Happy Little Seeds and Sprouts

Let the adventure in backyard gardening begin!

After stocking up on seeds from the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed company, we took a trip to Lowe's for seed starters and dirt and such.

If you're going to be paying for shipping anyway... may as well make it worth your money, am I right? 

After about 5 days we had our first sprouts... I couldn't believe we had actually done it...(cue the Frankenstein clip)... it's alive, IT'S ALIVEEEE.

The little collards that could.

Anyway.... there seems to be a new sprout each time we check the tray. The last few days have been warm, relatively speaking, and full of sunshine so we got these babies out there to try and kick start the growing process. We need to get these guys garden-ready in the next month or so to go in the ground around or just after the last frost, which is around April 20 for our region.

I'm already learning all sorts of things, mostly from the internet (thank you, Google) but also from co-workers who are backyard gardening veterans. Seeds and their sprouts are like little people, they have personalities, preferences, enemies, and friends....

1. Identifying seeds and their sprouts. Before this project I couldn't tell a carrot seed from a chard seed. But now I can! And their little sprouts too.
2. Apparently beets do not transplant well... uh too late. We'll just have to give it our best shot.
3. Eggplant seeds take longer to germinate than any of the other seeds we have in our tray... come on little guys, don't be shy!
4. Some plants like lots of sun (tomatoes, peppers, etc) and others prefer the cool shade on a hot summer day (carrots, collards, and chard). Some need stakes for support (maybe the eggplants and peppers) and some like a good old fashioned trellis (get those tomatoes, cucumbers, and zucchini a-climbing). Which plants are companion plants and help each other grow, taste good, or ward off pests.
5. Some seeds can't be planted too deep, just barely covered by dirt will do just fine for those carrot seeds!

And lots more. I feel like this is the most exciting part, watching the sprouts pop up one by one, but I don't anticipate being bored at any stage of the project... especially when the harvest begins and I throw that fresh cut chard leaf into a smoothie!

To be continued...

So far and in chronological sprouting order...
collards, chard, beets, cucumber, carrots, and zucchini, and cherry tomatoes
waiting anxiously for our watermelon, eggplants, tomato, and peppers!