Gardening mistakes already made

I have a terrible record when it comes to gardening. I've killed many a plant in my time, but despite the many failures, I can't help but keep trying. There is just something nice about having something alive and growing and green in and around the home.

So what have I done wrong already? Well, here's the list:

1. The 3 tomato plants were started in cardboard egg carton cells. This is bad because the containers are tiny, not allowing the seedlings to grow deep roots and get strong. I think I'm going to try to transplant them into toilet paper rolls or newspaper pots and see if they survive that. The backup plan if my seedlings die is to buy a small brandywine tomato plants from the greenmarket (once they re-open)

2. Not enough light from the window to grow strong seedlings. Yes, some of my plants have sprouted, but they're still looking week and leggy. I'm hoping hubby will be willing to take me to the garden center this coming weekend so I can get some grow lights. I did read that you can construct your own out red and blue LED Christmas lights, but I'm not a handy person, so that may not be the best route for me.

3. Some seeds are too old. My lettuce and spinach seeds still haven't sprouted. They are very old and I don't think they'll be coming up anytime soon. I think I'll just have to toss the seeds and buy new ones. I don't think it's too late to start anew, but it's a bit disappointing nonetheless.

4. Some seedlings are drying out too fast. When I first planted the seeds, I covered them with a small glass jar. The tomato seedlings are now tall enough that soon the glass jar will be too small. However, if I uncover the seedlings, the soil tends to dry out too fast since the windowsill they're on is right above a heater. The heater was great for bottom germination, but terrible about keeping moisture. My seedlings aren't dead yet so maybe if I could find a big tray, fill the bottom with a layer of pebbles in some water and then put the seedlings on top, the seedlings won't dry out as fast. It would be nice if I had a nice big dome to cover the entire set of seedlings, but I don't have anything like that. I'm imagining a beautiful mini-greenhouse, like the stuff for big terrariums. Or maybe I'll just go to the garden center and get a big seed starting tray with a fitted dome. I'm all for makeshift stuff, but I'm finding the stuff I do have at home is just not cutting it in this case.

So despite mistakes having been made, the growing season hasn't really started in my zone yet, so there's still hope. Some of my plants have really suffered wintering indoors, but again, this is a learning experience since I've never tried a lot of this stuff before. I suppose I shouldn't feel too discouraged and should remember that despite any failures, I have had some successes. Last year, I did harvest enough basil to make a batch of pesto and we did have some fantastic tomatoes. I also successfully forced some tulip bulbs into blooming indoors in January and our one sedum leaf that we stuck into some soil has sprouted babies. All is not lost after all!