Last night, Hubs had a basketball game after work so I had a few extra hours of alone time around the house before he got home. I took advantage of that time to get a little head start on the garden.

P.S. Do you follow me on Instagram? If so, you’ve already seen this photo. If not, why not start now?

Anyway, last night I started a whole bunch of seeds that will hopefully grow into little seedlings that we can plant in our soon-to-exist little garden.

Now, I realize it might work better to plant things from starts that are already big (and we will be doing that for some plants (namely, tomatoes, for one), but seeds are so cheap and plants are so NOT cheap, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try at least, right?

We bought several of those compostable seed trays that you can plant with the seedling inside and I basically followed the same steps I did here with my herbs, except when the package directions told me otherwise.

For instance, the squash, zucchini, and watermelon all got planted with several seeds that will be thinned down to three or so when we’re ready to put them in the dirt.

I also added a few extra seeds (in case some don’t sprout) to each little pocket. I can always thin them later if needed.

Make sure to moisten your seeding mix before you work with it, if it’s too dry, it’s hard to water it enough at the end without washing away the seeds at the end with a ton of water.

Some of the seeds were super funny looking. The beets looked like grape nuts, that ridiculously crunchy cereal?

So far on the planted list we have:

• red bell peppers
• banana peppers
• onions
• carrots
• beets
• cucumbers
• zucchini
• yellow squash
• watermelon
• marigolds
• peas (already growing strong in the window sill!)

In the to be planted list we have:

• spinach
• lettuce
• tomatoes
• jalapenos
• green beans
• potatoes
• asparagus
• strawberries
• blueberries
• raspberries
• zinnias
• more marigolds (I ran out of dirt this time and will have to plant the rest after a trip to the store.)

Some of these we already have seeds for that don’t need to be given a head start inside, according to the package directions (namely, the lettuce and spinach) but we’ll see how it goes. The rest we’ll be purchasing starts for. (Except the potatoes, which can be grown from, yup, potatoes.)

Now, I know this list seems a bit long, but rest assured we’re going with only a few of each plant to test what sort of success we have with each plant and how much we will really use.

Plus, I’m sort of figuring on some losses, meaning I already expect some of our plants to either die or be eaten by the neighborhood bunnies, birds, or roaming groundhogs. (One of those lived under our front porch for awhile last fall! And we thought this was “city living” compared to the farm back at home!)

Still, it’s a big task to get ready for this first big garden adventure. We still have to finished planning, dig up the grass, till the soil, plant, make a fence and other structures to support the plants, buy a sprinkler (maybe?)… the list goes on and on. Plus, there’s still a tiny bit of snow in part of the area we’re hoping to plant!

I’m excited though, and think it will all be worth it if we have any sort of harvest whatsoever this summer.

Anyway, send my little seeds lots of good growing thoughts. I promise to whisper sweet nothings in their direction every day, which is all I really know to do with seeds. My herbs are still doing pretty well, which is exciting…

…but I’m still remembering how well the seeds we planted for our wedding reception centerpieces did…right up until the time they all died. Yikes.

Tell me, are we forgetting any awesome fruits or veggies that need to be added to this list? Any garden advice to share? Any advice for starting seeds and then transplanting outside. (I already know a little about “hardening” but I could still use the help!)