From Seeds from Sprouts...Sometimes

It never stops surprising me: you bury some seeds in the soil, pat some dirt on top of them, add a little water, and eventually have a plant. Unless, you know, you don't...

A few weeks ago, I decided to conduct little experiment. I started some tomato seeds under the same conditions (perched on top of the fridge), but in different kinds of containers. Like any good scientist, this was born out of a sense of laziness--I didn't have enough of the containers I planned to use, so I improvised. Also, I have a commitment to curiosity. But mostly I hate leaving my apartment to run extra errands.

Some of the seeds went into a recycled plastic pot from a florist. I put the others in the lid from a takeout container. At first, things progressed smoothly--the seeds in both containers germinated, and I moved them to a bright, south-facing window.

Happy tomato seedlings!

The ones in the florist pot seem to be happy; they're starting to develop their second set of leaves, which means it's almost time to separate the seedlings into new pots and start acclimating them to life outdoors.

But when it came to the other seeds, things progressed not-so-smoothly. Here's what happened:

Bummed-out tomato seedlings.

Ouch.

There wasn't enough room in the shallow container for the emerging root system to develop, so eventually, the plants shriveled up and died.

Let this be a lesson to you all: don't start seeds in takeout containers, unless you want to up your cred as a plant murderer. RIP, tomato plant.