Time flies...

Just because I haven't been posting doesn't mean the plants haven't been growing!

I don't have any pictures to prove it, but less about half of the seeds that I planted sprouted and are now in my two raised garden beds.  My successful sprouts were peppers, watermelon, garden beans, snap peas, tomato, zucchini, and cucumber.  Not bad for a first try!!

I didn't have any success with lettuce (that's embarrassing) or cantaloupe, so I planted those again from seed in the beds along with some squash and some more peas and beans.  I planted and transplanted everything two days before a bad frost came, but everything survived and it is now nice and warm here in lower Michigan.

My hopes and dreams for the seedlings might not pan out, however,  because some of them are rather small.  I might resort to buying larger plants from Home Depot if they don't take off.  I need instant gratification...

Speaking of gratification, it is really strange to water and care for something you plan to eat soon.  It is a long process and I can't imagine relying on ONLY the food I grow, even though that would be an awesome thing to do someday.  I will post pictures of my beds soon!

First Sprout!

Let there be lettuce!

Carry on...

Ready, Set, Grow!

At first, I considered being crafty and making my own seeding station with toilet paper tubes, but seriously, ain't nobody got time fo' that.  So I bought a clearance Burpee Greenhouse Kit with 72 cells at the Home Depot and I am planning on using that.  The kit comes with the growth medium, chart to organize what is growing, self watering tray, and greenhouse top.

The directions came with the kit and I should have read them more carefully, because I did have a couple of disaster cells.  The directions warn you to make sure the growth medium pellets are flat and facing up when you poor water on them.  They expanded so fast that the ones that were sideways got stuck and I had to painstakingly crush them to finish the process.  So lesson learned: read the directions!

Before

(you can see the unruly pellets turned sideways...)

Once the growth medium soaked up all the water, I just poked holes in the cells with my finger, dropped the seeds down, and covered them back up.  The chart made it easy to keep track of what seedlings I could expect to see in the next couple of weeks.

The kit directions and all of my garden gurus stress that heat is important when starting seeds, so I brainstormed where I could keep the mini-greenhouse for the next couple of weeks.  Unfortunately for my husband, the dining room closet won that contest.  The closet in our dining room has heating ducts running through it in one corner, so the closet is always nice and cozy when the doors are shut.  Bad for heating bills, but good for germination!  

Seed Prep

I have been leaning on the likes of Martha Stewart and Better Homes and Gardens for direction in this adventure.  All of my sources recommend soaking seeds for at least 12 hours before seeding.  The soaking activates the germination process, so you get better results.

They all showed pictures of soaking seeds in bowls, but I was trying a lot of different seeds and once I mixed them up, I knew I would never sort them back out.  I needed a different way.  I ended up using snack baggies, labeled for each variety, and filled them with the seeds and hot water.  I let them soak for 24 hours (my sources say to soak for no more than 48 hours).  Most of them expanded and sunk to the bottom of the bags by the next day, which I took as a cue to start seeding!

Go big or go to the grocery store.

I am on a mission to grow the food I eat and I'm not starting small either.   Last summer I read Joel Salatin's book, Folks This Ain't Normal, from cover to cover in about one week.  His passion for local food set an alarm off in my conscious, but I didn't do anything about it at the time. 

Since then I have married my best friend, survived another Michigan winter, and have gotten two semesters closer to my Bachelor's Degree.  Life is busy, but the land my husband and I live on now could provide us with fresh, healthy food and keep me from having to buy dinner that had to travel the world to get to me.

So follow my lead and learn from my mistakes, because let's be honest, do you know what you are eating?