The patience of growth...

The hardest part of this whole process, so far, was knowing what to do during germination.  All the research I found said to water with feed upon the initial planting, cover, place in a warm, dark place, and don't water again until the mix is almost completely dry.  But won't that kill the poor little seeds?  The plants would only be strong enough for transplant when the "true leaves" appeared.  I forced myself to wait and wait and try to forget about them.  Then, one day while talking to my sister, Rebecca, about how proud I was to be re-using egg cartons and toilet paper/towel rolls for my seedlings (as though I were the first person to think of it), she told me about how she had tried that YEARS earlier (of course she did) and it didn't work very well.  She pointed out the obvious thing that egg cartons are compostable material, so when you water the mix, the cartons absorb most of it.  I immediately went to investigate.  I found her statement to be true later on, but what I found inside that Tesco bag was horrifying and not anything I was prepared for!  MOLD, MOLD and more MOLD!  Of course there would be mold...it's moist, warm and I covered it too tightly, there was no air circulation!  The rolls were rotting, the cartons were sagging.  I frantically started scraping off the mold, tearing the rolls away and trying to think of some way to save my plants.  I was bound and determined to make sure I grew them from seed and wouldn't have to buy pre-germinated plants from the local nursery.  I would not admit defeat!  They looked so sad...the hope was in the fact that there was some life present!

In my frantic and determined state, I ended up finding these hard, plastic yet frighteningly shallow egg holders stowed way in the back of one of my kitchen cupboards...just in the nick of time.  The mold and saturation of the carton and rolls were becoming unmanagable.  Therefore, I turned those egg holders upside-down, placed them on top of an empty laundry soap container (they use individual liquid packets over here) for height and monitored them more closely each day.  I watered them twice a week, one time with very diluted feed. Clearly the plants were happy!  They flourished...I felt like they grew twice their height overnight!  Plus, I didn't see anymore mold on the outside of the carton (still hoping that there was no mold on the inside and in the soil).  But are these "true leaves"?

Just a week or so later we have luscious, beautiful leaves!

So that's what they meant by "true leaves."  I think these babies are ready to be transplanted! 

Oh, and mom...they smell like your garden.  I caught a delicious whiff while I was transplanting them and it made me a bit homesick!  I always love visiting during the summer and helping you out with the garden...when I am not weeding it out of punishment for bad behavior that is!  ;)