How long can I keep them alive?

4 days ago I decided that I would go ahead and start a couple of seed trays for some plants I knew I could run seedlings for and then transfer to pots or ground in a couple of weeks when there was no threat of frost any more. Reading the seed packets and paying attention to the plants I planning that it would be 2 weeks or so before I could get them transferred, I chose a couple of plants that were supposed to have long germination times (10-14 days). I did not think much about it and had the starter sets on a table in front of a window that normally gets 6-7 hours sun on a sunny day and checked the moisture level every day. As we have not had much sun until today I was not expecting much...and now I have a tray of 1 inch seedlings...

The tray in question is not that bad. It is just a set of flowers I was going to use to add color around the house and I have a lot more seeds so if they die off that is not the end of the world. The whole point of this is now to keep them in the seed starter tray long enough to outlast the last freeze, but get them out of the tray before they are stunted in growth. The joys of gardening where nothing ever goes as planned and nature never cooperates. 

As I may have mentioned I am going to try to do some container gardening this spring and see how long I can keep some plants alive. Hopefully I will get to the point of obtaining some food from the plants, even if all I ever get is a small salad. Hopefully I will get more...hopefully. The whole task is an effort to save a few pennies with some home effort and after my score of plant pots, why not?