Spring gardening!

Yay! The end of winter is in sight! Winter never used to bother me, but after living in Texas for a year and dealing with my mobility problems, I'm not such a big fan. February really dragged me down, so I ended up starting seeds quite early?it gave me hope! I've been on a kick with  starting everything from seed. My windowsills are packed and I have a germination box that I rigged with a plastic bin, a heating pad, and a couple of baking cooling racks?it's worked beautifully. I've also found those disposable aluminum baking/roasting pans to be invaluable for holding the little seedling pots. My pots are an eclectic mix of commercial peat pots, those little peat starter things that swell up when you add water, toilet paper rolls, used plastic food containers, and newspaper pots.





 Most of the seedlings have stuck it out and are turning into sturdy little plants?they're just getting their true leaves?I'm so glad?I pretty much had a vision of going to all that trouble and spending all that money on seeds, then killing them.



I got most of the seeds off eBay?kind of risky I suppose, but a great way to get smaller quantities of seed for MUCH cheaper. If you feel like braving it, though, stick with sellers who have several listings and be sure to read the feedback. Also, for some reason, free shipping listings don't seem to be very reliable. I've only had one seller not ship seeds or respond, and one packet of seeds that don't seem to be germinating.





So far, I've managed to start stock, butterfly weed, summer snow, pennyroyal, hostas, french marigolds, a couple of different blueberry varieties, jersey asparagus, walla walla onions, imperial artichokes, yellow doll watermelon, toga eggplant, a bunch of sweet and hot pepper varieties, tom thumb peas, tumbling tom tomatoes, pink and red brandywine tomatoes, old German tomatoes, Rutgers tomatoes, san marzano tomatoes, red onions, long island brussel sprouts, romanesco broccoli/cauliflower, pattypan squash, yellow straight neck squash...I still have boston pickling cucumbers, a second batch of brussel sprouts and tomatoes, and some more flowers to start.






 I also felt pretty adventurous, so I bought some exotic (well, I think they are exotic, anyway) starter plants: a vanilla orchid, a bay leaf tree, a brown turkey fig, and a night blooming jasmine. I can't seem to figure out how to make the fig happy, but the night blooming jasmine is flourishing, the bay has finally showing new life, and the vanilla looks pretty much the same. I'm having trouble with my avocado tree as well, and I'm at a total loss?the leaves are browning, but it's in indirect light and it's DEFINITELY not dry?it has a couple new leaves, though, so I'm hoping something I tried worked!





My living room is starting to resemble a bit of a jungle?I love it! And my lavender, which didn't grow much outside last summer, loves being a houseplant?finally, a plant that APPRECIATES my sporadic care!