Winter Wonderland...

What better time to be thinking about planting then when I can't even see my garden because of the snow? You can barely make out the very tip of the fence. This is the biggest snow we've had this year so far.

Based on the garden plan and my estimated planting dates, the first seeds that I need to start are the broccoli. They'll go in the ground around mid-April, and I'd like to be setting out good, strong, big, healthy plants. I'm shooting for twelve.

It would appear that in one of my fall cleaning frenzies I threw away all of the little black seedling pots I had accumulated last Spring and Summer, so my first order of business was to figure out what I was going to start these little seedlings in. I came up with this.

Last week I dumped what was left of a bag of garden soil on the deck (frozen solid with clump of ice included) into my canning pot and added some cold perlite. It's been sitting inside ever since to warm up.

My husband brought the seedling starter mat in for me that had ended up back out in the shed, and I moved a table into the dining room so I had somewhere to put all of this apparatus. I cut the bottles down, cleaned them thoroughly, and punched a few holes in the bottoms for drainage. I mixed up my soil and perlite, which was nice and warmish and moist, and filled the pots.

We put the seeds in liberally. Since I want a dozen plants I'm shooting to end up with two good plants in each pot, four in the large pot.

I put thier Ziploc bag tents over them, placed them on the plugged-in seed mat, and walked away. I'll check them daily until I start to see seeds coming up. Hopefully by next weekend I'll be moving these new little babies under the aerogarden light, misting them every morning, and starting something else on the mat - cauliflower and cabbage, I think.