Its Spring and we are sprouting!

In honor of the start of Spring, lets talk seeds.

For the first time in four years I have had helpers with my seed starts for my garden. The past two years I was a bit lazy (lazy meaning I had 3 kids age 3 and under) which left me zero time for starting plants from seeds so I purchased mature plants from the store. We live in an area that around October all but my strawberries die in my garden. That can make gardening expensive. When you are at the mercy of acquiring new plants every year you learn quickly how to be a seed starter.

Quite often with kids you envision projects going quite differently than they actually turn out. I always see my kiddos as these little angels that can do no wrong during these activities. I see a mommy that is ear to ear smiles talking so sweetly to her children. I see children who follow directions, I see a mommy that is not becoming irritated.  I see my kids saying things like, "mommy what shall we do next?" I see a mommy saying, " Oh I love how you wait for me to give you your next step, thank you oh so much for practicing your patience".  Ya well, it doesn't usually go down like that. O.K. wait, it NEVER goes down like that. This time it was not so horrible, we still had a few moments, but I think since they thought they were doing a 'mommy' task it made them feel pretty special.

We first started with our Jiffy Pods which the kids thought were so exciting.

They start as these flat disks which you then add water too.

Within a few minutes they pop up ready to have seeds placed in them. This year the majority of our seeds came from Territorial Seed Company, and the rest are a combo of Burpee and Ferry~Morse.

I wish I had pictures of my girls placing the seeds in them, but God only gave me two hands. So when it came time to plant, the camera had to be set down in order to help my girls grasp the seeds and make sure they placed them in the appropriate rows. I am sure I will find a few surprises when they start to sprout!

It has been about two weeks since we started our plantings and we are starting to sprout!

I decided to purchase a small Greenhouse (Flowerhouse) that I could place in my home. I figured if it were right in front of me, I could pretty much guarantee that my seeds would be watered. If it were outside.... Well lets just say, out of sight out of mind.

Every morning my girls run over to it, and check on their baby plants. I must admit that I am just as excited as them. I think in another year or two when my kids are a bit bigger, I will upgrade to a permanent outdoor greenhouse, complete with heat lamps. But for now for now we will enjoy our indoor greenhouse that will hopefully help supply us with fresh vegetables all summer long.