Getting ready for transplant

After 6 rainy/snowy weekends in a row my raised bed garden is finally built. I still need to get it leveled, staked, and filled with my peat/compost compost mixture. Tonight and tomorrow morning I'll get a lot of that done. Now that the bed is almost ready I'm itching to get the seedlings that I've been growing for 2 months into the ground. But there's one important step between here and there.

When we leave our temperature controlled houses we: put on/pull off jackets, add a little sunscreen, pull out an umbrella if it's raining and so on. We have methods to help shelter us from the elements, the seeds that I've been growing do not. Sitting on my window sill there is sun, filtered through a window and steady 68 degree air. When I put them outside they'll have to deal with direct sun, wind, a 30 degree change in temperature each day, and a new environment for food (the roots).

So a few days ago I've started the process of hardening off. Each day I put the plants outside for a bit, adding time each day. On Wednesday it was 2 hours (evening), yesterday was 4-5 (evening), today I put them out at 6 and they'll be there until I leave for work with another session this afternoon. Tomorrow it will be 8-10 hours, with some mid day sun. Depending on the weather forcast they will move to their new home Saturday evening or on Sunday. If you have the option cloudy days are the best to transplant.

Garden Spending

It's early in the season, but I've already spend some money on what will be my vegetable garden. So far I've just had 2-3 expenses:

Seeds- $15.00
I went in with a group of ladies to buy vegetable seeds. We came up with a list of what we were interested in, one person ordered it all online, and we did an even cost split. The other day we had a seed party where we planeted seeds that need time to germinate and took others home in baggies.

Jiffy Seed Starter Greenhouse- $8.00
I thought I'd use eggshells, paper towel cores, and other hacks I've seen around the internet. The original plan had been to split the seeds into containers and plant at home. But once they were in some of the seeds were so tiny the lady in charge reccomended planting at her place. The seemed like the easiest way to plant then transport without getting dirt all over my car.

The kit has 72 peat pellets that expand when watered. Netting that will eventually decompose holds it together. Each pellet gets a seed or two and the lid + warm environment provides the humidity to get seeds going. Though it's made of plastic, the outer part of the kit (tray & lid) can be reused for years to come. This was a little less, $6.99 + tax, but I bought a lot of things on this trip and can't don't want to spend the time to figure out tax.

Vermicompost bin- approx $30
I started this project last fall and can't remember exact prices. I used 2 rubbermaid bins, a borrowed drill, and $10 of worms to get started. This project was all start up costs. Shredded newspaper/junk mail with banking info/paper towel cores/cardboard (all already in the house) make their bedding. Our fruit and vegetable scraps are their food. All in all it's been an easy, non smelly process that will reduce costs when I buy soil.

Still to come:
Lumber- $30-50
Nails & such- $20-30
Soil-$20-30

Garden- Starting Off & Seeds

If you're anything like me, at this time of the year you're itching for winter to end. For the past month I've been daydreaming about our backyard once the weather warms up- cook outs, lemonade plus a good book, and a vegetable garden.

Really, I've been daydreaming about the vegetable garden for more than 2 years. Enough space for a least a small raised bed was on the 'must have' list during the house hunt. The back of the house faces south,* so with the exception of some fence shading it should be a good location. Unfortunately, by the time we moved in last summer it was too late for a real garden. I did a few container plants but only the cherry tomatoes were able to produce anything before our relatively short growing season ended.

I'm going to do my best to track the costs and production of the garden as I go along. There will be some extra expense this first year to get things up and running. I'm planning on raised beds which need to be bought or built (after buying materials). Currently I'm budgeting $100 for that portion of the project. Then there's fill dirt/compost/moss/whatever else I decide. Last fall I started composting with worms to help lessen that expense. Finally there are seeds.

Whenever I've bought seed packets (usually for herbs) I end up feeling very wasteful. I plant at most 10 seeds and the rest sit around in a drawer somewhere. I don't know if it's just not cost effective to sell them in smaller quantities but we're talking crazy amounts of seeds. So imagine my delight when someone on my favorite yahoo group* suggested buying seeds together. This way we each get a reasonable amount of seeds at a lower cost.

We're still getting our order together, but I'll post my final cost with a list of what I'm buying. So far it's looking like cucumbers, tomatoes, zucchini, peppers, broccoli, and melon. I have never (with the exception of those tomatoes) grown more than a few herbs- making this summer a bit of an adventure. Any green thumb advice is very welcome!

*which makes winter shoveling oh so fun
** the source of my most frequent babysitting clients, a recent extra earning opportunity, and random advice