Signs of Life

A mere 14 days into our 30 day wait, what should I spy but these luminescent little signs of life! A handful of our strawberry seeds have already begun to poke their heads above the dirt. As exciting and encouraging as this discovery has been, it also means we need to hurry up and get our grow light hoisted from the basement ceiling a bit sooner than anticipated.

In other news, we've started two flats of asparagus seeds, which are surprisingly large and not at all what you would expect them to look like until you realize that they come from little red berries. Starting asparagus from seed rather than crowns means we'll have to wait four years instead of three for the bed to be established enough to start taking cuttings, but seeds are a heck of a lot cheaper. And besides, we like a good challenge!

We also wanted to mention that we've chosen to start our seeds in homemade paper pots, as you can see in the photo. Several seed catalogs sell the wooden pot maker that you can see in the photo in our last post. We thought this would be a great way to recycle newspaper, and it's also the most sustainable solution we could find. One purchase will fulfill our seed-starting needs for a lifetime, it's environmentally friendly, and it's easily shared. We did buy some plastic flats with lids, but they should last for years, and are recyclable. We also bought some seed starting mix this year, but next year we hope to be able to use compost from our back yard.

Meanwhile, as we wait for the weather to warm up, the Gardeness and the Gardener have been learning how to knit! I must say, if you ever find yourself stressing out, especially if it's due to having to wait for something, knitting is a wonderful way to distract yourself. Plus you get something warm to snuggle with when you're done!