Why aren't my seeds germinating??

You planted all your cole crops, you're feeling great!  You go out to check your gardens on a daily basis.

A few days go by - no seedlings.

A week goes by - no seedlings.

10 days goes by - you're starting to feel a bit anxious.

Two weeks go by...what is wrong?

Why aren't these seedlings sprouting??

This spring has been anything but "normal".  The temperatures have been all over the map, from lows below freezing to highs in the upper 80's.  Here in Farmington we haven't really had a good solid spring rainstorm recently.  Everything seems to have been coming out slower than usual.

Our apple blossoms went into bloom practically overnight!

Seeds need water to germinate. The lack of rain has really impacted some of the germination rates in some of our crops.  I remember past springs where we would rush to put everything in the ground on the one sunny day...this spring I look at the 10-day forecast and often only see one day with 60% chance of rain.

Every single year in gardening is going to be different and unique.  It's one of the joys (and headaches!) of being a gardener.

In your spring garden here in Minnesota in 2021, I recommend consistent watering.

Containers and raised beds are going to dry out quicker with the low humidity we have had here in Minnesota.  You will find even in-ground gardens are drier than usual.

For our own in-ground garden, we started by hand-watering our broccoli and lettuce seedlings. 

Our dog Sadie "supervised" the weeding before we set the sprinkler to run this past weekend.

Seedlings are delicate as it is and we noticed they weren't growing very quickly after planting them in the ground.  After a couple weeks I was also noticing limited seed germination, so we dug out the big guns and brought out our garden sprinkler this weekend.  We ran the sprinkler for an hour each in three different sections of our garden to really water things in.

Our tall garden sprinkler allowed us to really water in our seedlings this weekend.

This morning I noticed in my daily walk through the garden that the seedlings especially have perked up.  I am certain our germination rates will improve!

What challenges have you faced so far in your spring garden?