I have been growing my veggies and herbs inside for about 6 weeks and decided to start getting them used to be outside plants, since we will be bringing in some good soil next week. I put them out in the nice warm sun for a few hours, next thing I know, they are all turning brown and falling over and leaves are falling off of them! I brought them back inside and I am hoping for the best, but it is not looking good. What did I do wrong?
I think I should just bag the garden idea and turn that huge hole in my yard into a pool!

Maybe they got too much sun? I once decided to give some of my indoors plants a vacation (seriously, I was 19 and it sounded like a nice idea) and put them out on our apartment balcony for the day... they came back looking like they'd been at a leper colony for plants. Very sad. I believe they all survived that incident, but it was touch and fo for awhile. Hope yours bounce back (and that someone has soom decent advice for you)
-sarah

Did you put them in a protected area outside? I usually start getting my seedlings used to sunlight by keeping them on the porch. We have bad wind here and it can be the kiss of death to delicate plants.

That being said, even good gardenerse lose a few, so don't beat yourself up. Just pamper them and I bet they'll come back. Good luck!

If they have not had exposure to the sun directly then that is what happened, and I have to say, even knowing this it is an easy thing to do. I know that I have lost about 20 seedlings to this already this year and my dd distroyed the rest. I think that for most things I am going to stick to the "puttum' in the groud" seeds like beans, peas, carrots, spinich, lettuce, chard, kale, zuccini, cucumbers, and stuff like that... and then buy all of my herbs, peppers, and other things that I want from the local farmers market. I did ALL of this extra work this year and most of them died. UGH! So yes... black thumb of death... you are not alone. :)

Love Val

Hi all, those of you who are having problems hardening off seedlings might want to try the winter sowing method of seed starting. I tried it this year for the first time, and am absolutely amazed at the results!

Here's a link: http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/wtrsow/

I did both, started some plants indoors, and started a bunch using this method. my indoor seedlings have suffered a ton of abuse, and I lost almost all of my eggplants to sunscald, but my winter sown plants have completely thrived, using a fraction of the work I did with my indoor starts. I didn't lose a single one to sunscald or frost (not the same can be said of my indoor starts.

HTH,

Nikki

That is SOOOO cool! I am going to try that this winter! That is so great! I have heard that anything that will produce its own seeds and they will come up at all will have a good winter gardening compasity, but I have always looked for plants in the winter... not waiting until sring for the plants and having heavy duty plants. The choosing must be interesting though... there are many loved varieties that will not do well... like Basil, and most tomatos... (Some are early varieties and those may do really well.) Oooo... I am all excited now. Thanks!

Love Val

oooooooo........I am excited too! Thanks for all the info!

My pleasure! About choosing plants, I can sday that out of 40 something different flats I sowed, the only thing that didn't sprout for me was fennel.

YOu can definately do tomatoes (just choose a short season variety, Oregon Spring works really well, as does glacier).

Peppers came up no problem. My minature bells (jingle bells) have already set fruit.

Basil can definately be done, you'll just get a later crop because it won't germinate until the weather's right.

My tomatillos took off like gangbusters.

Don't get me wrong, you will have some failures, but I didn't have nearly as many as I was anticipating. Also, I had/have way more seedlings then I can possibly use. I've been handing them out to friends and neighbors.

HTH,

Nikki

That is so great! Thanks again!