Baby Seedlings, Mommy Gardener

About 10 days ago I seeded a 50 cells planting tray with mostly tomatoes, five cells of rainbow mix Swiss chard and five of huckleberries. The first day I soaked the cells good (with the garden hose on dribble) and left them out in the sunshine all day. The next few days the tray stayed out all day, but I brought it into the garage at night (15 degrees warmer than outside and no risk of birds and squirrels when the dog and I weren’t around). Five days ago, the first seedlings sprouted.

I’m pretty sure they are chard. The next day, I took the tray to work and left it on my desk (on a layer of paper towels) in the bright office fluorescent lights all day. The tray has been going back and forth from outside in sunshine to inside (warmer with fluorescent lights) for almost a week now, and almost every single cell has sprouts, except for one row which must be the huckleberries, which should have been stratified, but I haven’t given up on them yet. I emailed their eBay seller a request for a photo of huckleberry sprouts, which will be sent when the seller returns from vacation.

Last night and this morning I’ve been gripped with a huge sense of responsibility, similar in feel but not in degree to the sense of responsibility when my daughter was born. I planted these seeds at the wrong time of year and they are dependent on me now to live. Holy crap. With a child, you can seek advice from all kinds of sources – relatives, friends, pediatricians, advice nurses, baby books, internet – but sources for baby seedlings are rare. I’m digging around gardening sites for guidance. I'm trying to figure out how to rig up a growing light and I need a greenhouse. I have about a week before these tiny seedlings will outgrow their "baby clothes" and need to be transplanted into pots. Actually, they need to be planted in the ground but that's not an option in mid-November.