Spring is in the Air: Getting Dirty in the Kitchen.

I wish it was beginning to feel like Spring...today was actually bone-chilling cold. Although temps and wind-chills were both above zero so who am I to complain?

Despite the cold temps, last weekend we took a trip to the local gardening and landscape center.  We didn't go for plants but seeds.  We are actually thinking about our garden before May 1 this year (yeah us!), and we're hoping that starting a few tomatoes and bell peppers from seed will be fun, educational and money-saving.  

We got three different seed packets: Red sweet bell peppers, cherry tomatoes (sweeties),  bush tomatoes (ace). 

 

It would perhaps be nice to have more variety, but then it becomes less of a money saver.  Especially for us since we only have space for 6-8 tomato plants and we don't eat a lot of peppers (2-4 plants is plenty).  If you had a large garden then obviously you could buy a bigger selection.  

The most important for me was the full-size tomato since I can can or freeze those.  It also was a priority that all the seeds were heirloom.  Heirloom means that we can save some seed from this year's crop to plant for next year.  Ideally everything we plant will be heirloom and if we are successful, we'll never have to buy seeds again (bwa-ha-ha...that's my evil laugh)!

To start our seeds Matt purchased a greenhouse kit from Menards.  There are 16 cells, so each kid can plant and take care of four.  The cells in this kind that he bought are made of something from a coconut so that we can just plant the whole thing and not worry about upsetting any roots.

He also purchased some organic seed-starting soil and a plant light.  The plant light was the most expensive item purchased at around $5.  Perhaps it will last more than one season though.  Total on everything we spent around $18, but we leftover dirt and seeds.

The process was very simple, but there was something exciting about getting a little dirty and planting some tiny seeds!  There was a bit of a Spring buzz in the air!

 Evelyn planted 4 red pepper plants, Addie planted 3 cherry tomato and 1 regular tomato plant, and Nathan and Ella each planted 4 tomato plants.

Matt was involved so everything was done very carefully.  He made a hole the correct depth for each seed, covered the seeds back with dirt, and then tamped it down a little (with a plastic spoon).  

(I would have just pushed it in with my finger and called it good.)

 

Once planted, we watered the seeds.  We used a water bottle so that it would be more gentle, but I'm sure there are other methods that work well too.  We put the plastic cover over the top, so the greenhouse effect could take place.  We made sure to put them near a window, but there's not a perfect place for them.  So far they've just sat on our kitchen table.  Once they all sprout, they can move to the basement and they'll have the plant light.  Although our basement is a little chilly, so we may have to rig something up down there or come up with a secondary location.

Upon entering the kitchen later, I found that Aerial and Cindy were on duty protecting our newly planted seeds.  Having them face different directions is good strategy...

So, if anyone has experience or knowledge in this department, we are always open to advice.  Like most everything we do, we're learning as we go!

update:  We planted the seeds on Sunday 2/08/15.  One week later on 2/15/15 we have 8 sprouts!