a great project during the quarantine. I have a vision of my garden being full of beautiful annuals that I will cut and give to friends and family. I ordered seeds online from Floret Flowers and then raced off to Home Depot to buy trays, heat mats and grow lights. All the while, I am thinking this is crazy since I order countless annuals for my business from a wholesaler in Denver. But I was ready for a challenge and decided to grow flowers from seeds.
Mistake 1
I covered the snapdragon seeds with too much dirt, put them on a heat mat and away from light. Then I read that you are barely suppose to cover these crazy tiny seeds, they do not like a lot of heat and they need light to germinate. I fixed all those issues and they are growing very slowly. I might have snapdragons by September at this rate.
Mistake 2
I put the zinnia seed trays in a late afternoon sunny window and the leaves look a bit fried. Avoid strong direct light especially late afternoon sun. Honestly should have known better. The zinnias may recover.
Mistake 3
The cosmos look leggy even though they are under grow lights and I am adjusting the height of the lights as they grow. Figuring out how much light these seedlings need is more challenging than I expected.
Mistake 4
My expectations were too high that all the seeds would properly germinate. I only have two out of thirty sweet peas germinating.
Mistake 5
My zinnias are getting a bit of white mold. Still trying to figure out the watering of these little seeds. Trying very hard not to over water and making sure they are getting good air circulation. Learned the key is to add water to the bottom of the trays.
Mistake 6
My dining room table is covered in seed trays and I wish I had found a better spot for this project. Our last frost date is June 15th so we have several more weeks before planting. Miss my dining room table.
Mistake 7
I only bought 3 grow lights because I felt like I was spending a lot of money on this new hobby. I have been constantly rotating trays and trying to figure out which ones need to be under the grow lights. I have made way more work than necessary for myself.
Mistake 8
I have 7 seed trays and think in hindsight I should have been less ambitious especially for being a newbie to this whole indoor seed starting thing. Should have started with two trays, two lights and two heat mats. I got carried away!
Bottom line, starting seeds is fun but it is not as easy as everyone said. It is actually a bit of work and I have spent lots of time worrying about these little seedlings . My vision of having a garden chock full of annuals for cutting and arranging may still happen if these seedlings do their thing. In addition to snapdragons, cosmos, zinnias, Rudbeckia and sweet peas, I will be planting dahlias. The dahlia tubers have arrived and will be planted in early June. Follow me on my flower journey and wish me luck!
Blossom Better 
I’m not sure about all the gardening but your presentation is excellent. Pop
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You so funny!!
alison
On Thu, May 7, 2020 at 10:01 AM My Flower Journey wrote:
> kathleen cope posted: “Oh the mistakes I have made! It will be easy, fun > and addicting they said! This also seemed like a great project during the > quarantine. I have a vision of my garden being full of beautiful annuals > that I will cut and give to friends and family. I ordere” >
So funny! It’s okay, we all make mistakes 🙂 As long as we learn from them!