On your mark, get set....GROW!!

We've had a couple of beautiful days in a row - sunny, warm breezes, the birds are out gallivanting all over. Hell, as I type this, the spring peepers (aka frogs) are chirping up a serious chorus in the marshland across the street. PEEP PEEP PEEP! Loooooud, and maybe a touch annoying, but also a nice sign that spring is almost here.

Want another sign that spring's almost here? Here's what things are looking like down in the basement (take note - in the foreground, starting dahlia from seed!):


And before you think that's all I've got going on, that just one of three areas I've got my sprouting seeds parked in my "potting shed" area of the basement. Another shelf has two levels of seeds growing, including my first ever leeks (which are in need of a haircut at this point!). And across the room from all of this? Welllll......


And again, you're not seeing the full picture there!

Check the tray in the front/bottom of the picture - that's a full flat of alyssum seeds! I love 'em!! I'm really hoping many of the ones I started from seed last year and had out in the flower beds threw their seeds down everywhere and will make a comeback. But if not, I'm prepared!

And do you remember the experiment with the lupin seeds? Well they're doing QUITE well, thank you! (No, I'm not growing marijuana - those are Morello Cherry lupin)


Here's another experiment - old cilantro/coriander and basil monstruoso seeds. The taller sprouts here are the cilantro seeds, and the interesting thing about them is the seeds are 2-3 years old, and bought at the bulk store! I bought a large quantity of "coriander seeds for cooking", and lucked out - they sprout just fine, and I'm guessing they're quite a bit cheaper than buying little seed packs! I'm gonna have to make sure I keep these guys warm - and maybe even move some of them up to the kitchen window so I can watch them closer, keep them warm in the sunlight, etc...


Here's a new one for me - California Poppy Mission Bells Mix. They look BEAUTIFUL in the seed catalogs - and they seemed to be a little slower to sprout than other stuff I planted the same week - but now it looks like they're coming along just fine! And according to Dave's Garden (a GREAT resource for so many gardening reviews), while they're not hardy in zone 5, there's a good chance they might reseed themselves. These are totally going in my "warm colors" bed!


Like alyssum, lobelia's something else I can't do without each summer. I'm guessing it's because my folks always have it in their deck planters and flower pots? I love the almost-ultraviolet purpley blue color these are best known for...


I also planted some tubers and roots today - my first begonia from bulbs, more hostas to add to the existing ones, my first ever astilbe, and what I'm most excited about, my first ever peony. Now I have to admit - I'm not going to be 4-years patient for the tiny little peony's I got dirt cheap to bloom - I'm going to be on the look out for something fancier - like a "show plant" to add to the garden. You can buy peonies at different ages, with 2 year plants being cheaper than 4 year plants, but you've got that many more years before they'll bloom (I guess they're likely to start blooming around 3-4 years old?).

Now we're still at the stage where all the growies are indoors-only. Sure, we may have hit 70 today, but here's the forecast for tonite. First we'll get some rain, which those peas I planted the other day are gonna need (since I neglected to water them)...



And then early tomorrow morning? Yup, that's right - a chance for flurries!


So we're not going to be putting any tender growies outside for quite awhile!