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martiniquehome

Starting seeds outdoors - zone 10

Hi,

I put some lettuce, kohlrabi, spinach, beets in my garden around August and nothing came up. We had a spell of very hot weather in San Diego. Now it is cooling off.

My question is - Since I had started too early in the summer for these vegetables, are the seeds in the garden still viable? I am about to reseed the garden beds but wanted to ask first.

Thanks,

Zoemom

Comments (5)

  • daninthedirt (USDA 9a, HZ9, CentTX, Sunset z30, Cfa)
    9 years ago

    Well, if you planted them in BONE DRY soil, and didn't water, they might still be viable. They're just waiting to get wet. But otherwise, it's a little strange. Nothing came up? Not even tiny seedlings? Was the soil moist? Maybe a batch of bad seeds, or maybe a garden bed that is not plant-friendly - bad chemicals, etc.? A spell of very hot weather could kill seedlings, but as long as the seeds get wet, plants should come up.

  • Martiniquehome , Zone 10, San Diego, CA
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I did see a 5 beets, 2 peas, no lettuce, spinach or Kohrabi. Didn't water too much so for sure it wasn't too wet. My mom wanted to take over watering the garden - she didn't know there were seeds and didn't water there.

    I did just added chicken compost from store, and mushroom compost mixed into the garden bed like few weeks prior to sprinkling the seeds.
    Could this kill the seeds?

    In the last 2 weeks, tried watering more water every 2 days. But haven't seen any more seedlings.

    Thanks for your imput.

    Zoemom

  • Martiniquehome , Zone 10, San Diego, CA
    Original Author
    9 years ago

    I did see a 5 beets, 2 peas, no lettuce, spinach or Kohrabi. Didn't water too much so for sure it wasn't too wet. My mom wanted to take over watering the garden - she didn't know there were seeds and didn't water there.

    I did just added chicken compost from store, and mushroom compost mixed into the garden bed like few weeks prior to sprinkling the seeds.
    Could this kill the seeds?

    In the last 2 weeks, tried watering more water every 2 days. But haven't seen any more seedlings.

    Thanks for your imput.

    Zoemom

  • mckenziek
    9 years ago

    Just start over with new seeds.

    Until they sprout, they must be kept continually moist. This may mean watering once or even twice per day (lightly). Once you see that a lot of them have sprouted, you can cut back watering to once a day, and after a while, you can cut back more and more.

    My opinion is that most likely you didn't water enough to get the seeds to sprout. Sometimes, freshly sprouted seeds are eaten by birds, snails or slugs almost from day 1 of sprouting, but usually you will see some sign of the sprout or the culprit when that happens.

    Bigger, deeper set seeds like beans are less likely to need twice-a-day watering. Small seeds, planted shallowly are more likely to need continuous moisture.

    --McKenzie

  • Slimy_Okra
    9 years ago

    Agee with McKenzie. Sounds to me like you underwatered them. It was probably too hot as well, given that some beets and peas (more tolerant of warm soil) germinated and no spinach or lettuce did.
    If watering daily isn't possible, increase your seeding depth.