Spring Is In The Air

Even though there is snow on the ground, Ryan and I have already started wishing for spring. Last summer, we intended to grow a garden with our roommates Rachael and Shane (who own the house we live in, for those who don't know). Time got away and we ended up with a really nice front flowerbed but nothing in the backyard. So this year, we are starting early! Ryan found a great product to start plants in from Home Depot, which is basically a plastic tray with holes for soil. The soil comes in little pellets and when water is added, the pellets magically grow into individual tiny soil pots! (I am a big fan of the washcloths from Dollar Tree that magically grow from tiny compressed shapes into real washcloths, so growing the pellets was very fun for me.) After that, you just add seeds and put the plastic top on the tray and wait for seeds to grow.

So, we added seeds of all kinds to our plastic mini-greenhouses: Mint, cilantro, oregano, rosemary, basil, onions, tomatoes, and peppers. After just over a day, we could already see the tiny sprouts coming up. I wish I had a camera with a zoom lens so I could really capture it, but the pictures Ryan and I took will just have to do.

The plan is to transplant these to container gardens in the back yard in April. Rachael found a great container gardening plan in a magazine. It is designed for sloped surfaces so we are planning to do four containers along the back fence of our yard. We would like to fill them with the herbs and veggies and add some flowers for color (and to help keep certain pests away from certain plants without using pesticides).

I am sure we will be planting more soon since those seed packets in the store seem to call my name every time.