Question
Good Morning.

My little boy and I have made a beautiful vegetable garden. The soil has been worked extensively and we have planted seeds. I'm sure there are numerous reasons,ie : planted too early, dollar store seeds, old seeds, etc. My question is not why but when to give up. We planted the seeds on Valentines Day February 14th so that has been almost 30 days. Only 1/4 of varieties have sprouted. Is it safe to assume that they are not going to sprout? And go ahead and start over now rather than waste anymore time waiting and hoping?
We had a little warm snap early on & we got a little over-excited.
Then it cooled back down (never frooze, though). I'm sure we jumped the gun.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
kind regards, Jerry.

Answer
Generally, most seeds will germinate within 14-21 days. Some seeds, such as lettuce, will sprout within 5. Thirty days is well past the normal time. I would suggest starting over with reputable seeds from a company such as Burpee or Parks. I also would wait until the temperatures at night stay consistently above 55 degrees, with temperatures in the day averaging 70 or higher. Most seeds like warm soil. You should also mulch the soil with straw or compost to help keep the soil temperature consistent.

Good luck, and enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Regards,

Mike