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.