Jen Fulkerson

The shade cloth has small holes, I imagine quite small bugs can get through. I have no idea what  bugs can squeeze through, but I'm going to find out. because I'm going to switch the row cover for shade cloth. I haven't seen any Harlequin bugs for a bit (every time I even think that I find a bunch) I did see 2 different praying! mantis.  This is very exciting because I used to have a lot of praying mantis. At that time I didn't know any better and used a systemic rose 3 in 1 rose fertilizer., and no surprise no more mantis. I haven't used that, or anything organic or synthetic since early 2018. I saw a couple very small ones last year. This year I have seen one small, and 2 large.  It's taken a very long time to balance out my little ecosystem. I I have read Harlequin bugs have no natural predators, but I have also heard praying mantis will kill everything, so who knows.  I'm just happy to be seeing a few.
I hadn't thought about the bottles of water. I do the opposite with black bottles of water in the winter in my greenhouse.  It's something to think about.
Thanks everyone for all your help, and support. Happy gardening

I'm so happy to report progress. I have seedlings popping up after only a few days. 4 rows out of 9 in the terracotta pots have seedlings., and lots of seedlings in the small cells. Also in the trays that had spotty germination I added seeds to all the empty cells, and lots of those have new seedlings.

I think my problem was more heat related than soil, or water. The reason I think this is because although I did sow seeds in 6 of the trays with seed starting mix only, 6 more were the mix I used before (I ran out of seed mix) I used new soil in the cells that didn't germinate, but it was the mix I had been using. I have been more careful with watering, so that may contribute, but since it was lack of germination, and not dampening off, I don't think it was all a watering issue.
I'm very annoyed with myself. I know I need to use shade cloth in the fall. I started out using my cover that I covered in row cover to keep the Harlequin bugs out.  When I wasn't getting any seedlings, I stopped using it thinking maybe it wasn't letting enough light through, or not enough airflow. I should have put the shade cloth on at that time, but I didn't.  My guess is it was just to hot for my cool weather veggies. I could be wrong, but nothing else really adds up. I bought a little solar fan (it was what I could afford) Maybe next year with shade cloth and the fan I can get a more successful earlier start.
Most important is if nothing else goes wrong I should have lots of veggies, flowers, and herbs to plant.

I'm sorry Judith, that's a bummer.  
I'm not sure if any of the new growth will be flower buds. It looks like leaves shooting out, but it's been changing a lot all of a sudden, so who knows. They are pretty small, so I really don't know.
Better luck next time.

I have decided Malabar spinach isn't a mistake. It did reseed all over the place, but the seedlings were easy to remove where I didn't want them, and that was that.
I still haven't managed to get it planted in the chicken yard. I definitely want to plant there, but if you know chickens, you know there must be something to protect the plant. It on my to-do list, but not very close to the top.
My son likes to add it to lots the food he makes, and I really enjoy how it looks. It's quite pretty.

Do you ever feel like mother nature is laughing at you?
I have been struggling to start broccoli, one of our favorite cool weather veggies and having  a difficult time of it. What do I find in the very weedy pathway?  A volunteer broccoli. Since I didn't plant it I'm not 100% sure it's broccoli, but I did have a broccoli go to seed not far from there, and it looks like broccoli to me. Something has been munching on it, but it looks pretty healthy considering it's growing in the path. I can't start it in a seed cell doing all I can to get it to grow, but a weedy pathway You bet.

Hi Judith, I was wondering how your roselle is doing?
Mine looks a lot healthier than the transplant I got last year. since the weather has started to cool a bit, it's starting to change. Growing a bunch of small leaves in the junction of the main stem and larger leaves. They about 18" to 24" tall, so I don't know y they are big enough to produce, but we'll find out. It's back to the 90's next week, so there's still some time.

Thanks Jay. I'll have to read it more carefully. the stuff I used came like a brick, and was in the garden section, so I just assumed that's what it was for. I imagine, considering all the varieties that even different brands may also be a little different. Definitely something to think about.
Thanks

Jay I have used coco coir in the past, I didn't love the longer strands, but maybe I need to try it again.
It's a blessing and a curse to be super curious, and always searching for a better way.
Thanks for the great info.
sorry about the 3 post. I'm on my lunch break, and I keep getting interrupted, and had to go back and reread the post to remember what I wanted to say.
Thanks

Matt, I have heard of wicking mats, but haven't considered trying it. Now I want to. I wonder if I could use a thick cotton, like a couple layers of flannel or something. Definitely something to think about.
I am trying to bottom water. I hope that helps. Thanks

Thanks everyone, lots of great useful information.
Hugo what you see is actually vermiculite. I bunch of the seeds I'm starting are flowers that need light to germinate, so the vermiculite lets light through, but helps keep the seed moist.