Sprouts of Joy

Where to begin? Well it’s been an entire week since my last post. But in that week I was able to accomplish quite a few projects. Some were crafts projects, others where housekeeping and still others were just the plain old boring but necessary tasks of life. I won’t be sharing too much about the latter because that would just be a drag, but I will be sharing some of the more fun and interesting things I was able to accomplish over the week. For starters I thought I would share my little seed planting project with you.

Now this little project has me a kind of annoyed because I really debated starting my seeds so early. But after several perfect sunny and warm weeks, and the evidence of an early spring by all of the flowers on the trees and the sprouting bulbs, I decided to go for it. And wouldn’t you know, that’s when old man winter swept back into the bay, and with a vengeance.  Crazy winds, monsoon like rains and temps back in the 30’s and 40’s (even some pellet sized hail). This is hands down the most “weather” I’ve seen since moving to the bay three years ago. This also means that I am now going to have to nurse my little sprouts through their first fragile stages of life with heating pads and window sills.

Let me also explain the absolute joy and happiness this little project brings to my life. I am a grower and nurturer through and through! But being that I live in an apartment, and one on the north facing side of the building with NO sun, I don’t really have much of a chance to do any real “gardening”. So I’ve had to adapt and learn new ways to grow things. Some of the ways in which I’ve learned to do this is by volunteering at the garden at Hagman Ranch that grows fresh produce for the soup kitchens. Then there’s seed starting and house plants. And my favorite is to buy the nearly dead plants that Lowe’s and Home Depot sell for about a couple of cents at the end of each season. I then tenderly take the time to feed them, water them and trim them to bring them back to the beautiful plants God created them to be. I’m currently working on a Lantana plant I got for a quarter last summer. I’m thinking about training it into a topiary. J Anyway onto the seed starting!

Now over the years I’ve tried various methods of seed starting and have determined the Jiffy Greenhouse to be the easiest. It’s also pretty darn inexpensive too! The whole pack kit only cost $3.99 at Walmart and come in various sizes. Mine holds 36 pellets.  And the house is reusable year after year. You just need a bag of pellets which run about $1.99 for 20. The seeds costs vary anywhere from $0.20 to $3.00.

Now when you first open the green house the pellets are dry little cakes.

Then you add a couple of cups of warm water and…

The pellets grow

Once the pellets have stopped expanding you’ll want to pour out any excess water then you’re ready for the seeds.

Now you’ll also want to take a minute to make some marks so you’ll remember what’s what. I just made simple ones with index cards, a sharpy, toothpicks and double sided tape. Just make sure that they are short enough to fit in the green house with the lid completely closed.

Next you’ll add the seeds. Depending on the type of planet, you may need to add several seeds to each pellet. If you end up with too many sprouts per pellet you can pluck a few out before transplanting.

Now every seed packet tells you to plant them at various depths and the Jiffy direction say to simply drop the seeds on the surface, but I use a toothpick to gently cover the seeds with the thinnest layer of soil.

Then you just put the lid on and let mother nature do the rest. Well for the most part -our apartment is pretty chilly and it’s been really over cast so they haven’t gotten much sun light so I’ve placed my green house on a heating pad on the lowest setting.

And lo and behold, the first sprouts where pushing through the very next morning! That’s the fast I’ve ever had!

Some of them grow really fast and I’ve already replanted them because they were lifting the lid in less than a week!

And I was smart enough to started extra herbs and flowers to give as gifts!