Getting ready for starting my garden seedlings was on the agenda today. This year, the seedling rack has been set up in the living room. (What? That's not where you put yours?) It's kind of a long story with which I won't bore you right now.
Truth to tell, it will be a very good spot for the seedlings to survive and thrive. Right in front of a south facing window where they will benefit from real sunshine along with the necessary full-spectrum fluorescent lights. The ventilation will be good in this spot, too.
To make room for the rack, I had to move one of the living chairs and a floor lamp into my quilt room. Oh, my poor quilt room. It's been severely neglected of late as you may note by the unfinished quilt top I've had on my design wall for a couple of months now.
I'll still have to pot the seedlings on a work bench in the heated work shop part of the garage and then carry them through the house in to the rack in the living room, but unless I do a Clumsy Carp snafu and dump a whole tray full on the way, that shouldn't be too big a problem.
Our weather continues to be cool enough to keep a wood fire going during the day. After the sun goes down, we make a fire in the living room stove for our couple of hours end-of-the-day time there. Until the weather starts moderating a bit more, we may consider keeping a slow burning over night fire there once the seedlings are in residence. We would have had to do that in the work shop anyway where I've started my seeds in years past.
Because of still needing to put a bit of wood through the wood stoves, it's necessary for me to clean out the ashes again tomorrow. We're burning mainly maple again as we did last year, but have found that by removing the bark (as we cut and split the wood before putting it in the wood shed to dry) from the maple wood, we have a much smaller amount of ashes to deal with through the heating season. That's a great development as far as I'm concerned as keeping the ashes cleaned out of the stoves is my jresponsibility and the less I have to do that yucky job, the better.
Go ahead and call me a slothful procrastinator as I still have the Easter decorations out and about.
I may just start calling them spring decorations . . . think I can get by with that?
Well, if I'm to win that bet of getting into bed early tonight, I'd best get on with what has to be done before time gets away from me. Again.
23 comments:
Ha, my seedlings are on trays similar to yours, in my bedroom of all places - best light for it, but no grow lamps this year. I was fortunate enough to buy the rack to put up for them. I was up at 4am. Couldn't sleep.
Love your quilt top! Tuesday I planted garden seeds, our weather was 76 degrees, and now they are calling for snow.
Sue
Kristina - Why no grow lamps this year? Even in a bright window my seedlings won't do much without the help of the lamps. They do better (if I can't have both sunlight and lamps) under lamps. Having both this year will be an added bonus for me.
Sue - Did you mean you planted the seeds OUTSIDE in the garden? In that case, ooops.
These crazy extremes in temperatures all over the country are just . . . bad. Not good for man nor beast! At least we're just cold! ;o)
We finally started our seeds last weekend. It was a bit late if you ask me. We have a grow table that my guy built with warming mats and lights in the basement. It’s in an area that we can close off because Molly cat and Sophie kitty like to dig!
Ok - I gotta ask... Did you get to bed early (Mark thinks, "Not likely"). Or did you stay up to do 'one more little thing' several times over? (Mark thinks, "More likely!").
De put the "winter" decorations, which in some cases look amazing similar to the "Christmas decorations" away a little bit ago. From my usual spot in the living I can see a couple of bunnies that are still out on one of our shelves. I think you're good for at least another week or two, and you could probably stretch that right up until its time for the first lawn mowing!
The best place to start seeds, is the best place to start seeds! That's all there is to it.
Sorry about the loss of sleep. Hope you got to bed, nice and early last night.
Cold enough to freeze, at night here, last night. I look out on the tiny bird bath pond in the back, and can tell, that way.
Sunny, windy, cold today. Spring????
Yep!
We had the seed starting station in the living room last year...you are SO behind in the times! ;-)
Love--"my wagon has been draggin' today"
and what is a 'Clumsy Carp'??
...am I behind in my memes??
:-)
ooops! that should be in the house. But I did set out a few onions and my strawberries are blooming
Oh I dislike the middle of the night insomnia. I get that a lot. Makes the days at work hard some days...
I am unsure if I will be able to garden this year with moving - but I have been making lists of deer "unfriendly" flowers, trees, bushes, veg, etc. Me thinks moving out to the country is going to provide me with new challenges!
I think your seeds will do wonderfully in the south facing window. I can't wait to see their progress!!
I was hoping that last night would be the night I slept all the way through. Wrong. We had strong winds all night long and I never sleep through wind. I like your see set up! It's sort of exciting to think of those little sprouts tucked into your nice garden. Can't wait!
Katie C. - I'm sure all the seed starting gear would be way too enticing for the cats! I never had heat mats until a few years ago and have found they really give a boost to the little sprouts coming through. They'll be especially needed with my set-up next to the window at night now. 'Course, if our weather would ever warm up, that wouldn't be so much of an issue!
Mark - I was in bed at 9:30 and didn't even read one little bit. (Unusual for me.) I think I even fell asleep before I got into my "going to sleep position." AND I slept straight through. Whoopee! I sure do feel better with a night of uninterrupted sleep!
Thanks for the permission to procrastinate on the Easter decorations a little more. Couldn't get to them today 'cause I started a bunch of seeds!!
wisps of words - Got a good night's sleep last night. Hooray!
Yep, we're still freezing, too. Snow flakes are falling as we speak but it's not supposed to amount to anything. Let's hope.
So, nope, not spring yet here either. Sigh.
Meanie - Whew, I'm so glad I've gotten caught up to date with the "in" crowd and now have my seed rack set up in the living room. You should have told me earlier!
Clumsy Carp was a character in the comic strip B.C. that had it's debut in 1958. (I had to look that up.) Whenever anyone in our family dropped something or tripped or walked into a wall (!), my dad was sure to call them "Clumsy Carp." So it's an old expression that we've just brought down through the years.
MrsDM - I think you should give yourself a pass this year on starting your garden. You'll put too much pressure on yourself what with all else that you'll want to do on your new place. Maybe just some plants in pots on the deck or porch? That way you can sit there with your shotgun across your knees to scare away the deer. (Just kidding.)
I got the first of the seeds on the rack this morning. It's 4:43 p.m. now and nothing has sprouted yet. ;o)
Susan - Oh, I don't like wind any time. It's so unsettling. Especially at night. ((Shudder!))
I truly am getting eager now for gardening seasoning. I may have to wait a week or two more though to get to the outside planting. (Just kidding! More like a month or two up here.)
Mama Pea delighted that you got a much needed night of uninterrupted snoozing. I know exactly how you felt prior to it.
I have a lot growing in the new green house. It is still in disarray and not at all organized but this is my virgin experience and I have spent more time in learning the ropes.
So at this point I have mini snap peas,radishes, strawberries (with berries on board), heritage cherry type tomatoes, kale, sage, peppermint,English thyme,parsley,basil,celery and cilantro.
I credit it to what we always said about newbies in the show ring "beginners luck." Almost all started from seeds.
Will look forward to learning from the expert and pictures from your venture.
I'm still waiting for dry weather...just when it looks like I can get in the garden it rains or snows. I just heard they canceled the snow for this weekend but will rear it's ugly head Sunday night. we are still dealing with flood water so I was really needing soil in hand to lighten my day lol Love your quilt room!!! and wish you so much luck on your plants.
Goatldi - Good golly, I think you have a wonderland of things growing in your new greenhouse! Just thinking of those snap peas . . . mmmmm, mmmm! I gave up on my dedicated herb bed a couple of years ago but want to grow more again this year. Probably in pots out in the garden.
Listen, m'dear, I am no gardening expert! I have failures each year and half the time feel like I don't know what the heck I'm doing, but I love it and keep trying, trying, trying. Sometimes even succeeding! Hugs.
Sherry Miller - I know! So many parts of the country are getting snow very late this year. Sure hope it's not going to be a late, late spring. That will put us all behind in getting our hands in the dirt!
I just looked and none of my seeds have sprouted yet. (Ha, ha, I just started them yesterday!) It's always a thrill to see them poking their little heads up through the soil, isn't it?
Bunnies are spring. Just remove the eggs and the baskets and they will be just fine.
Athanasia - Successfully removed bunnies, egg and baskets today. They are all tucked safely away for another year!
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