Birds are often the culprits for excavating new seeds; and small rodents.

One system which may work for you is to get some small mesh 'chicken' wire to put over a row of wire hoops pushed well into the ground. Fasten the wire to the hoops. When the plants are up you can either leave the protection there until you're ready to harves - or move the wire across to a new site.

(Aside: if you have found a source of trashed supermarket trolleys those baskets make very good protection for young plants and small patches of strawberries ;-) )

For the euc's: ask on the Australia forum. There are many species of Eucalyptus. Bear in mind that if you get more rain than the Blue Mountains your plants are going to grow much faster.

For the tomatoes - generous holes with the soil well-mixed with plenty of compost, a stake or other means of support, and the recommended serving of fertiliser, followed by reliable watering. A trickle system would probably work well and ensure that the leaves aren't left damp.

For soil-planted plants - you might want to investigate what it would take to install a watering system on an automatic timer. Trickle is probably more economical and effective than sprinklers as such. For plants you're growing on, or house plants - might be worth looking at capillary watering pads. (More forums to look at!)

PS unless you have access to vast amounts of material - and mechanical assistance - your compost heaps will never supply all the organic stuff you'll want in your garden. It pays to allocate a chunk of the garden budget for buying in. If you develop the habit of always adding a couple of gallons of compost to the soil whenever you put in a new permanent plant - and a six inch layer when you renew your beds for annuals and bulbs your soil will steadily improve and so will the water-holding capacity. Mix it through rather than burying a layer. In some soils buried compost can become a toxic mess. Clay can be particularly bad this way. Keep the humus in the top six inches.

If you're not home often enough to water things week by week - a deep watering and a hefty mulch layer can help plants carry over. Usually established plants will be fine. It's just the new ones that are making roots to escape from the root ball that can seriously suffer. Bare-rooted planting can take a year or so to create a decent root mass. With that in mind you might want to work a patch at a time to give the high intensity care needed to get plants well-established.

Thanks Vetivert8! Appreciate the responses-
I have a few old laudry baskets that might do the trick!Tomatoes are on their way down and staked.
I am putting in as much compost as I can to improve my soil this year, and will keep on adding more next year!

Also I planted some tomato, eggplant and pepper seeds in trays 12 days ago and no response yet....the soil was compost and potting. ...am I just being too impatient?
Thanks again-
Sabrina

In my garden, the squirrels are so skilled at digging up the pea seeds and seedlings that I have to put wire mesh over the row, and then peg the mesh down. Wire mesh because the little tree rats chewed through all the other mesh covers :(

Tomatoes and peppers usually germinate in less than ten days, although the depth of the seed can affect that timing. Also, I've noticed that quick germination seems to apply only if the soil temp is kept at a steady 72-74°; even one night of 60° can delay the sprouting process by a couple days. I cover my seeds with a thin layer of fine vermiculite and set the trays over constant bottom heat (plant heatmats or the hot water heater) until the seeds are sprouted.

thanks meldy,
they have sprouted!only a few but yay! but in the md-va-dc area is going to be very very cold for the next few days...what do I do?there is almost no sunshine and my seedlings are coming out....am I going to lose them due to the temp? The inside is usually 67f and almost no sunlight....

What to do is a sort of coin-toss. The baby plants can survive a day or two of minimal light, while temps under 60° will slow their growth and under 35° will kill them. I don't know how many plants or how bulky your trays are. If possible, I'd take the plants outside as long as the air is over 50° - a lot of lumens can get through those clouds; bring the trays in before sunset and put them in a warmish area - 67° is very good. (My trays sit on the picnic table with plastic over them in the day, and then just go on top of the washer in an unheated porch each night.) If it's so cold that you can't get the seedlings into sunlight, then make do with fluorescent lights - even a desk lamp is better than nothing. The more light [lumens] you can provide the better they will do. Put the trays on top of small boxes (or books or cans or anything firm) so that the lightbulb is less than 2" from the top of the tallest seedling. Remember that the heat from the light will cause the soil to quickly dry, so check night and morning.

We are so late into the season that I wouldn't buy special lamps for this year, but watch the sales for a 4' workshop fixture that will hold 4 bulbs -- and next year you will be all set to keep the babies happy regardless of the outside weather. My lights are stored in the attic the rest of the year.

Any seedlings which have already been transplanted, can be protected with an old sheet thrown over and a 1$ clear plastic painter's dropcloth over that. Remove the plastic if the temp gets over 50° (it will likely be over 75° under the plastic, hotter in sunlight). Row cover is a nice alternative to old sheets because it is lightweight, but you may not be able to find any locally.

thanks meldy- those are great suggestions.
I have a few flower beds that I want to sow seeds in- should I wait till later in the season? or when it gets warm next week?-
thanks again for taking time to answer my questions!