I've been keeping an eye on gardening social media accounts, watching gardening youtube channels and reading posts and comments in the gardening Facebook groups I'm in, and paying particular attention to the ones local to my state.
Finally, I planted seeds into soil today.
Only a week later than what I was originally planning.
I'm in zone 4a/former zone3b in northern Wisconsin. I've been looking forward to this moment almost since I put the garden to bed this past fall.
I was thinking about starting a few things in January and decided to hold off until February. The plan was to start seeds on Valentine's Day. I remember hearing *someone* (I can't remember who) saying they started their tomatoes around Valentine's Day. Four or five years ago I decided to start seeds way sooner than I usually did and it was such a successful year that I knew this was the way to go.
I set things up and pulled my seed stash out.
Peppers and tomatos, with a side of celery, herbs, and some flowering annuals is what I planted this round.
Last year I learned a neat trick involving a toothpick for planting those tiny little seeds.
You wet the tip of the tooth pick and touch the seeds, one at a time, and plant them.
It worked real slick for the tomato seeds, too. No worries about accidentally dropping two seeds on to one block.
Just a little "in progress" shot. I was listening to The Rusted Garden, Gardening in Canada and one other channel, I think. I know at one point my youtube auto played over to Roots and Refuge.
It felt good to be seed starting. Especially when the sun was out and shining for a little while.
Halfway through I said to my hubby since it was sunny out and the temperature was up I could have been out in the greenhouse doing this. He agreed. Oh that would have been all the garden feels. Maybe too much! Ha! I'm *so* looking forward to utilizing the greenhouse this spring.
My soon-to-be little seedlings are now in the seed starting station, along with some of the houseplants keeping them company.
It may not look like much; I planted 400 seeds today. Crazy, right? I do need to write notes and a list of the seeds I planted today. When the seedlings are big enough I will transplant them up in to bigger soil blocks. I'd be shocked if all those seeds sprouted. li
The other *big project* I did today was chopping up peppers for the dehydrator. One of the best things I've learned in the last few years is dehydrating peppers and grinding them up into a boutique pepper blend.
For the most part things have been quiet around the homestead. Earlier this week we decided we needed a second yard wagon.
I had a moment. Why? Because the last time I put one of these together, my girl Furby was with me, supervising.
I know ... you are probably like "Why?" She'll be gone for almost two years and I still miss her.
Soooooo ... Furby Junior and her boy toy supervised and were no help at all.
Yes, those are fairy lights draped over them.
About an hour later I got the wagon all put together, with some help from my guy.
My area has been dealing with subzero temps. I don't mean to complain, but I am going to. Just a bit. It's been freaking cold out there! Also, not much in the way of sun.
The ladies haven't been out of the coop much over the last several weeks. When I have thought to open the door to see if they'd go out and deal with the snow, they opted to stay inside. Smart ladies!
Yesterday they were out and trying to make sense of the paths we've made in the snow. A couple decided they needed to hang out on the back deck, all fluffed up.
I know, not the best photo. There wasn't a good angle for taking a photo.
Today I got some happy mail from a fellow flosstuber. Patty Penn at Stitching with my kitties sent me a few goodies. Scissor fobs/zipper pulls and a needle threader she made.
All so cute and I got them on bags and scissors already.
They are all so cute!
Speaking of flosstube. ... I know ... I haven't recorded since January. I meant to. ...
I've got some health crap going on again. I don't really want to talk much about it. Though those who are in the inner circle know what's going on. I don't want to look back on blog posts and read about it. If you'll remember, last year I got sick and was dealing with stuff. I haven't been feeling 100 percent and it's basically the same symptoms as last year. I'm now at a certain age where certain physical things are happening and my body is rebelling like a teenager. If you are a female of about my age than maybe you know what I'm talking about. I don't know what's causing it and I'm doing what I can to get it figured out. So for the foreseeable future if I go quiet for a while it's likely because I'm not feeling all that great. And that is about all I'm going to say about that.
I am starting to perk up a bit, and getting past January has helped. Officially starting garden seeds did wonders for my mood today, too.
