Finally...

This afternoon I finally took a little time and started my flower seeds. I have had them for weeks but I haven’t made any time to plant them. I’m glad I finally took the time to start them. Now all I have to do is start the garden, edge all the flower beds, fill the beds with mulch, and plant flower and herbs, ok I have a lot of yard work to do yet. I need to hire a really cute lawn boy.






Abbey loves helping, well kind of, she loves walking around with the watering can and asking me what she can water. I had bought three packs of pansies and the one pack was in desperate need of water. She was so cute when she saw the droopy flowers. She looked at me and said, “Mom the flowers are sad.” She is such a cutie. After she drowned them in water she needed her picture taken with them and then she took Isabel’s picture with the flowers.

Here are a few pictures of some things growing and blooming around the yard.

Oh, and the flowers are not sad anymore.

My Little Seeds Have Sprouted …

I planted four types of seeds last week from annual flowers I grew last year. Two of them have cooperated, the Purple Zinnias have all sprouted and four of the Pink Cosmos. I am still keeping my fingers crossed that the Mexican sunflowers will sprout, they have a longer germination time.

As you can see I have taken the containers out of the plastic bags and propped them open with my high tech gardening pencils. I have set the strawberry containers in a tray so I can water the seedlings from the bottom. They will stay in these containers until they grow their second set of leaves. Stay tuned to see my scientific transplanting methods.

Quick Tip: Make sure you rotate your seedlings to keep the stems strong. You don’t want them leaning one way it will weaken the stems.

Here are a few packets of seeds I picked up this week while I was out. I am hoping to start them this week. I will let you know if I have any luck with them.

A Few Tips for Starting Seeds Indoors ...

Some women are addicted to buying shoes others purses, I have a problem with flowers. Enough is never enough, come May and June if I pass a farmers market or a road side stand I get the shakes. The last couple of years I have started several annuals from seed so I could double the amount of flowers I have but spend less money. I still buy a few flats to satisfy my addiction but I don’t have to buy quite as many.

Monday I finally took time to plant a few seeds I collected from annuals last fall. I usually buy packets of seeds but I wanted to try drying the seeds over the winter and see if they would sprout in the spring. I planted six seeds of each of the four types I collected, they are my guinea pigs. The seeds I planted were Mexican Sunflowers, Tequila Lime Zinnias, Purple Zinnias, and Cosmos.

I am not a professional Gardner, I do not know the scientific names of the flowers I plant, but I do seem to have a green thumb and I truly love gardening. Here are a few tricks I have learned that have been successful when starting seeds indoors.

My favorite containers to first start the seeds in are plastic strawberry containers. I have found this is the best place for the seeds to germinate. After I plant the seeds I slip the containers in plastic bags and seal them, this keeps the soil moist and the condition constant for the seeds. I first did this last spring it worked great.

Before I place my potting soil in the strawberry containers I place it in a plastic bag and add warm water right into the bag. I only add enough water to make the ground nice and moist. Once all the soil is damp I add it to my containers.

If you decide to use strawberry containers I usually only sew six seeds per container. Every type of seed has its own specific needs. So for best results follow the packet directions or go online and look up your specific flower.

Once I have the seeds planted and bagged I write a label with the name of the plant, the date it was planted, and the expected germination time.

I am hoping my little guinea pigs sprout so I can sow the rest of my seeds and if they don’t I will have to grab a few extra packets or flats.