Seedlings

Leer en español. 

March is the time to start sowing seeds. Hereabouts the weather in March, April, and sometimes even the first two weeks of May is kind of unpredictable: sometimes the sun shines, the thermometer approaches 20 degrees Celsius, and we gardeners feel an almost irresistible urge to get out and sow something...  only to see snow and sub-zero temperatures return a couple of days later. For this reason, I only plant a few things outside: spinach, carrots, peas, and kohlrabi, which are a bit more tolerant of the cold, and can survive even if the temperatures drop for a couple of days. Everything else I sow in small pots or egg cartons, and stays inside the house until I'm certain that snow and ice will not return. 

A nice thing about these seedbeds is that you can watch closely how the seeds germinate and the first seedlings emerge. Seedling is the botanical term used for "baby" plants from the time they germinate until they develop their first "true" leaves (the first leaves to emerge, known as cotyledons, are often lost later). With time and practice it is possible to easily recognize different types of seedlings, or at least the plant family to which they belong, but still I always write their names in plastic tags to avoid mistakes (or to distinguish different varieties). These are some pictures of the "babies" that I'm currently watching: 

Sunflowers

Corn - this plant is a monocotyledon,
so it doesn't have the initial pair of leaves like the others 

Zucchini - the first leaves of this family are all very similar

Tomato - on the right with a few true leaves