seedling stuff

Broccoli seedlings are up! I've uncovered all the new sprouts and put in windowsills but noticed they are leaning already. It's a mild day so I put them straight outside in the coldframe house. Will bring in at night.

I sorted through all my seed packets today to make a garden plan. Shoveled out the fireplace and put the ashes on the new garden beds, but they were still a bit hot. Lined the buckets with foil to prevent melting a hole (I've done that before by accident) and then layered the beds with snow before sprinkling the ashes on. Didn't want the leaf mulch to catch fire. Funny though, the back yard is completely bare of snow. There are still half-frozen piles in the front. Probably because the snow was piled higher in front when we shoveled.

So put down ashes and one 25-pound bag of dried manure/humus. Which did not go far. My husband spotted it when he was at the store for something else and thought I'd like to try it out. I'd mentioned that I need a pickup truck because wouldn't it be great to drive to a local horse farm and pick up a load of manure and hay compost for free? He thought the neighbors wouldn't appreciate the smell if I applied that to my garden. And of course I don't want the odor in my car. So this dried and bagged stuff seemed like a good deal. I wonder what my neighbors thought if they saw me shoveling snow off the front lawn into a wheelbarrow this morning...

This is my list of garden plants (and some for the yard): borage, swiss chard, oregano, basil, green onions, broccoli, marigold, cilantro, beets, lettuce, echinacea, tithonia, hosta, cosmos, passionflower, carrots, bell peppers, ancho peppers, chives, dill, summer savory, oregano, parsley, sage, bush green beans, cherry tomatoes, four other kinds of tomatoes, cucumbers. Half of that will be in pots on the deck.

Today I sowed my first milk jug with hosta seed. It's from one of the plants on the old property. I don't know if it's viable seed, but want to try...

Making a list of the plants in order of when I ought to sow them, so as jugs become available I can set them outside. As soon as I had seedling trays prepped I remembered how tedious they are to tend to- keeping the moisture content right, potting up, giving them enough sun (fairly impossible in this house). Better if they just grow up outside in jugs, tough from the beginning.