Seeds Sown. Advice needed please :)

[I Khan]

Dear All,

This year I decided to sow from seeds, an ambitious project which I hope will be fruitful and flowerfull. Last year had been all seedlings from the nurseries, very happy with the results and the year before a semi - disaster with seeds and rescue by seedlings!!! Foolishly this year I have taken the plunge again and gone with sowing the seeds myself. In my defense I cant help it, I love sowing, but my green thumb seems to be in a coma !!!!!

Right now, I have compost coming out of my hair, two broken fingernails and numerous mosquito bites but am feeling really happy

Due to various commitments the sowing got postponed and now I'm praying I'm still in time and not left it too late.

These are the seeds which have been sown in clay pots.

Flowers: Antirrhinum, Aster, Carnation, Dahlia, Flowering Cabbage, Impatiens, Salvia
Pansy Super Majestic, F1 Fizzy Lemon Berry & Swiss Giants.
Petunia F1 Falcon, F1 Hulahoop, F1 Star & F1 Explorer,

Vegetables: Tomato 3 varieties, Pepper, Green chillies, Peppermint, Dill. Waiting to be planted in situ Peas, carrots, lettuce, Cucumber (tomorrow IA)

The pots were half filled with soil and manure that had been matured for two weeks + and then topped off (approximately 1 1/2 to 2") with a mix of compost, coco fiber and vermiculite (this was an indulgence). After sowing the seeds I sprinkled damp coco fiber on top.

The questions I have are:
1. The MOST URGENT is, Which pots should I move to full sunshine, now that the weather is cooler in Karachi or should I leave them in a semi shaded spot where the pots were readied? This place gets about 4 to 5 hours sunshine. I have moved all vegetable seeds to full sunshine, but did not want to move all the flower pots with out checking on this forum and the wise gardeners here

2. My pansy's are covered with black plastic and tucked far back on the patio with very little sun, as I read that they like cool temperatures and darkness till they germinate. I will check them daily and mist them morning and evening and remove the black plastic once they have germinated. Can anyone please guide me on this if this is the right way.

3. I know all flower seeds have different watering needs but as a rule of thumb, is it ok to water with a watering can morning and evening or should I be using a hand spray bottle and give a good misting? I don't want to drown them.

I would welcome any and all advice, now that the deed has been done. Please help all you experts out there, I would be very, very, VERY grateful.

Regards,

Ismaa Khan - Amateur Gardener with good intentions

[Izhar]

Dear Ismaa, how are you?? long time..

Keep your all seeds in semi shade and well watered... when they have their first pair of true leaves after germination then bring them in full sun...

watering via misting is time consuming but keeps the seeds under soil cover, you can switch to shower watering after a week of germination.. its dry nowadays so keep your pots moist by watering twice daily....

[I Khan]

Dear Izhar,

Finally paying full attention to the garden, although I have been keeping myself updated by reading the posts here

Thanks for the advice will follow it diligently and hope for the best.

Hope all is well at your end too

[Syed Adnan]

It is better to cover with plastic sheet transparent (food wrapping sheet) after watering first time, this way you may avoid daily watering and results are also better, goodluck.

[I Khan]

Thanks for the tip Syed Adnan

[Farhan Ahmed]

2. My pansy's are covered with black plastic and tucked far back on the patio with very little sun, as I read that they like cool temperatures and darkness till they germinate. I will check them daily and mist them morning and evening and remove the black plastic once they have germinated. Can anyone please guide me on this if this is the right way.

When we say that a species require darkness to germinate this implies that seeds required to be covered/buried with some soil/media to germinate. Using Black plastic or even a very dark corner do work..but in my little experience sowing too close to the surface, when seed size does provide us with an opportunity to sow them deeper results in surface germination hence lanky seedlings which get displaced easily even well after germination.

[I Khan]

Understood Farhan Ahmed. I think I did sow them deeper and they were well covered. Anyway I have removed their "burqa" and given them another cover of coco fiber to help with darkness part. The pots are in a shady corner and the coco fiber is light enough that the plants would not have a problem coming up