At least, we hope we’re starting seeds for success.

As mentioned last week, we’ve been busy around here, both in the kitchen, and in the garden.

pallet garden beds before-after

Last year I started our seeds…WAY too early. I thought it would get warmer earlier…but it snowed in May last year…so I ended up having to keep the seedlings in the house for way too long…andΒ they all died.

sick seedlings 4

After looking back through our posts (this blog is a great way to keep all of our memories organized!), I saw I started seeds last year in mid March…so I’m about a month and a half later than that this time around. Hopefully it will be enough of a delay that we can plant the sprouts out into the garden in just a couple weeks. My goal was to have the garden semi-started by mid May, which would give us a couple weeks head start over last year.

This year, I mostly focused on starting seeds for the stuff we won’t be buying plants for. (It’s easier and faster, and probably better for rookie gardeners like myself to buy already-started seedlings for big-ticket items like tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers. Those are readily available and fairly inexpensive at garden centers so it’s totally worth it in my book.)

Planting Seeds 14

Anyway, I planted two kinds of lettuce, spinach, broccoli, carrots, radishes, beans, and peas in the little seed trays.

Garden 14 seeds planted

I also planted some popcorn seeds that came free in the mail…we’ll see how that experiment goes…I’m pretty pessimistic we’ll actually get some popcorn…but maybe….

Popcorn seeds planted

And, I planted some dill seeds in the larger pots. Last year, I planted dill in a pot in the garden…and it went to seed…and now there’s dill coming up everywhere, looking all messy and weedy in our nice mulched area.

So, this year, I’m planning to leave the dill in pots on the deck. I considered not planting it at all, but I loved having fresh dill to make pickles last year!

Anyway, here’s hoping we get some warm weather soon. I’m hoping to leave these seed trays out on the deck most days until we get them planted in the garden…I think they were in the house too long last year without enough sunlight to really thrive so maybe that will help.

And, if these seedlings all die like the ones last year, we’re still not out anything because all the seeds and supplies were leftover so this little project didn’t cost us a thing so far.

Planting Seeds 2014

What about you? Starting any seeds? I know my sister and brother-in-law already have a little garden going. Do you think we’re done with snow and frosts for the year or will we have another late burst of winter like last year?

2 Thoughts on “Starting Seeds for Success”

  • How fun! Eric and I are desperately trying to get the garden beds finished so we can start planting soon. Living in WI though I’m not sure when it’s a good time to actually start planting. I don’t want to start too late but at the same time I don’t want them to get too cold and die. Ugh, being a gardening newbie is tough stuff… πŸ™‚

    • It is tough! I actually use an old trick, at least partially even though I know it’s not foolproof…the Farmer’s Almanac…this year it said my area should be good to go after mid April…I check Wisconsin and you may need to wait until mid to late May, depending on where you are…

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