It has begun

It has begun. Pooka and I finally started seeds a week ago. We have started 3 different trays over a few days. I told Pooka if she had her chores and homework done, she could start her seeds. I will say it is the fastest I have ever seen that girl do her work.

Alpha

We first started with a 20 cell starter that is a bit different then what we are use to using. We filled it with seed starting mix and Pooka put her seeds in it. We called this tray "alpha" since we knew we would need to start more seeds later. This one holds 2 kinds of snap dragons, celery, and two new seeds this year, purple tomatillo and leek. Pooka is hoping for some purple salsa this year.

The big set

Then we started a 72 seed starter tray. These are the ones we have used multiple times and are really comfortable with. I will say Pooka was super happy when I told her we could do these on a snow day.  She was so happy to start her pepper plants (6 kinds in all), tomatoes (4 kinds in this tray), her geometric and regular broccoli, and lemon balm. New this year is also a new eggplant. We tried it last year from the Grow ums, and seemed to really like it so we decided to try it again.

Trying to organize it

I will say we are trying something a bit new this year. Normally when we start seeds, we try to use popsicle sticks to mark which seeds are where, but it was getting confusing. This year, I am retrying the seed starter map. I gave each row a number or a letter. We then drew a very bad chart to coordinate. Once I had all the seeds filled out, I made a nicer computer made chart and filled in the information. That way it would be easier to read later. I also did this for the "Alpha" tray and will do it for any other seeds we start.

A hastily drawn map to be replaced later

The last tray we started just this weekend and it was another 20 cell that we named "Beta", I will say I tried something different with putting water in first then the dirt. I am not sure it made a difference. Beta contains a few more snap dragon seeds, fireball and beefsteak tomatoes, a few more jalapeno seeds from the end of the Grow ums seeds, and some more regular broccoli.  Hopefully we get a good yield out of all of them, but really, it just made Pooka the happiest little girl to be able to get dirty again. 

Beta