Boo-berries and pumpkins

This year I'm giving seed starting (yet) another chance.  Every year, I try to start my own seedlings for transplant; however, the blasted things never take or just don't like to be transplanted.  This time around I got a heat mat for my eggplant and pepper seeds, something I didn't have when I tried two seasons ago.  I'm going to give the seed experience another go tonight after dinner.  While this is an epic moment it brought about utter chaos.

If I start these seeds then where will they live?  How many should I start?  And the plan I had created back in January went out the window....not just because of thinking about seedlings but because I picked up a few things while out and about over the last few weekends.  Namely blueberry plants and pumpkin seeds....and not to mention the red and blue corn seeds...oh! and more sunflower seeds...can't forget those...

The blueberry plants are now occupying the self-watering containers (SWC) I had planned for the pepper plants and well the pumpkins and corn seeds...they're hanging out for the moment.  That brings me to the present.  I've cut out pictures of all the seeds and plants I'm planning for this year's garden out of an extra Burpee's catalog.  I'm planning on taping them (or somehow arranging them) onto an over-sized piece of paper as an impromptu planning guide.  But then, I'm getting into the dilemma of finding out I might not have enough pots for this year's idea unless I get/make more...what's a girl to do?

All it needs is love...

Pots for the herbs

     Oy, a busy week so far.  I know I'm a day behind getting the blog up.  However, I have started some of the slower growing herbs for this year's garden.  I'm using the biodegradable Jiffy pots with seed mix this year.  In the back is a dish with the oats for the cats so they'll leave the regular plants alone.  Since the seeds are so small for the herbs I did a mass spread and will thin them as needed.  Here's to this year's batch of herbs :)

Chocolate sunflower

     Not only that but I went through all the flower seeds and discovered another batch of chocolate sunflower seeds. *evil grin*  Last year only two of the seeds took with some spectacular flowers that lasted through the summer.  I'm looking forward to planting those come April.  I also have some chocolate violas, columbines and pincushion flowers.  Who knows, maybe I'll set up an area in the yard for a chocolate themed garden, not just in visual appeal but scent as well.  We'll see what boyfriend thinks of that idea....

The newest addition to the houseplants

     On a side note, I found a small plant abandoned to the doom that is known as Walmart's garden center.  They are generally horrible with their plants especially in our area because they built the new Walmart with the garden center in the direction of the wind patterns.  There's a history of said wind taking down hundred year old trees and power lines, so of course it's a genius idea to put the plants on the windy side of the building...The poor plant sat in the back room trying to survive in it's paper cup near other clearance plants such as glitterized trees for the holiday season and wilted ferns.  I repotted it in one of the smaller self watering containers and there's new growth so the outlook is hopeful.  It's a really pretty plant and I need something in the office that can survive low light.

Saving newspaper

This morning was recycling; however, not all the newspaper went out with our blue bin.  Nope, I'm saving some of the paper for making my own seedling pots.  I get two Sunday papers for the coupons each week, which results in a lot of newspaper and advertisement inserts.  A few weeks back, as I flipped through one of my garden books I came across creating your own seedling pots using newspaper.  Genius idea!  So I'm scrounging up the paper that doesn't have color ink only the atypical black and white for making said pots. I haven't gotten around to it yet, but at least the thought is there.

I have in the past used the seed trays that come in those kits at the big box hardware stores; however, I always run into a case of dampening off.  I have no idea what's running amuck.  So I'm trying a new approach.  We'll see how it goes...