Spring fever!

 Spring fever, I has it! 

The last several days in my area have been super nice.  Temperatures in the 40s F.

And email newsletters are telling me it's time to start seeds! 

Well, okay then! 

Let's start filling this baby up! 

In 2020 I got spring fever so bad I started seeds in February, I think.  I didn't really know what I was doing at the start. I just knew that I *really* wanted to start seeds and grow plants. If I started in February, I'd have enough time to start things a second time in case the first seeds didn't take. 

That year I had such a fantastic garden.  It was a dream, in my opinion.  The next year I started things "proper" and according to the seed packets.  The garden was still great, but not as great as the previous year. 

Last year I was so burned out and overwhelmed by *everything* that I just barely got seeds started on time. 

Not this year! I've been watching YouTube videos and reading, and things are clicking and falling in to place.  This year I'm reclaiming my garden crown! 

I also decided to try something new this year: soil blocking. 

I've been seeing some of the YouTubers I sort of follow talk about soil blocking. The reading and research I've been doing about "soil block recipes" and make it sounds sort of like an enigma. 

My husband ordered a soil blocker for me off of Amazon. I received it on Friday and I got the chance to play with it today. 

What I decided to use to make the soil blocks with was a block of coco coir, perlite and some potting soil. 

I was just snapping photos around me before I started mixing things together. 

I threw everything in a tote and mixed it all together.  Then added enough water to get to all stick together. 

Then I plunked some of the soil into a 1020 tray and started playing. 

Voila!  My very first soil blocks. 

They may be little squares of dirt, but they are very beautiful to me. 

There was enough mix to make up two flats of soil blocks.  Each flat has 36 blocks. 

Then I carried the flats into the house and planted my very first seeds for Garden 2023.

Pepper seeds sent to me from my sister-in-law. 

One flat is full of pepper seeds and the other flat has brocolli, cabbage and cauliflower seeds. 

Today I planted seeds for:

Big Jim Peppers (Med. hot)

Lumbre (XXX-Hot)

NeMex (6-4) (Mild)

Sandia (Hot)

I cannot wait to see how these go. 

The rest of the seeds are:

Habanero (burpee)

Bhut Peppers (MI Gardener)

Carolina Reaper (Baker Creek)

Jalapeño, early (Burpee)

Poinsettia (Burpee)

Broccoli - De Cicco (Burpee)

Cabbage - Early Golden Acre (Ferry Morse)

Cauliflower - X (Ferry Morse)

I have ideas and plans and wonderments about the ability to get all the stuff I want to start, started and if I'll have places for everything.  The garden plan itself hasn't even started.