project 4: start seeds

Well, my camera is still MIA (it did surface briefly during Shabbat, of course, and has vanished again) so I'll just do the posts now and update with pictures later. I don't like to edit/update posts, because then they show up multiple times in people's blog feeds, but oh well.

Project 4! I decided it was time to start some seeds, so I pulled out all the seeds I have and got to work. We bought 3 'windowsill greenhouse' kits from the hardware store; these came with individual soil pucks in a plastic tray with a clear tray to cover it and act as a greenhouse. I filled up all the pucks, then gathered the clear trays and every other usable piece of clear plastic (mostly containers from loose spinach) and filled those with newspaper seed pots. I made these out of one of our many phone books, wrapping two pages around a toilet paper tube, tucking in the end, then smashing the end flat to keep it mostly secure. Milt filled them with potting soil and they are going well. It's been a week now, and I filled up another spinach container with more phone book pots and repotted some of the seedlings that were getting crowded. It is too cold and unpredictable outside to even think of transplanting out there just yet; I even have a weather forecast that is predicting snow later this week. Crazy!

Here is what I planted:
Amaranth (I also plan to direct sow later in the spring)
Arugula (sprouted and all repotted)
Artichoke
Basil (2 varieties)
Beets (4 varieties)
Broccoli (sprouting)
Brussels Sprouts
Cabbage (2 kinds; 1 European, 1 Chinese)
Cantaloupe
Carrots (assorted heirloom variety pack)
Cauliflower
Chamomile
Chard (planted today in the space vacated by the spinach)
Cilantro
Cress
Cucumbers (3 kinds inc. 1 gherkin)
Dill
Eggplant
Kale (2 kinds; both are sprouting, I repotted 2 of the seedlings)
Lettuce (2 mixed varieties of leaf lettuces, so about 8 kinds)
Lobelia (planted today in the space vacated by the arugula)
Oregano
Parsley
Peppers (5 bell, 2 habanero, 3 others)
Pumpkins (3 varieties)
Scallions
Spinach (3 kinds; 2 have sprouted, one was repotted for more room)
Squash (4 varieties)
Sunflowers (5 kinds; the edible variety has sprouted)
Tomatoes (12 varieties; I have a lot of plans for the tomatoes this year)
Watermelon (3 varieties)

I also have 3 kinds of potatoes, 1 asparagus, and 2 strawberries waiting to plant. I direct-sowed my old, shriveled garlic and onions outside; they may come up, they may not, we'll see. I have several kinds of poppies and 4 boxes of mixed flower seeds waiting to be sowed as well, and about 12 different types of bulbs waiting for the rain to stop so I can get them in the ground. So exciting!

happily, -nava