Seed Starting

     When I was younger I was an avid gardener. Ok, maybe 'avid gardener' isn't the right description. I liked to have a summer garden, and once even grew potatoes. I've always enjoyed gardens and plants, especially the challenge and reward of keeping them alive year after year (plants, not gardens) and watching them grow.
     Dalton would roll his eyes about now because he has to help me keep them alive in winter by hauling them in and out of the house. Unfortunately my favorite are hibiscus plants, which can't tolerate the cold, so we have to be pretty committed in the winter to prevent freezing them. One day we'll have a garage or shed or something so we don't have to do that, but until then, it's the job of my faithful husband to help me keep my plants alive. And he does a great job, even if he does mumble under his breath and threaten to let them die sometimes.
     Back to gardens...as I said before I've only done summer gardens, but lately I've been wanting to expand and try to do some fall/spring gardens for broccoli, potatoes, lettuce, etc. I figured that this year I probably wouldn't do it either, but then some friends of ours started talking about their garden and I started getting the itch to get started. Dalton is really into it this year too...he even expanded the garden plot! So our friends are starting their own seeds inside and then transplanting them outside when the time comes. They offered to give us some seeds and we said 'sure' (we aren't ones to pass up free produce). They gave us our share of seeds, from tomatoes, to green beans, kale, peppers and squash...very generous.

     We bought some seed starting soil and cups and today Cooper and I planted our seeds. This process was a little frustrating at times because of my little helper. I had to first put soil in all of the little cups, which Cooper wanted to help with. He did ok, but never quite got them full. Then I had to water the cups of soil. Lucky for me Cooper was wandering around the yard for this part, otherwise I might have given up. After I watered I noticed that Cooper was in the mood to wander a little too far, and I didn't want to have to worry about him heading toward the road, so I brought him up on the porch with me. Bad idea..I should have just put him in the house. He wanted to add more dirt to the cups, then knocked a few over with his clodhoppers as he was trying to get between me and the seeds. A few tense moments passed and he left to chase Little Girl (the cat). I took my chance and quickly stuck seeds in most of the cups. I'm not sure if I planted them correctly..depth and all. It's always a little leap of faith when you put a seed in the ground and can't see it until it sprouts.

     When I got to the green bean and zucchini seeds I decided it was time to let Cooper help. I mean, how could I blog about it if I didn't have pictures of Cooper working with me? Besides, it's a good learning experience, and a good excuse to let him get dirty.

     I gave him the seed and showed him how to push it into the soil with his finger. He loved it and helped put the rest of the seeds in the cups and push down. If some don't sprout I'll know it's because he pushed them too far down, but I tried to control his power. After he finished he proceeded to wipe his dirty hands on my shirt...where does he learn this? I promptly directed him to wipe on his pants, which he did.

     Now we have 40 cups on our porch with seeds hopefully starting to germinate as we speak. As I gaze on the cups I realize we might not have thought this through as thoroughly as we should have. You see, these cups have to come inside every night, and then get taken back outside each day to sit in the shade. Sounds easy, but when you factor in a curious kiddo, and the fact that the only space we have to put the seeds inside is in our kitchen/dining area...very accessible to above kiddo, we could be in for some trouble. I'm now wondering if teaching him how to poke his finger into the dirt was such a good idea. Oh well, live and learn!!

     Note: If this is the last seeding/garden post you see for quite some time you'll know it didn't end well. Hopefully, though I'll have some pictures of little green sprouts to show you in the near future! I think that is my favorite part...seeing that first sprout of green...well that and the first piece of produce you harvest. Woo hoo I'm getting excited already!!

"And God said, 'Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees bearing fruit in which is their seed, each according to its kind, on the earth."And it was so. The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seeds according to their own kinds, and trees bearing fruit in which is their seed , each according to its kind. And God saw that it was good." Genesis 1:11-12