Saturday, May 7, 2016

Starting our seedlings.

I learned so much from my gram growing up, like how to whip together a fast and filling meal, how to can in-season food, and how to do a job right the first time. Unfortunately (and fortunately) with gardening, it's a learning experience that is impossible to do right the first time! So in a way it is freeing to just try things out and see how it ends up.
We are starting our seeds way late this year, but hopefully it'll work out anyways. Last year the growing season went way longer than usual (thanks global warming!) so maybe that will happen again this year?
I was hoping to incorporate Devin into helping me, but as expected, her almost 15 month old brain was way more interested in eating dirt and crushing egg shells! So I let her do that while I planted everything.
I couldn't find some of my supplies so I'll be doing more starters in a few days, but we have about 60 for now. We have a really large garden area and I'm not expecting all the starters to survive so I'm doing a lot! Always the pessimist.
As part of my "learning experience", I'm trying some seeds in eggshells and cartons this year. They can be put directly into the soil when it's time to plant so the roots aren't disrupted. I was supposed to poke a hole in the bottom and forgot though, so we'll see how it ends up. I'll be doing another couple dozen in eggs, so hopefully I remember to do those right.

So far the starts are acorn squash, mini cantaloupe, sage, leeks, basil, hot peppers, and celery. I totally forgot about the cherry tomatoes, so I think I'll just buy the starters from the local nursery because there definitely won't be enough time. I can also just plant those now with some walls-o-water. I decided to be smart and kept a record of the planting order that I can now make into labels!
The rest I plan on planting directly into the ground soon include carrots, radishes, potatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, gold + green beans, kale, cilantro, cucumber, dill, and rosemary. I really want to can and dehydrate a bunch of stuff at the end of the season and dry a lot of herbs to use through winter because they are so easy to grow.
So that's it! Are you growing anything this summer?

2 comments:

  1. What a fab selection of things to grow! And Devin is adorable as always, that cute grin! To commemorate our first year with a yard, I've planted (in pots) some spinach, bell peppers and tomatoes. They're surviving despite the constant flooding rain so fingers crossed! I can't wait to see how you get on, I'm hoping to plant some herbs too in a month or so!

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    1. That's so great!! I hope they all grow well. I meant to do spinach but apparently forgot, so now I want to do some. ;)

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