CRAFTING A COWGIRL

Mary, Mary quite contrary,
How does your garden grow?

With 3 little girls, a window box,
4 Terra Cotta pots in a row.


I started my veggie/ herb garden at the beginning of February.  I wanted to get a jump start on our garden this year so that I could start cooking with fresh herbs again. I have a love the smell of fresh herbs in the house too.

It is like Christmas morning everyday for the girls to wake up and check on the little plant starts.  Riley loves to see what plants are the tallest and which are the smallest.  It is also fun for us to point out that different plants have different leaf shapes, smells, and stems. The first week and a half were torture for them not see anything happening.  Once they sprouted it has been awesome to see the girls light up.
 

The first steps for our little garden. I had to eat a bunch of eggs.  I have done egg cartons to start my seeds in the past and it worked really well for me. (You can crush up your clean egg shells really small and put them in the bottom of the egg carton with the dirt for extra nutrients for your plants)

With my experience it is worth dropping by a garden center and picking up some potting soil to start seeds.  I have used soil from my gardens in the past and I get significantly better results from actual potting soil.

This time around We started with Thyme, Basil, Cilantro, Green Onions, Lavender, Butter Lettuce, Scarlett Runner, Spinach, and Hollyhocks.

As far as seeds I just picked up seed packets from Walmart Garden center and a few from Ace Hardware.  Some of them I have had for 3 years and I use a pinch of the seeds then save the rest for next year.  My basil packet I think I have had for 4 years and the seeds still grow. Just make sure you keep them in a dry dark place. This is my first time for the Scarlett Runner and I'm super excited to see how it grows.

It took us about 1.5-2.5 weeks before we started to see our little seedlings.  I kept them in their little egg cartons for about 2 more weeks until they started to get a little too big.

To upgrade my plants inside I decided to put them in some inexpensive pots and a window box. This is easy with the egg cartons I simply take a table sized spoon and scoop the little plant right out of the egg carton with the soil and place it gently in it's new home. I noticed with a few of my little plants the roots started to grow into the cardboard so I very gently raised them out and the cardboard released the little roots.  You could also we the cardboard a little to get it to release.

This is where they are going to stay for a while.  I love having home grown lettuce, for some reason I have a hard time buying lettuce from the store.  It is so easy to grown.  I like to give my plants a little fertilizer at about this stage right after I transplant them. The one I am using now is. MiracleGro all purpose plant food. I have had the MiracleGro for two years now and I have more than half a bottle left.



 In a few weeks I will start soaking my pea seeds and get them ready to live outside. 

Michael started prep for my outside garden.

Since we are renting I couldn't go through and tear up the whole (tiny)  back yard.  I also didn't want to throw a bunch of money into a garden that I would be leaving.  Therefore, after some research.. we are attempting a straw bale garden stay tuned to see what happens with it!!

One ton of straw bales, all lined up in a row!