Okay, so I grew my garden from seed last year (if you missed the post on how I saved my family over $757 dollars with a backyard garden...click here). I touted my ability to now be able to grow my 2015 garden from seed with almost no out of pocket cost...but then these came. Its kind of like most girls might feel about shoe catalogs, or jewelry catalogs...I am in awe. All the bright colors, the cool heirloom names, the different varieties. All I can think about is how brightly colored farm baskets look when filled to the brim with different kinds of tomotoes, peppers, squash, beans...you get the picture. I am a bit starry eyed by this point. The bad part is...I want to try so many things. I even have read a few new blogs on different ways to try mounding my potoatoes this year (if you need a laugh look at this story from last year regarding my battle with the potato beetle)
But here I sit pining away for the summer days to come and looking at all of the different varieties of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, carrots, etc. Why would I even be thinking this so far in advance? Its because I learned some tips last year from some very wise women. I had gone to a plant sale to see what hierloom varieties there were and to see if there was any other neat thing to add to my stash. I had left with a bit of plant envy. My tomato and pepper plants were 1/3 the size of the plants that they had. How did that happen? I followed the seed directions exactly. I began to pepper one of the ladies with questions and what I learned was that these plants had all been starting lovingly inside these women's homes in February (in case you have been ignoring your calender that is less than 33 days away!) They were not watering them from above but rather from the bottom as the plants would use thier roots to suck up water from trays and become very strong this way.
I don't yet have a greenhouse although I am still drooling over a glass one that I saw at Menards last year. I do hope that maybe by next growing season I will have one of my own. But, what I do have is a laundry room with a nice bright window. I figure maybe this is a good place to start my seed, after all it is sunny and warm when my dryer is running. I will keep you posted on my venture as I begin. Oh, I almost forgot. I also learned that my potting soil may not be as good as using a mix of vermiculite, pearlite and compost (in 1/3 ratios). I did try this on some of my later plantings last year and it worked significantly better than using potting soil which had a tenedency to get hard while in the plugs. So, I am waiting and drooling while drinking my cup of tea.
I can't wait to begin getting my hands dirty.
But here I sit pining away for the summer days to come and looking at all of the different varieties of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, carrots, etc. Why would I even be thinking this so far in advance? Its because I learned some tips last year from some very wise women. I had gone to a plant sale to see what hierloom varieties there were and to see if there was any other neat thing to add to my stash. I had left with a bit of plant envy. My tomato and pepper plants were 1/3 the size of the plants that they had. How did that happen? I followed the seed directions exactly. I began to pepper one of the ladies with questions and what I learned was that these plants had all been starting lovingly inside these women's homes in February (in case you have been ignoring your calender that is less than 33 days away!) They were not watering them from above but rather from the bottom as the plants would use thier roots to suck up water from trays and become very strong this way.
I don't yet have a greenhouse although I am still drooling over a glass one that I saw at Menards last year. I do hope that maybe by next growing season I will have one of my own. But, what I do have is a laundry room with a nice bright window. I figure maybe this is a good place to start my seed, after all it is sunny and warm when my dryer is running. I will keep you posted on my venture as I begin. Oh, I almost forgot. I also learned that my potting soil may not be as good as using a mix of vermiculite, pearlite and compost (in 1/3 ratios). I did try this on some of my later plantings last year and it worked significantly better than using potting soil which had a tenedency to get hard while in the plugs. So, I am waiting and drooling while drinking my cup of tea.
I can't wait to begin getting my hands dirty.
