Over the weekend both of our planters sprouted lots of new shoots and the existing ones got a lot taller - they look like mini fields! Very exciting! And we can see more new sprouts ready to come up.
We finished two more bottles of water, so tonight or tomorrow night we'll be planting pepper seeds - green bells in one, multi-color in the other. Peppers have gone up extraordinarily high in price here lately - $4/lb - fingers crossed that we get a successful crop to help lower our veggie bills! :)
Monday, April 12, 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Sprouts are Sprouting!
SEVEN full-fledged Zinnia sprouts this morning and more on the way! We couldn't believe that seven new sproutlings went from barely peeking through the soil to about 1/4" tall overnight. AND - yesterday there were no Hollyhock sprouts at all, but this morning we had two sprouts 1/4" tall - it seems like they wanted to catch up with their Zinnia neighbors! LOL Can't wait to see what the rest of the day brings!
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Our First Sprouts!!
We're shocked and so excited to see the first Zinnia sprouts peeking through the soil today! At least 6 little light green sprouties have made their appearance three days after planting.
We cut the dividers down to just above soil level so the areas farthest from the window aren't shaded by them. We'd have removed them altogether except that one of the sprouts is leaning on the divider. We considered putting the planters outside for a little sunshine today, but it's a crazy 92 degrees outside and we don't want the little guys to burn!
Let's see what tomorrow brings! :)
We cut the dividers down to just above soil level so the areas farthest from the window aren't shaded by them. We'd have removed them altogether except that one of the sprouts is leaning on the divider. We considered putting the planters outside for a little sunshine today, but it's a crazy 92 degrees outside and we don't want the little guys to burn!
Let's see what tomorrow brings! :)
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Floating Topsoil
Just wondering why new topsoil tends to float when we water it. Is there a way to stop this from happening? It's only a problem because the seeds that needed to be planted just below the surface keep floating up with the topsoil and we have to keep pushing them back down, so we're wondering if this could hamper sprouts.... :?
Monday, April 5, 2010
Watering Message System :)
This morning when I checked the soil dryness in our planters, I discovered that my daughter had devised a system to keep us from overwatering our new babies - she made a two-sided pyramid from index cards with "Watered" written on one side and "Not Watered" on the other. Her creative side chose a green index card for "watered" and a yellow card (representing dryness) for "not watered".
A fun and wonderfully simple idea in keeping with our "minimal expense" garden! :)
A fun and wonderfully simple idea in keeping with our "minimal expense" garden! :)
Sunday, April 4, 2010
First Flower Seeds Planted!
We followed up our Easter dinner (once our guests left) with our first plantings! We're trying to keep this economical, so we cut down two large plastic water bottles just below the handles and popped 4 small drainage holes in the bottom. We made 4 little planting cells in each by cutting the remaining flat sides, cutting a slit down the center of each, and fitting them together in an "X" shape. We put these in the center of each "planter" so each cell has a drainage hole.
After we filled the planter with Miracle Grow topsoil, we planted half of the Dwarf Hollyhock seeds in the cells of one planter and put a large plastic plate underneath to catch any water that drains out. We followed the label directions as to seed depth, then we did the same with the Thumbelina Zinnia seeds, labeling each planter. The other half of the seeds we'll sow directly in the ground on May 15 to see which planting method works best.
We watered our newly planted seeds and put them in the sunniest window in the house - now we'll wait and water and hopefully see some little green shoots popping out soon!
After we filled the planter with Miracle Grow topsoil, we planted half of the Dwarf Hollyhock seeds in the cells of one planter and put a large plastic plate underneath to catch any water that drains out. We followed the label directions as to seed depth, then we did the same with the Thumbelina Zinnia seeds, labeling each planter. The other half of the seeds we'll sow directly in the ground on May 15 to see which planting method works best.
We watered our newly planted seeds and put them in the sunniest window in the house - now we'll wait and water and hopefully see some little green shoots popping out soon!
2 Girls and a Garden
Easter Sunday....Spring! What better time for a mother-daughter team of novice gardeners to start a garden? Here in the Northeast, we finally seem to have come out of winter's grasp and the weather is simply gorgeous, so we got the gardening bug! Yesterday we were so excited as we looked through packets of flower seeds at our local garden shop, where we decided to start our new project with colorful Dwarf Hollyhock seeds and Thumbelina Zinnias!
But why stop there? We went full-bore and got 2 more packets - green pepper seeds and multi-color pepper seeds. We LOVE peppers but they've gotten so expensive that we decided to try to grow our own. FUN!! :)
This blog is our garden journal where we can record the daily progress (hopefully!) and challenges we encounter in our first attempt at gardening from seeds. We'd love input from all you fellow gardeners out there!
But why stop there? We went full-bore and got 2 more packets - green pepper seeds and multi-color pepper seeds. We LOVE peppers but they've gotten so expensive that we decided to try to grow our own. FUN!! :)
This blog is our garden journal where we can record the daily progress (hopefully!) and challenges we encounter in our first attempt at gardening from seeds. We'd love input from all you fellow gardeners out there!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
