At this time of year I start itching to get out in the garden and plant vegetables and herbs (and flowers) but I know it’s too early for a lot of them and there’s still a chance we’ll get snow and/or a freeze. So a couple of years ago I started planting seeds in the house in April and then transplanted them in May. Not only did I satisfy my “green thumb”, I ended up saving tons of money by starting with seeds instead of buying the plants. And it’s so easy. This is also a great project for children…there’s something “thrilling” (I’m easily thrilled!) about seeing those seeds sprout and grow. And if you don’t have an area that you can plant a garden, you can always transplant (or start the seeds) in a pot and put them in a windowsill (herbs) or on your deck or patio (vegetables and herbs).
I’m trying peas this year for the first time and since I can’t plant them in the yard (the deer will eat them), I planted the seeds in a pot. I had the trellis and pot from last year so I just needed some potting mix and seeds. One of our readers (Dione) suggested planting peas and lettuce together so that’s what I’m doing. The peas don’t mind a bit of cold weather so I was able to plant them and leave them outside. You want to make sure you have a trellis, fence or something that the peas can “grow up” on.
All the stores sell the Jiffy (or other brands) Greenhouse kits. These are containers with lids that you use with peat pellets (you can buy the pellets and greenhouse separately or together)…I got this one at Wal-Mart for $4.99 which came with the pellets and can grow 36 plants.
You could also plant seeds in Dixie cups, the plastic egg cartons or any type of containers you have around the house. I love this “greenhouse” that my daughter in law bought me a couple of years ago.
I bought my seeds at Wal-Mart and (as I did last year) I bought a variety of brands that range from 20 cents to $1.59…and I’ve never noticed a difference in how well they grow.
When using the peat pellets (which is my favorite way to start my seeds), you simply add water to the pellets, watch them expand, pull aside the “netting”, plant the seed and cover with the peat. Here’s what they look like before and after you add the water.
Once you have added the water and the pellets have expanded, label each pellet so you’ll know what’s growing. Last year I used popsicle sticks cut in half. I didn’t have any in the house when I planted these but I did have a container of bamboo picks I had bought on clearance so I just wrote on those and stuck them in the pellet.
After less than a week you can see how quickly the seeds have started sprouting.
In a couple of weeks I’ll plant the vegetable seeds that have sprouted in pots, the herb seed sproutings will also be planted in pots but I’ll add about 5 different (herbs) in our yard. The thing I really love about the herbs are that most of them are perennials, the deer usually don’t eat them and they save me lots of money because I simply snip off whatever I want to use in cooking. I already have sage, parsley, chives, oregano and thyme popping up in our yard that I planted last year.
Tammy’s Tip ‘O the Day!
If you plant aromatic herbs like rosemary among your flowers, it will help keep the deer from eating your flowers BUT….when they are hungry, they will even eat plants that they’re not suppose to like! Guess they haven’t read the suggested lists of plants/flowers they don’t like!