Hi John, it’s great to hear that you are starting seeds for your garden this year for the first time! When starting seeds it is very important to get them directly under lights as soon as they sprout or else they can get very leggy, very quickly. Cucumber seeds usually germinate pretty fast so I would just start more seeds, but yes, keep your eye on the germinating seeds so you can get them under the lights shortly after they sprout. Off the top of my head, chamomile and lettuce seeds actually need light to germinate and lettuce seeds don’t need a heat mat as they germinate in cooler soil temperatures. Hope that helps and have fun growing!

Thanks DeAnnaCats!

Hi Patrick, it really depends on where you are located and what you have available to you. It sounds like you have an in ground garden, what is the native soil comprised of? Is it high in sand, clay, or loamy? Do you rely on rainfall to water your garden or do you water it yourself? Growing cover crops is a great way to kick start your garden to get the soil ready for your garden plants, growing cover crops and then mowing them down before they flower and produce seed is a great way to add organic matter to your soil as a green manure. If you have high quality bulk compost available to you in your area, adding a couple inches on top of your native soil may help if it is devoid of organic matter. Hope that helps and reach out with any other questions.

Hi Joseph, keep the lights right above the seedlings with minimal spacing between the tops of the seedlings and the lights themselves. Hope that helps and have fun growing!

Hi Claire, absolutely those will work!