Garden 2010: Week One

So, I started my seeds for our 2010 garden this last Saturday. We probably went overboard with the seeds, but this is the first time I have started vegetable plants from scratch. This will be the 5th year that we have had a vegetable garden and in the past we have just purchased plants and planted them. Usually we get a few tomato, a few cucumber, some zuchini and some herbs. But, this year we will have:

green peppers - 6 plants

cucumbers -6 plants

cherry tomatoes - 12 plants

sweet corn - 18 plants

carrots - 24 plants

green beans - 24 plants

peas - 12 plants

Wow, now that I am looking at those numbers I am a little scared. This will require us to seriously expand the size of the garden! Currently, our garden is 20' long x 1 row deep. It looks like we are going to have a massive expansion on our hands or we will be donating baby plants to friends and family in the next month or so. Hmm... well, anyway. What I lack in planning ability on this part I make up in good intentions!

This is going to be a fun year for William who was very interested in helping plant the seads. Now that he is almost 5, he is a much better helper. He helped me figure out the amount of water we would need to expand the peet pellets and thought that process was very cool. He got to plant all the larger seeds and helped me poke all of the seeds down into the peat pellets.

The green houses are set in my little one's room on his dresser because he has the only south facing window in the house. The room gets a nice constant, warm light during the day and will be the perfect place to nurse the plants before the move outside. Now, I just have to figure out how to keep the cat out of the room once the lids have to come off... She is a notorious plant chewer from way back, and most of my house plants have fallen victim to her abuse rendering them lopsided and mishapen. I will probably opt to keep the door shut, because she really doesn't need to be in there anyway.

Well, that is all for now. I will post the pictures of the first sprouts that come up and report on their status weekly. I am excited to start the garden off this way this year! Even though spring does not officially arrive until this Saturday I am full of hopeful thoughts for the season!