Myself and the kids have had about enough of this snow, grey skies and cold weather. The other day while we were at Lowes picking up some home items, I saw that they already had their patio furniture and gardening department up -- at least inside. I couldn't help myself and I purchased seed packets for various flower varieties that I love to have on the patio each summer. This included wave petunias, dwarf petunias, giant zinnias, shade and sunny wildflower seed mixes and a couple of others. I bought a seed starter container and some specialty soil for starting seeds indoors.
Since I wanted Eva to be involved (Jacob is still a bit young for this) I spread out newspaper on the table and Eva helped me spread the soil in the holes and put seeds into the containers. I designated 1-2 rows for each type of flower and we labeled them so that we'll know what they are. There are 24 starts of petunias. They're my favorite. :) And then there are 12 starts of everything else. I'm not sure how well the wildflowers and zinnias will transplant, so I wanted to make sure there would be plenty of them just in case.
The container came with the clear top and so upon getting all the seeds in the soil and adding some water, we placed the clear top on it to give it a greenhouse effect and set it in one of the windows.
By Saturday, we already had some germination occurring!! Even the plants are ready for winter to release its hold!
Yesterday was lovely with sunshine and temps near 50 degrees. Today is cold again and it snowed lightly last night as there is a thin layer covering the grass once again. I'm not giving up though. Along with these flowers, I am also going to start tomatoes and a couple of other plants inside. I'm ready for the summer!!! I think we'll create this self-watering seed starter for the veggies. I think any size water bottle will probably suffice for it -- not just a 2 liter.
And now, off to Pinterest to find some ideas for raised veggie gardens that the kids can help with. Last fall we had to remove our veggie garden in order to put in the playset for the kids (it was the only flat spot left in the yard). So this year, I get to find new ways to grow veggies.
Since I wanted Eva to be involved (Jacob is still a bit young for this) I spread out newspaper on the table and Eva helped me spread the soil in the holes and put seeds into the containers. I designated 1-2 rows for each type of flower and we labeled them so that we'll know what they are. There are 24 starts of petunias. They're my favorite. :) And then there are 12 starts of everything else. I'm not sure how well the wildflowers and zinnias will transplant, so I wanted to make sure there would be plenty of them just in case. The container came with the clear top and so upon getting all the seeds in the soil and adding some water, we placed the clear top on it to give it a greenhouse effect and set it in one of the windows.
By Saturday, we already had some germination occurring!! Even the plants are ready for winter to release its hold!
Yesterday was lovely with sunshine and temps near 50 degrees. Today is cold again and it snowed lightly last night as there is a thin layer covering the grass once again. I'm not giving up though. Along with these flowers, I am also going to start tomatoes and a couple of other plants inside. I'm ready for the summer!!! I think we'll create this self-watering seed starter for the veggies. I think any size water bottle will probably suffice for it -- not just a 2 liter.
And now, off to Pinterest to find some ideas for raised veggie gardens that the kids can help with. Last fall we had to remove our veggie garden in order to put in the playset for the kids (it was the only flat spot left in the yard). So this year, I get to find new ways to grow veggies.
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