Humble beginnings.

I worked from home this Wednesday, which turned out to be such a beautiful day. I opened all of the curtains and moved our little greenhouses to sit in the sunny back window. I took a peek at the little guys, and was so excited to discover a couple had begun to sprout! I sent a picture to Mike and went back to work. A few hours later, I checked again and they had made even more progress. 

So yesterday I couldn't wait to check on how they were doing after work. We had propped the lid on Wednesday night to improve airflow, and it really helped! The first two pictures are the two different greenhouses on Wednesday and the following two are on Thursday evening! I can't stop using exclamation points! 

I went into this gardening thing with very low expectations. I know they're all pretty far from producing anything, but even this tiny bit of success has me stoked for summer veggies.

Workspace Wednesday v.4

Yesterday was overcast and gloomy, so today's sunshine and mild temperatures are that much more appreciated. I finally got some soil for my hyacinth, and she's sitting pretty in her blue ceramic pot. I moved the seedlings to sit in front of the sunny window, there are bird songs outside my office window, and in general, it feels like spring today. My nights have been busy with fabric cutting for my newest quilt endeavors, one for a wedding gift and one for me and Mike. I loved the patterns I was picking for the wedding quilt so much that I got double, so we'll have matching quilts: one in Texas, and one in Massachusetts.

Made | A home for seedlings.

One of the things that got us excited about our current apartment is the backyard that we share with our landlords (who live upstairs). They rarely use the space, and our back porch looks out onto it, so it feels a little bit like it's just ours. In August, when we moved in, we talked about how next summer we'd plant a garden and try to grow all of our own tomatoes. (I also mentioned chickens during that conversation to get Mike ready for when we own a place and I come home with chickens, but I'm still wearing him down.) So when we went to Ocean State Job Lot a couple weekends ago and saw all of their gardening stuff out, we figured we'd stay good on our word. Last weekend we started our very first batch of seedlings.

We used a seedling starter kit, which came with little soil pods that expand when watered. We bought seed packets and used some tomato seeds we saved from our friend's dad's mini farm. In all, we planted cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, cilantro, basil (that little green house off to the side), jalapenos, green onions, and cayenne peppers. This past weekend, we bought even more seeds and soil pods. We figured not all of them will make it (we're optimists over here!), so we want to get as many started as possible to get the odds on our side. We plan to transplant them when spring decides to come (it snowed a couple days after we started the seeds) into these wine boxes from the restaurant where Meg works. They're the perfect size to keep on our back porch so we don't kill the grass, and we'll be able to take them with us when we decide to move.

After the cruise, I was fine with taking a little more winter, and was glad for a snowy excuse last Friday to work from home again. But after a weekend of real sunlight and walking around without a coat on during the day, I'm feeling the spring itch.

Anyone have any tips for new gardeners? Any tips for convincing Mike that we should get chickens someday? If you're looking for tips or inspiration yourself, I love this farming blog.