Saturday, February 20, 2016

Seed Starting 101

It's an absolutely gorgeous day on the mountain top today with temps hitting 60 degrees. In February. What the heck? But hey, I'm just going to enjoy it while it lasts!

Of course I'd love to be playing in the dirt today but alas, necessary evils got in my way. In the form of a cord of wood that was dumped in my driveway and must be stacked. 

That ruined my plan of raking out some garden beds when I got home from work. Wood stacking takes precedence. 

But I can still dream about gardening, right? 

I got an email from Mother Earth News letting me know it's time to plant asparagus and onions in my area. I doubt she knows I'm on a mountain top and therefore not quite a true zone 5 but still....gardening season is around the corner!

I'm going to start some seeds in my little garden cottage this year. I was browsing around online and trying to figure out what needs to be started when and I came across this helpful chart. 

Via
It looks like I still have a bit of time before I need to start my seeds, which is great....because I'm still doing research. 

I found this helpful little tidbit online also:

Via
Good to know, right? 

What did we do before the internet? 

Of course, I couldn't stop there. There's so much information out there on seed starting and organic gardening - and since I can't stop thinking about planning out my garden I'm just sucking it all in!

Via
Like this little tidbit - that means I should be planting my herbs and lettuces in the portion of the garden that backs up to the garage wall. Who knew? I always thought herbs absolutely needed full sun! 

So I kept on looking and the Farmer's Almanac tends to differ in opinion...yes, there are some herbs that can take partial sun, but most do need full sun. 

So perhaps that statement is more specific to things such as lettuce, spinach, kale, etc. 

Either way, it's time for me to start figuring out what seeds I want and put in an order - yee haw, that's exciting!!

Via
Because pretty soon days like today are going to be a regular occurrence. 

And I want to be ready!



17 comments:

  1. I love this post. I do not know much about food gardening. I like the little thing about how to grow in sun or shade. Very good. You'll have to show us when you get the seeds started. Blessings, xoxo,Susie

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    1. I'm still learning a little more every year, Susie. I was born and raised in New York City so much of this is still very new to me!

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  2. Love this! I'm in Northern Illinois and had a beautiful couple of days but winter will rear it's ugly head here once again this week. Can't wait for the warmer days! I organic garden too.I really do believe the food taste better and we all know it's better for you. To keep pest away I have always used castile soap in a spray bottle and have never had a problem with bugs of any kind. We spray our yard with Peppermint Castile soap, we use the sprayer that attaches to the hose. Never had a problem with ants, fleas etc... Just love your blog!

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    1. Hi Patti! Thank you so much for your visit and your sweet comment! I love the tip about the castile soap - what is the ratio you use? I love hearing about organic methods to keep pests away for sure!

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    2. We use 28-32oz of water to 1/2 tsp of castile soap, in that order or you'll have bubbles galore. In the sprayer bottle that attaches to the hose we 3/4 filled with water and then finish it off with castile soap. We give it a swirl, attach to the hose and spray away. It doesn't bubble up your yard at all if it rains. The measurements work for us but you might want to adjust where you're at. We use the peppermint one as the bugs get horrible here with all my trees. Our Old English Sheep dogs are rescues and this breed is not good with heart worm pills/meds. We can't give them anything so we use this in the yard and to bath. I make an essential oil spray to keep the mosquito's and ticks away and so far so good. Hope this helps!

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    3. Thanks a million, Patti! I am most definitely going to give this a try!

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    4. Thanks a million, Patti! I am most definitely going to give this a try!

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  3. I've got a bit of garden fever too, tho my fever isn't as high as yours. LOL.
    I was cleaning the garage yesterday and came across several deep containers that would be good for a container garden, only thing, they are "unsightly". I need to figure out how to camoflauge the containers so the HOA won't be hounding me.

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    1. Cleaning up the garage is on my list of chores that I haven't gotten to yet....I still have some holiday decor to box up and stash away. Yikes, I need two of me!! And hey, everything's better with spray paint, right?

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  4. Love that little graphic. Not much room to garden here and tons of little scoundrels to steal, but nice to know where to plant if I ever decide to give it a try!

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    1. Did you ever try growing veggies in containers, Kim? I used to do that at a prior home where I didn't have a fenced veggie garden - it was great, I used whiskey barrels on the driveway and the pests left them alone!

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  5. You and me both! I'm out there multiple times a day looking for anything green in my containers. Like they're going to sprout within a few hours!
    Brenda

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    1. Ha ha, well with 80 degree days I'm sure there's lots going on in your little container garden now, Brenda! What are you going to plant in your new periwinkle raised bed?

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  6. My gardening is down to herbs and cherry tomatoes only now but two warm sunny days this week stirred my gardening genes too. My herb pots never made it back to the potting bench last fall so there they sit, pushed to the back of the front porch, ready to pull out. And it is true that most of my herbs do fine with only morning sun but some don't, particularly rosemary, and the rest would probably do much better in full sun.

    I love these breaks winter gives us but even here in Nashville we can have frosts up to Mother's Day.

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    1. Here, too, Dewena. Sometimes even after. But Mother's Day is a good benchmark of when we start putting out some of the more tender annuals. Can't wait!

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  7. You are inspiring me! I want to plant kale this year. I still have a bit of time to get those seeds ordered! I love starting my plants inside, and have had the most luck with tomatoes and peppers, and I can see why my spinach and corn seeds didn't do so well, according to your chart, lol! That's a handy chart! :)

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    1. We direct sowed Kale seeds right into the garden last season but the heavy rains came and washed most of them away! Perhaps it would be best to start them indoors....hmmmmm, now you've got me thinking about that!

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