Uncategorized

Fallen Seedlings

I’ve been hardening off a lot of my seedlings over the last several days and then bringing them in the house at night so they don’t get too cold.  They’ve been doing really great…no wilting or burning, no falling over in the wind…awesome!  This is until yesterday.  Yesterday I came home from work to find this…
My partially decapitated Roma seedling
Yes, one of my tomatoes had part of it’s head lopped off!!!  Bird?  Mouse??  Who knows, but whoever they are, they’re officially on my shit list!
A close up of my Roma

But that’s not the worst of it.  No.  As I continued to investigate, I found this…

Can you see that tiny stump where beautiful leaves used to be?!

Yeah…a fully decapitated Italian Heirloom!!!  Uuuuggghhhhh!  Oh, I was pissed!

Then, I started bringing all the seedlings in for the night.  On trip number…oh…2 or 3 I stumbled on the top step and dropped (yes, dropped) a few seedlings straight onto the floor! WTF?  So, Tool Lady helped me pick them up and get the seedlings situated back into their little pots and I continued my transferring of seedlings.  However, I soon remembered that yesterday morning I had planted 2 new flats of seeds under the grow lights after moving all the seedlings outside, so there was not enough space on all the shelves inside for all the seedlings!!!  At this point,  I was a bit tired and frustrated and I just needed to stop for a bit and eat some dinner.  So, I placed my last flat of seedlings on the washer with the intention of dealing with the organization of it all as soon as I was done with dinner…but I forgot about them until about an hour later when Fish Girl started a load of laundry.  Yeah…few minutes after she started her load I heard a crash.  Can you guess what happened???

Yep…my full flat of seedlings, already up-potted and doing great, fell head first onto the floor.  I almost cried.  Literally.  WTF!?  Fish Girl helped me get them all situated again and they look OK this morning, just a little shocked, but really not as bad as I thought they might look 🙂
Really, though, is there some grand seed starting, garden growing, universal lesson in all this?  Hell if I know, but I would like to be done with it, whatever it is 😉
(Visited 78 times, 1 visits today)

26 Comments on “Fallen Seedlings

  1. Hi there. Just wanted to let you know you’ve got a new reader. Found you from the Harvest Monday post.

    Sorry about your seedlings….I hope they’re salvageable and they perk up. My seed starting station is in the basement, so I tend to be pretty dramatic when I “harden off” my seedlings because I don’t want to lug them back and forth. So far, so good.

    1. Welcome, Liz! Thanks for popping over!!!

      Yeah…this whole seed starting thing is both excited and frustrating all at once!!! I think they’ve bounced back and will be OK this time…there must be some kind of garden grace working in my favor this week 🙂

      I’m off to poke around your blog now…

  2. Oh no!! You poor thing. I hope you can get some more seedlings started! How frustrating.

    1. Thanks, Megan! They actually seem to be doing OK! I did start some new ones, though…just in case 🙂

  3. Oh Bee Girl! The same thing happened to me last week! I kid you not, and it was all of my heirloom tomato seedlings too! And I did cry. Lovingly tended to since February, all the work, money and switching from one sunny window to the next..all gone! It was my cats and my swan like grace that did them in.

    We purchased a $40 plastic greenhouse that we put in the patio window. One night my cats figured out how to open it and they ate the tops off. What was left, I promptly dropped on the floor. One of the cats got sick from it and we had a $300 vet bill on top of it.

    My husband saw my frustration and my tears and said, “That’s it. We are buying a greenhouse. We are not going through this again.”
    So added to the long list of “Garden and Home Wants” is a greenhouse. LOL Time to manifest that money.

    1. Oh my goodness! What a horrible story! Your cat must have eaten a lot of tomatoes!!! Well, funny how it all works out, ha? I’m sure you will manifest that money in no time flat! 🙂

  4. Birds love tender plants. I started covering mine with plastic netting to keep them out. Sorry you dropped your plants . . We’ve all done it once or twice. ;~)

    1. Oh yes…I might have to invest in some plastic netting! thanks for the reminder!!!

  5. Well I think I counted 3 disasters so that should be the last of them?!?!?! I’m forever dropping seedlings etc and they usually make it back to health – hopefully yours will be the same. Hope you find the beheader.

    1. Thanks, Liz! They’ve bounced back nicely. Amazing little creatures, those seedlings are! I’m still on the hunt for the beheader, though!

  6. Thank you for sharing – it’s nice to know that I’m not the only one. It seems like everyone I know has this magic garden touch and I’m the only one who is flailing. I have starts but I’m almost too scared to up pot them even though my husband is about to go nuts with all the saved containers.

    1. Sara, You are most definitely not the only one! I am learning every single day that this whole garden thing has many more lessons for me than I ever could have imagined 🙂

      I do hope you’ll go ahead and op-pot your seedlings, they get so happy when you do! I sometimes think they double in size overnight when I up-pot them 😉

  7. Ah crap. That sucks. If it makes you feel any better, that ALWAYS happens to me too. ALWAYS. In fact, I just had broccoli seedlings outside last week for the same reason, and BAM! on the ground they fell. Dang wind.

    I feel your pain, I truly do. I hope they are all ok.

    1. Thanks, Jocelyn! I think they’ve all recovered. Amazing strength in those little guys, no doubt!

  8. Oh, NOOOOO! I’m certain I’ve had nightmares about this very thing. I hope they’re okay!
    -Jaime
    P.S. Sent you a (long overdue) email 🙂

    1. Yeah…it kind of felt like a nightmare at the time! They seem to have bounced back, though!

      I’ll shoot back an email in just a bit 🙂

  9. Ugh, i feel your pain, we have lost many seedlings due to our cat chasing flies up onto the windowsill… not cool, as long as they’re established though they’re usually alright. I think its just all part and parcel of being a gardener, nature always has its casualties! xx

    1. Ooohhh…cats and flies are never a good combination! I agree, though, garden casualties are just of the deal 🙂 Thanks for your understanding, though! It’s nice to know I’m not just a big klutz! 😉

  10. Oh girl – you have my sympathy. Seriously, I’m totally there myself with my seedlings. I keep thinking..I’m going to get good at this, it *will* seem old hat someday! But for now, my seedling reality is a lot like yours. Moving back and forth, accidental dumpings and little kids, fouling things up. sigh. At any rate. I’ve passed along a little blog love to you on my latest post. Cheers, Jenni

    1. Ha! I keep thinking the same darn thing!!! Maybe ,maybe ,maybe some day…but I think nature has so many tricks up her sleeve that I might not live long enough to trick her back 😉

      Thank you so much for the blog love!!! I’m sorry I’m so behind on my comments and responses! I will catch up!

  11. UGH, I feel your pain! I’ve had a whole week like that 🙁
    Hope they all recover and grow splendidly, and wishing you a better day tomorrow!

    1. Hope your week has gotten better!!! My seedlings are doing just fine 🙂

  12. Augh!!! Silly stuff like that happens to me all the time. Just the other day I forgot to take the lids off our cold frame in the morning and by the time I realized my mistake I had burned 2 of our lettuce plants so bad I’m not sure they will come back!! Some times I’m my gardens worst enemy!!

    1. Ugh…that sounds totally like something I would do! Yes, sometimes I am my gardens worst enemy, too 🙂

  13. Two seasons ago, I had a tray of seedlings on the washer…the door was closed. Somehow, one of the cats was able to pull the door open (if they had thumbs we’d be in trouble) and he proceeded to eat all the seedlings. Probably my fault for giving him “cat grass”, those oat grass bags that he loves to gnaw on. To him it was just more treats.

    Sigh…hang in there! They’ll bounce back I’m sure!

    1. Ha! Thanks 1st Man! Cats really are amazing in their abilities to make incredible messes, aren’t they?! Thanks for your kind words, I appreciate them!

Comments are closed.