Planting Season! Planting Season!

Ya'll! I'm so freaking excited!! It's finally here! Time to start my full garden here at the Dream Farm! I've purchased the seeds and waited patiently...and it's finally here!

I've been planning my garden since last summer! Last year we were only able to plant a few things because we weren't here in the Spring and we were trying to move in, shuffle between jobs, family obligations and the like. I've been dreaming about creating this magical food garden. In my head it is splendid! I'm hoping the reality is even better.

I've talked before about my seed starting mix, so I won't bring it up here, but I will talk about my process a bit. I love having a tote of soil when I'm going to do any planting. I hate wrestling with the bags of soil and fertilizer. I'd rather mix everything together in the correct ratios, so that when it's time, I can just go to my tote and get busy.

I'm one of those weirdo people who loves to play in the dirt. The act of planting a garden is a hope and belief in the future, and that's pretty much how I try to live my life.

To get started, earlier this winter, I opted to sign up for an online garden application, called Seedtime. (linked) I paid to upgrade to the pro version and it's spectacular. You enter in the names of your seeds and your zone and it gives you a calendar of when to do each gardening task. When to start seeds, when to prep your beds, etc. It's fantastic! No more manually calculating dates and hoping I don't miss anything.

I have a LOT of seeds going in this year - 90 different varieties - not including the stuff I already planted (garlic, onion, asparagus and strawberries) and also not including potatoes. I'll plant at least 2 varieties of potatoes. This also doesn't include trees or berries. So, you know, ambitious - and a lot to keep track of. Anyway, this software application is going to be a tremendous help.

I know you guys are thinking I've gone overboard - but hear me out - I want to replace our vegetable purchases for the year. We eat a lot of vegetables and really like a variety of things. There are several varieties of each vegetable, so that's what makes the number so large. Of course, I'll be giving myself some grace. If I don't get it all planted this year, there's always next year!

So on to the process I use: (if you've never started seeds, you don't need all the equipment I've set up - I'll tell you how to do the same thing with a take out container or an empty cottage cheese carton)

• I mix my seed starting mix into a large tote - you can buy premade seed mix at any hardware store. I think they even sell it at Walmart.
• I fill my containers to the top (I was using 72 cell seedling trays and a regular tray with no cells - the cells are the individual little pockets in the pan) but am careful NOT to pack it down. Just fill lightly.
• Read the seed packet - it will tell you how deep to plant your seeds. All the seeds I planted today were 1/4 inch deep.
• I use the tip of my finger to gently push the soil down 1/4 of an inch - if it sinks lower than that, I add a little more soil.
• Sprinkle a couple of seeds into each cell, or if not using a cell tray, sprinkle over entire surface of soil - being careful not to over crowd the surface.
• Lightly sprinkle more soil on top of the seeds and press down gently.
• Add lid to the seed tray (if you are using a take out container or something without a lid, cover with plastic wrap and poke a few small holes in the top. You want the moisture to stay inside.
• THE FOLLOWING IS NOT REQUIRED
• Place seed tray on a heating mat and adjust grow lights to just over the top of the trays.

If you don't have a heat mat or lights, just move to a sunny window area and keep warm while seeds germinate.

Voila! The garden process is happening! I'm super excited! These seeds will germinate over the next few days / weeks. The back of your seed pack should tell you how long to germinate - which just means the time until a seed sends up a sprout. We'll keep the covers on until the seedlings reach the top. We can take the heat mats out when the seedlings sprout. That way we don't need a LOT of them, we can just move them to the next set of seeds that need to germinate.

Hope you found this entertaining / useful! What plants are you growing this year?

Hope you have a wonderful day!

Best Wishes!