Spring has a way of sneaking up on me!

I've been taking pictures, but not finding a time to write about them...


Project #1: Seed Starting Central
The cheapest way to grow a garden is to buy seeds and start them yourself.  Now, I'm a lazy person, and forgetting to water the seedlings can render an entire flat useless.  This year, I put watering in my calendar that I check frequently.  I've still had a couple of days that I've forgotten, but the seedlings have become little plants, and they are pretty happy looking!  Because I was horrible at keeping up at blogging (too busy playing in the dirt!) I'll date the pictures.  What did we do before digital photography put a digital date stamp on photos?

March 18th

On March 18th, I had finally spent enough money at Menards to start my seeds.  I needed some new plastic flats this year.  I also use seed starting medium in my flats.  It happened to be on sale this year.  I used some Miracle Gro from last year and some of the Schultz.  The Schultz was much harder to work with, as it takes a long time to absorb the water.  A really long time.  However, as time has passed, this has proven to be a plus.  When I water the flats, I can pour water on the edges and it doesn't uproot the seedlings.  It was much cheaper, and I forgot to mark which flats were which, to compare growing success.  Whoops!

March 18th

Last year, Tim had made this grow stand for me.  It was made using lumber and supplies that my father-in-law had around, and it's wonderful!  The light is provided by regular fluorescent fixtures that we got for $9 each at Farm and Fleet.  I have a before picture and an after picture.  There was a lot of work in between the two!

Most of the seeds that I started this year I was given by someone who saved them out of the dumpster.  I bought two packages of jalapeno seeds (those things are so expensive to buy in the cold winter months!) and one package of cabbage seeds.  Aside from the extra electricity cost of running the grow lights and the seed starting medium, there wasn't a lot that I needed to buy this year.  That makes for a happy husband!

March 25th