Gardening Bug!

This last winter a good friend and I got together and decided to try growing everything for our gardens from seeds.  Neither of us have had much luck with this in the past, the poor things got leggy and never even made it out of the house.   The key I learned from past attempts is first that with all the work, water and effort that goes into gardening . BUY GOOD  SEEDS.

So we picked  Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds  which is a beautiful catalog with great selection and good prices.     There are dozens of pages of just tomatoes alone.... red, pink, yellow, purple, striped....!It was work just narrowing those done to just 7 varieties.

We shared all  the seeds which made it very economical and also fun.   We have become garden friends in that we know we can call each other and talk away about our thoughts on gardening.  Thus saving all the others in our lives who eyes just glaze over after awhile when we get into too many details. lol It is our new favorite subject.

We have learned a lot by going to "you-tube university" and watching video's on the right way to grow the seeds, what you need etc.  I especially like "The Rusted Gardener", his video's are informative, short and stick to the point of the title ( the fact that his name is the same as my son is great too!)   My dear husband built me a double light holder for the seedlings based on one of his video's.  

We are off to a good start.  Here are some of my seed babies happily growing under the lights.

 

In case you are interested (if not skip this list, it's okay)  this is what I'm growing this year:
Tomatoes - had to pick one of each of the colors!
Basil - to make caprese salads
Marigolds - for protecting the tomatoes from bugs
Turnips-  the thing I sneak into all my soups and stews when the boys aren't looking
Beets - the leaves and root fried in bacon is a new fav.
Strawberry Popcorn - cute little red ears of corn that would make great gifts
Broccoli - my boys actually like this veggie.  Don't ask me how I did it. =]
Carrots - little finger ones that I'm going to tuck in here and there
Cucumbers - to make cucumber and mint sandwiches.  Already have a mint patch.
Squash - Iran and Buttercup -sure I'll will be sharing lots of these.
Ground Cherries - a vine that gives you cherries this year and grow in husks
Beans - Hutterite - you can dry these and they make very creamy soups
Cilantro - love it in any Mexican dish
Snap Peas - for dipping in hummus
Swiss Chard - 5 colors! - planning on putting this out front - so pretty.
Lettuce - for all the BLT's I live on in the summer time
Cabbage -red - for pretty coleslaw to go with anything BBQ'd.
SunFlowers - giant ones for the cucumbers to grow on and for the seeds.

I usually buy flowers but realized I can grow those from seeds too so:
Zinnia's - love these flowers and last year they bloomed all summer
Browallia - pretty blue flowers for the window box and planters
Hollyhock - all different colors - biennials - so won't bloom until next year

That ought to keep me busy this summer and happily playing in the dirt.