Starting petunias from seed

My success at growing carrots and lettuce from seed has inspired me again to try to grow petunias from seed. I've tried it before, and failed, but I was younger then! So I ordered a packet of petunias seeds from Amazon, which arrived today.

I have to admit that I was very surprised to find only about a dozen seeds in the packet. Actually, there are fifteen, and yes, it says so right at the top of the packet. I even wrote to Ferry Morse asking them about this, and they responded right away and very courteously. The color is what caught my eye for these flowers so it looks like I am paying a premium. I planted them in little plastic cups that I scrounged out of my kitchen, making sure that I made drain holes. The small plastic cups are from individual jello servings. I packed them with Miracle Grow® Seed Starter soil and dropped one seed into each, after making a hole with a pencil. The pelletized seeds are pretty cool, much easier to handle, and I'm guessing the pellet has something magical to make them grow better. The larger container had blueberries in it, and I filled it half with Miracle Grow® Moisture Control potting soil, and half with seed starter soil. Then I planted four seeds. I sprayed everything gently with a hand sprayer, and then came back a few minutes later and did it again. They are out in my courtyard, where they will get an automatic daily spray of water under the shade of one of my olive trees.

The forecast is for more hot weather here, so it's really too early to put out small *six-pack* annuals in the sunny part of the garden, which is where petunias need to be to bloom. So, I will plant the remaining eight seeds in the next day or two and there will be fifteen plants ready to be transplanted by October.

Hopefully, the weather will cool off by then!