And so it begins.

I will admit, we are running a bit late this year, but Sunday Pooka and I finally started working on getting seeds started. We didn't have time to get a full tray done, but we did have a chance to start some seeds in pots of dirt. We had the dirt inside from moving Cave, so it should of been warm enough to get things started.

We decided to start the things that really took the longest and that I have not had good luck with in seed starter cells. This meant the snap dragons and our beloved celery. The day before, Pooka got a letter from her Great Aunt B. She sent Pooka  package of butterfly flower seeds in the mail and Pooka jumped up and down for a good 5 minutes cheering for seeds. When we started the seeds, Pooka asked if we could start those as well.

Seeds

We filled some pots with dirt. Due to the cold, we had to do this inside. I will say some of this dirt is from transplanting the lemon tree as well. Pooka was all excited to get her hands dirty again. I have never had much luck with celery in a starter cell, but we have gotten better results putting it straight in dirt and just keeping it watered. This year we are looking forward to the celery more than most, since we have found more things to do with it.

Pots of dirt

Pooka sat there singing about how happy she was going to be to have snapdragons because she can make them SING. That is reason enough to keep around a flower we don't do much with. As you can see, we labeled with our favorite craft stick and sharpie method to keep track of which pots have which plant in it.  By the time we were done, we had 9 pots of seeds all ready to go. Next we need to get to work on the actual peppers and tomatoes, but I am hoping to do those this week.

Ready to grow.

Visitor to the Pollinator garden

Pooka was outside one morning with me waiting for Brother's bus to come. I will say I am still not digging the whole bus thing, but that is not the important part of the story. While I am watching a corner full of kids, Pooka yells "Mommy, Mommy look what I found." Once all the kids are on the bus, I came up and took a look. I didn't see it at first, but Pooka saw something on her milkweed. 

Do you see what Pooka sees?

Well, once I was convinced to get closer and I saw our little friend and went for the camera. Turns out she had a little monarch caterpillar hanging out on the milk weed. I did kneel in the wet grass to take this picture, but Pooka had a new friend in her pollinator garden.  Pooka was so happy her pollinator garden was attracting some new friends. Pooka kept tails on this little guy for a couple of days before he wandered off. She did tell me she saw a hummingbird a few days ago, but it was gone before I got the camera. Hopefully for her this is a sign that more "friends" have found her little garden and are content.

Hello Caterpillar.