Gardening Begins

So this morning I began my garden with sowing seeds, which will stay in my house until the weather is nice and the fear of frost is over. Now this is my first time starting a garden with seed so I may not be doing this perfect, but hopefully things will turn out. Last year we started so late that we just got plants and put them in the ground. Although they worked great last year we wanted to be a bit more adventurous and start with seeds.


The one problem at my house is the amount of sunlight we get. The house is on an a angle so the most sun is collected on the side of my house. Not much space but it works. We had about a 4 by 4 foot box last year but I am thinking we will need at least 3 of those this year. I am feeling very hopeful and purchased tons of seeds.


When I went to Home Depot I was looking for those green house boxes that you can start seed in but they were kinda expensive : \  then I found these cups that are basically the same thing without the tray, and they were a dollar for 26! To start the seed I took the cups and put them on a cold cookie tray I never use. I filled each of the cups up about 3/4 of the way with soil, patting down a little, then watered the soil since it was a little dry. Next I sprinkled a couple seeds into each cup, covered it with soil, watered again until moist, and stuck in a label. Simple! One thing I did learn from watching Martha Stewart's seed sowing episode is to only put a couple seeds in each cup. She had this nifty tool that dispersed a couple seeds into each cup but I just did it by hand.


Once finished I put a sheet of plastic wrap on top. I was thinking this may keep in moisture and help the plants grow, but most importantly keep my cats from digging in them. I only got through my herbs today since I ran out of cups. This weekend I will finish them and also buy a couple larger pots for when the seed start to grow. The neat thing about these cups that I got is that once you are ready to put the plant in the ground you just pot the entire thing in the ground. You don't have to remove the cup! Another neat trick I read in a magazine is to start seeds in empty plastic containers. For example empty yogurt or margarine tubs. If anyone in your house uses these products have them save the container and fill it just as you would a biodegradable one. Be sure to poke some holes in the bottom to let excess water drain out. But once the plant is large enough you'll need to cut away the plastic before you put it in your garden. Recycling is good! Anyway I took some pictures and hope you enjoy them!

In order to know where you planted your seeds you will need to label them. You can buy plastic ones at Home Depot or any other store but I decided to make my own. I cut paper into rectangles and taped a tooth pick to the middle. Easy and homemade.

Filling parsley and then cilantro seed on the left.

My soil is definitely a little dry so i'll have to keep a close eye and water frequently so they do not dry out. 

These were the yogurt containers I collected and used to start daisies. I am interested to see how well they turn out!

Today I have to make my double chocolate chip cookies for someone. It was the first blog post I ever did but I never posted a picture so I'll definitely share those later today. I also have 3 ripe avocados waiting to be made into guacamole! Enjoy the rainy day! - kb