Tomato plants are growing!

This is just a quick update since I haven't posted here in a while. You probably thought I killed all my plants right? LOL Well not ALL of them. :-/

I had 6 tomato seedlings that seemed to be holding their own, so I planted them right into my compost bin (which is basically a small Rubbermaid container). They are doing very well!

I also have a basil plant and a parsley plant that seem to be doing well also. Those I bought as 4" pots from the store and planted them in containers. They are outside and doing well. I've already used leaves from them several times.

Seedling killer??

A little over a week ago I neglected to water my poor little seedlings for a couple of days. :( That's my black thumb at work! By the time I realized it, it was too late for some of them.


As you can see from the photo, the gigantic green bean plant did not survive along with about half of the others. Some stronger plants made it and I replanted them into 4" biodegradable pots and they are holding their own. I was pretty disappointed with myself, I had vowed to be a better plant mother. They've been outside for about 4 days now and are holding up. We'll see how it goes!

Seedlings are growing - now what??

Ok so I'm a little nervous. I have all these wonderful seedlings growing like crazy (just look at the size of this green bean!). I'm really afraid to put them outside as I don't want to kill them. Guess it's time to learn about hardening off?

I want to plant some of these in containers, but I'm not really sure which ones should go in there and what size planters to use. Guess I have a lot of reading to do! Anyone out there that can help me?

I have:

green beans

tomatoes

radishes

cucumber

peppers

marigolds

carrots

basil

Any help is most appreciated!

Oh and just look at the pretty blooms on my cherry blossom tree outside my window! I love these signs of spring :)

Radish Sprouts!

We decided to take off for the weekend and go up to our camper. We are quite surprised to come home and see that the radishes had already sprouted! They are quick, we will probably have to take them out and place them in their own dish so that the others can still benefit from the moist environment under the plastic cover.

Also, I checked out a book from the library a couple of weeks ago called Lasagna Gardening: A New Layering System for Bountiful Gardens: No Digging, No Tilling, No Weeding, No Kidding!
by Patricia Lanza. I just started reading it this morning and can already tell you I am very excited about trying this method! It involves building a garden bed right on top of the grass by layering peat moss, compost, and other layers to create a perfect growing environment. I'll give a full review when I am finished reading :) 

Starting Seeds

Well here we go on our new gardening adventure. I'm a little scared that maybe I'll actually be successful and then I'll have to actually take care of the garden all summer! LOL 

Yesterday my youngest son and I sat down and planted some tomatoes, radishes, cucumbers, carrots, green beans and marigolds. We used the little peat pots that we bought at WalMart and it's now sitting in the front window.

We planted an even amount, 8 peat pots for each type of seed. We used craft sticks and a black marker to identify what is planted where. See how the marigolds and tomato markers have a 1 and a 2? Since I bought two types of each of these, I marked the seed packet with the corresponding number on the marker so that I would know which type of tomato and which type of marigold were in each one. 


In order for the lid to fit we had to lay the markers down, but once they sprout and we can remove the lid, we will stand them up again.

I was a good girl and I saved all the seed packets, we didn't use all of the seeds anyway. I'll make sure I pay attention to all the recommendations on the packets, but for now we just wait.

I am totally open to advice from experienced gardeners, so please feel free to comment away! :) 

I think this year I may make some more garden markers. I made these Country Plant Pokes years ago and might just do it again!