Seed Starts

Seeds of change

Well if this darn rain just doesn’t stop, I’m never going to get my dream garden started! It’s been a soggy month here in the PNW and my garden is a mud pit still. I’m scanning the weekly temperatures hoping for those rays of sunshine :-/

To get into the gardening spirit, without having to go outside, I’ve planted a few starter seeds in two mini greenhouses. I thought I would do a bit-o-experimenting – I used eggshells (thank you Pinterest) in one tray and these premade coconut husk disks in the other. Seeds include broccoli, cauliflower and kale. The best sunlight in our house is in our living room, so I’ve rigging up some temporary shelving next to the big window so these babies get some good sunlight.

Um yeah, about that….after a few days, I noticed a total funk in our house and it smelled, wait for it, like rotten eggs! Those darn egg shells stanked up my house! I can’t sit on my couch without smelling them. Fellow gardeners, if you are going to use egg shells to start your seeds, make sure you do it outside… in a green house…that’s well ventilated. And not only did they smell, the seeds did not sprout in a good 40% of them while my coconut disks has a 90% sprout rate (is that even a thing?)

So lesson learned: eggshells DO NOT make for stellar seed sprouting containers.

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Gardener porn.

I’m already dreaming of spring where I can dig into that lovely plot-o-land in the backyard and plant those green goodies. I’ve been sketching out different layouts lately and narrowing down the veggies we will be growing next year. I know, I know….it seems like such a long time off, but I’ve read that some plants need to be started inside in January for planting in early spring!

 

I’m trying to only plant what grows well in the PNW so you won’t see anything uber exotic – just the basics for this gal (and snap peas for Stella, that dog can’t get enough!) Other veggies that have made the cut so far: green beans, carrots, corn, lettuce/spinach, squash, tomato and zucchini. Also considering cauliflower and broccoli, but I’m not sure if planting 4 or 5 plants is really worth it. I want plants that generate TONS of veggies people!

 
It’s SO hard to not to want to buy 5 different kinds of carrots when flipping through these seed catalogues because, you know, buying 5 different carrot seeds is totally a normal thing. Oh man, this might become an obsession.

Have you had success gardening in the PNW? Any tips you can share?

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