Garden a Growin'

I got really excited about starting a garden this year. Before I had moved to the new house in Maryland in March, I had gardening books shipped to the house awaiting my arrival. As a house warming gift, my mom gave me a gift certificate to Home Depot, some cute new gloves and a couple of gardening magazines because I had been talking about it so much. I couldn't wait to get my hands in the dirt- the day after I got to Maryland, we went to the store and I raided the seed packet display and potted herbs.

I went a little bit overboard on the seeds. Once I started looking at them, I couldn't help but grab for most of them. I mean, they were only a buck- why not?! And if I didn't plant them this year, there was always next. So, here's what I ended up with:

1. Tarragon
2. Zucchini
3. Broccoli Raab
4. Watermelon Radish
5. Okra
6. Lavender
7. Fennel
8. Habanero Peppers
9. Cherry Peppers
10. Eggplant
11. Garden Beans
12. Kaleidoscope Carrots
13. Roma Tomatoes
14. Jalepeno Peppers 
15. Cabbage
16. Arugula
17. French Breakfast Radish
18. Carrot
19. Scallion
20. Cucumber
21. Watermelon
22. Big Boy Tomato
23. Sweet Red Pepper
24. Dill

Yes, I know. A bit much for someone's first garden. 

So to start out, I had to figure out which of the seeds I could start indoors (I had already done some research about when to start seeds and when to transplants). For that, I consulted The Vegetable Gardener's Bible. In self-watering seed-starting pallets, I started the zucchini, lavender, habaneros, cherry peppers, eggplant, roma tomatoes, jalepenos, cucumbers, watermelon, big boy tomatoes, and sweet red peppers. 

I didn't get fancy with the labeling- a strip of duct tape labeled with numbers let me know what seed was in each row. 

For the seeds that have a long time to harvest, I used some tricks I picked up in Starting from Seed from Fine Gardening which you can find here. For the larger seeds, I took a fingernail clipper and made a slight nick in their coating that helps moisture penetrate and get the seed germinating. I didn't even think about trying it with the little seeds, but they have a trick for those, too.  I also soaked the seeds overnight (just not longer than 24 hours) to jumpstart their sprouting. 

Within a few days, I had little sprouts popping up all over the place and they just kept growing!

Per the know-it-all book, I transplanted the tomatoes, eggplants and peppers to larger pots as soon as their true leaves (the second set) appeared. 

Now that the threat of frost has finally passed, I'm looking forward to getting some of these babies in the ground! I'm going to have all of the tomatoes, peppers and the eggplant in pots on the deck and then everything else will go into our plot at the community garden. Well, not everything else! We'll see what fits. 

What's going in your garden this year? 

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